An image from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN
As sober scientists openly wept at the ‘discovery’ of the Higgs boson yesterday, the media world began the difficult task of explaining the findings’ significance. Reporting science is not easy at the best of times, but trying to explain something as esoteric as the so-called ‘God particle’ can be nigh on impossible. Here are some of the best explanations on the web.
The Washington Post has a fairly straightforward summary that attempts to grapple with the fundamentals, without going into too much depth.
The Guardian’s science correspondent Ian Sample attempts to explain the discovery with ping pong balls and a tray of sand.
The New York Times carries the rather brilliant Large Hadron Rap, performed by a group of science writers who, it must be said, come close to pulling off the impossible by creating a catchy track that deals with some of the world’s most complicated science.
PhD Comics has this brilliant animated comic book explanation. Accessible without dumbing down, this is how good science reporting looks.
For the pictorially minded, this slideshow from The Vancouver Sun grapples with the basics of the findings with pictures from the CERN auditorium in which the announcement was made.
How the media attempted to explain the Higgs boson
An image from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN
As sober scientists openly wept at the ‘discovery’ of the Higgs boson yesterday, the media world began the difficult task of explaining the findings’ significance. Reporting science is not easy at the best of times, but trying to explain something as esoteric as the so-called ‘God particle’ can be nigh on impossible. Here are some of the best explanations on the web.
The Washington Post has a fairly straightforward summary that attempts to grapple with the fundamentals, without going into too much depth.
The Guardian’s science correspondent Ian Sample attempts to explain the discovery with ping pong balls and a tray of sand.
The New York Times carries the rather brilliant Large Hadron Rap, performed by a group of science writers who, it must be said, come close to pulling off the impossible by creating a catchy track that deals with some of the world’s most complicated science.
PhD Comics has this brilliant animated comic book explanation. Accessible without dumbing down, this is how good science reporting looks.
For the pictorially minded, this slideshow from The Vancouver Sun grapples with the basics of the findings with pictures from the CERN auditorium in which the announcement was made.