Tamping down the Higgs hullabaloo
Well, we've either found the Higgs boson or Fred's put the kettle on.
Scientific leaders at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva are taking pains to confirm that the leaked memo is real– evidence that could mean the fabled Higgs boson has been seen is not a hoax. But they are also emphasizing that it is very far from being confirmed, a long way from a genuine discovery.
Of the evidence seen to date, the collider’s official spokesman said lots of findings start out looking this good but, “The majority of these things turn out to be nothing at all.”
Most of the stories this morning couldn’t resist calling the Higgs the “God particle.” Sarah Anne Hughes has a compact account of how the particle got its popular moniker on a Washington Post blog. She notes that Peter Higgs, credited with first hypothesizing the particle, “hates” the term.
The stories that came up in the Tracker’s net this morning were short, derivative or behind the news. The major league news outlets didn’t make much of the recent rumors, so didn’t bother to follow up. No need to click further, but if you want, check it out on Google News.
–Boyce Rensberger
