News

Did the future attack?

“It is the machine that scientists hope will recreate the conditions present at the beginning of time,” Adam Gabbatt writes in The Guardian. But scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) found their plans to emulate the big bang postponed last week when a passing bird dropped a “bit of baguette” into the machine, causing it to overheat. “CERN, the European particle physics laboratory, launched the LHC with much fanfare on Sept. 10 last year. Physicists hope to use the collider to prove the existence of the Higgs boson, or God particle, which gives matter in the universe its mass. But the collider, which when running will collide protons travelling at 99.9 per cent of the speed of light, has been out of action for over a year after a helium leak caused it to be shut down on Sept. 19, 2008, nine days after its start-up. The particle accelerator, which is buried 100 metres underground near Geneva, is currently undergoing tests ahead of its proposed restart date later this month, but the testing process was stopped [last] Monday after the power supply to the collider was cut.” Physicists Holger Nielsen of Copenhagen and Masao Ninomiya of Japan, Britain's The Sun reports, “say the consequences of finding the boson … may be so dangerous that scientists yet to be born are trying to prevent it. … Dr. Nielsen said: ‘It is as if something is going back in time to keep the universe from being hit by a bus.'”

Student papers, ugh

To celebrate Global Handwashing Day last month, well-known Japanese choreographer Kaiji Moriyama composed a hand-washing dance especially for the day, Catherine Makino reports for the Los Angeles Times. With the arrival of the H1N1 virus, the nation has become even more focused than usual on hygiene. “Hiroshi Shoji, an English-language instructor in Saitama prefecture near Tokyo, said children usually wash their hands and gargle in the winter, but now it is many times a day – and after every activity.” Mr. Shoji's wife, Sandra, an instructor at Tokyo International University, said teachers have become cautious. “We use handkerchiefs to open doors,” she said. “We use wipes after touching computers or students' papers. More teachers are having students send homework by e-mail or a university e-group. That way, teachers don't have to touch lots of germy papers.”

Cellphone's dad speaks

“Martin Cooper, who was the lead engineer of the Motorola team that developed the mobile phone, told a privacy conference in Madrid [last] week that today's phones try to do many things for too many people,” Rachel Cooper writes for The Daily Telegraph. “‘Whenever you create a universal device that does all things for all people, it does not do any things well,' said the 80-year-old, who made the first wireless call from a busy Manhattan street corner on April 3, 1973. ‘Our future I think is a number of specialist devices that focus on one thing that will improve our lives,' said Mr. Cooper.”

In loco parentis

“A Brazilian university has publicly expelled a woman who was heckled by hundreds of fellow students for wearing a short, pink skirt to class, taking out newspaper ads [Sunday] to publicly accuse her of immorality,” Associated Press reports. “The private Bandeirante University in Sao Bernardo do Campo, outside of Sao Paulo, said 20-year-old Geisy Arruda disrespected ‘ethical principles and academic dignity and morality.'”

Road trains?

“Road trains that link vehicles together using wireless sensors could soon be on European roads,” BBC News reports. “An EU-financed research project is looking at inexpensive ways of getting vehicles to travel in a ‘platoon' on Europe's motorways. Each road train could include up to eight separate vehicles – cars, buses and trucks will be mixed in each one. The EU hopes to cut fuel consumption, journey times and congestion by linking vehicles together. …The lead vehicle would be handled by a professional driver who would monitor the status of the road train. Those in following vehicles could take their hands off the wheel, read a book or watch TV, while they travel along the motorway. Their vehicle would be autonomously controlled by the lead vehicle.”

Oldest divorcées

A British couple have become the oldest couple in the world to divorce – at the age of 98, Ananova.com reports. Bertie and Jessie Wood ended their 36-year marriage when they were both two years away from their 100th birthdays. According to neighbours of the former couple, Mrs. Wood now lives in a care home but Mr. Wood died shortly before he turned 99.

Thought du jour

“Almost all of us at some time settle for trash, even though we may know better.”

– Richard Hoggart, British critic