The LHC Explained

After last night's amusing rap video, here's another one that describes exactly what happens in the Large Hadron Collider in excruciating detail.

The LHC Turns On Today

I noticed that the news are reporting on the Large Hadron Collider which was turned on today. Naturally, the focused on the silly fear mongering that it might destroy the world by creating black holes. So in honor of this auspicious occasion, here's a little rap video that explains what the LHC really does:


CERN Rap from Will Barras on Vimeo.

The Text Message From Space!

As part of an attempt to reach out to young people, NASA has put the Phoenix Mars probe on Twitter which makes it possible for cell phone users to get text messages directly from the red planet. Not wanting to be left behind, The European Space Agency has also put its Planck spacecraft on Twitter. Perhaps due to its more esoteric mission, Planck is much less popular on Twitter than Phoenix. I can't help but wonder how this development affects that the recent claims that an SMS message is four times more expensive than the cost of getting data from the Hubble Space telescope.

A Mecha-Suit For Stephen Hawking

Neatorama has a link to a sculpture which is described as "A Prosthetic Suit for Stephen Hawking w/ Japanese Steel." Sadly, it's been done before. Physicist Stephen Hawking has had quite a remarkable career. Despite being severely disabled by Lou Gehrig's disease, he's one of the world's leading physicists. Besides his work on black holes and cosmology, Hawking is also a best-selling author and an accomplished "gansta rapper."