I'm surprised that William Higgins' brief article about antimatter in science fiction (September 2008) ended so abruptly, especially without any reference to Jack Williamson's Seetee Ship and Seetee Shock.
High-tech businesses must constantly innovate or become obsolete. But when it comes to investing in new machinery and adopting new techniques, industry can be timid, says Bob Patti, chief technical officer of Tezzaron Semiconductor.
As the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina collects cosmic rays for science, its thousands of solar panels are collecting data that could make solar power cheaper, more efficient, and more reliable.
Michael Miller watches grass grow for a living—super grass, of sorts, grass that could fuel a car and reduce carbon dioxide emissions at the same time.
In 1860, Parisian inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville set out to capture the beauty of a French folk song, "Au Clair de la Lune," using pig hair and soot.
My body is a tiny composition of molecules, insignificant compared to the three-story-high particle detector towering over the various tanks, wires, and steel tubing from which it had been constructed.
The life-saving medical technology known as Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI, makes detailed images of soft tissue in the body, nearly eliminating the need for exploratory surgery.
These photos represent an eye blink in the evolution of the Linac Coherent Light Source, a groundbreaking facility taking shape at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
When it comes to getting rid of cancer, the sharpest scalpel may be a proton beam. Technology conceived and hatched in highenergy physics is now treating thousands of patients per year, with fewer side effects.
Many of the people trained in particle physics move on to jobs in industry, where their skills are in high demand. There you can find a theorist exploring for oil or an accelerator scientist working on cancer treatments.
Stories abound about how particle physics benefits education, the economy, and society as a whole. Quantifying those benefits would help particle physics better demonstrate its value to the country.
