About.com Physics 2008 Year in Review
Wednesday December 31, 2008
These aren't necessarily the biggest stories of the year, but they're some of the most interesting ones that I've covered on the blog over the last year or so. For example, you'll notice that the discovery of water on Mars is not listed, because that's not really a particularly noteworthy physics discovery (because no new physics is revealed by there being frozen ice on Mars), though certainly it's a significant story worthy of attention over at About.com Space/Astronomy.
- Large Hadron Collider - Probably the biggest physics news event of the decade, the Large Hadron Collider went into operation, sparking comments from Stephen Hawking and a last-minute attempt to shut it down through legal action. The internet was abuzz with intriguing LHC-related events, such as the speed-capture of the ATLAS experiment's construction and the wildly popular LHC rap video. Concerns over hackers were soon eclipsed by another technical catastrophe ... a leaky seal in one of the beam tunnels caused the LHC to shut down the beam until into 2009.
- World of Warcraft Science Conference - In perhaps one of the strangest stories of 2008, a science conference was held in the Massive Multi-Player Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, which included challenges such as keeping participants from being eaten by hyenas.
- E = mc2 confirmed - Detailed calculations of the masses of protons and neutrons were finally calculated this year, matching with the experimental values and confirming the mass-energy relationship predicted by Albert Einstein in 1905 as part of his special theory of relativity.
- Quantum Computer Innovations - Like clean energy technologies, 2008 has proven a year where quantum computing seems to have hit its stride. A new quantum storage record was reached and, together with faster qubit designs, mean the field might be taking off soon. Fields such as quantum cryptography may likewise begin becoming a greater focus for research, now that experiments can begin probing in these sorts of realms.
- Superinsulator discovered - Though we've known about superconductors for a while, it's only this year that scientists have begun to realize that there might be superinsulators, a new state of matter that completely inhibits the flow of electrons.
- Graphene - This wonder nano-molecule has had a banner year. The discovery that it can act as an excellent superconductor has sparked serious interest in the industrial and research realms. A graphene balloon and a graphene transistor were both created this year.
- Naked Eye Gamma Burst - A gamma burst from 7.5 million light-years away became visible enough to be seen with the unaided human eye.
- Greater Efficiency Out of Current Energy Technologies - Many countries around the world (especially in Europe) get much of their energy from nuclear reactors, which of course produce nuclear waste. This year, the discovery of a nuclear waste eating molecule (see also the nanotech that cleans oil spills) may mean that waste can more easily be re-used instead of needing to be dumped. Together with the discovery of a way to convert radiation directly into electricity, this may mean getting vastly more energy out of the same amount of radioactive material.
- Perimeter Institute Making Canada Hotbed of Theoretical Physics - In addition to getting Cambridge cosmologist Neil Turok as Director, Canada's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics also claimed Stephen Hawking as a visiting researcher for next year.
- Trend Toward Renewable Energy Technologies Rises - Various innovations over the year have helped support the growing use of clean energy technologies, not the least of which includes the announcement by President-Elect Barack Obama of a number of scientific advisors who are prominent in the environmental movement. Some are controversial, but they all have impressive credentials in the scientific community and show a marked desire to move America toward clean, renewable technologies.
Other 2008 Review Lists:
- Time - Top 10 Scientific Discoveries for 2008
- ABC News - The Biggest Scientific Breakthroughs of 2008
- New Scientist - News review 2008: The best and worst of the year
- PhysicsWorld - The best of 2008
- The Future of Things - 2008 in Science, Medicine, and Space
- Canadian Broadcast Channel (CBC) - 2008: The year in science
Comments
luis sancho: How naive are journalists, how easy they swallow marketing. The lhc is just a 7 tb quark factory. Quarks create novas, neutron stars and frozen stars (Einstein’s black holes). The Higgs as per nambu, zee and smolin is just another formulation of the top to swindle billions to Reagan’s fundamentalist. If the experiment succeeds it will create a strangelet, nova or quark star and kill us all. Nothing else can come from a ‘quark factory’, as all quarks have been discovered and hawking’s like theories are mathematical fictions. Why w do it then? Obviously it is the pet project of the Nuclear industry, and industries keep making their machines and weapons regardless of use. Accelerators were always funded by the military to make atomic weapons and have kept growing. Now they dont have any use for that price and enormous risks. So instead of studying cheaply quark stars with telescopes, an old lethal industry crosses now the electroweak barrier of death of our weak matter and enters the dark region of strong quark matter cosmic bombs and quark stars Good luck
very good review (relevant, short and easy to understand) and very good links. thanks!!