Particle physics has chosen low-temperature superconducting technology for the International Linear Collider. What is "cold," and why have particle physicists lowered the temperature on a new accelerator?
How many CDs are in the box? "100," a child guessed. "1000," said another. The answer was 2000, the equivalent of just 0.1 percent of the database capabilities at SLAC. "Imagine 2 million CDs in your bedroom."
Maori lore says that the rising and falling of the water level in Lake Wakatipu every 51 minutes is due to the breathing of the giant sleeping beneath.
The discovery of an elementary particle that looked a lot like the electron, but had 3500 times its mass stunned most particle physicists three decades ago.
The assembled group of SLAC users hushed as Gabriella Sciolla rose to open the SLAC Users Organization annual meeting. And with that quiet came the rain.