While we in America celebrate the signing of some yellowed document, physicists around the globe are engaging in a less nationalistic, but equally historic celebration: the elusive Higgs Boson, the “missing piece” in our current understanding of the subatomic world, has been confirmed to five standard deviations of significance. This discovery was made using the […]

Discovered in a graduate-level animal physiology physics textbook (Fishbane’s Physics for Scientists and Engineers). For those of you who’ve always had a place in your heart for giraffes, know that they evidently have one for you in theirs as well. Bwog uses our well-rounded liberal arts education to analyze it in this interdisciplinary exercise, while exercising all of […]

During the course of Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign, do you often find that you don’t really have any idea what he’s talking about? You’re not alone, and Slate is here to help. Meanwhile, Gingrich’s pal Rick Perry has pulled off an impressive feat: his latest campaign video, “Strong,” has already made the list of the […]

Last night, Miller Theater was transformed yet again into a realm of mystique and wonder, courtesy of PBS, and Bwog’s favorite physicist, Brian Greene. A sizable crowd assembled to watch the premiere of the new NOVA special, The Fabric of the Cosmos, based on Greene’s book of the same title. The real treat, however, was […]

Columbia’s Professor Stiglitz, who’s been making the rounds recently, published a commentary on the economic recession in Slate and, well, the headline says it all. (Slate) Apple announced the iPhone 4S yesterday, and, along with it, their new Siri app; part voice-recognition, part artificial-intelligence, all HAL-9000.  It’s a shame the name is destined to be the […]

The physics community’s collective world was recently rocked by the latest results from CERN, with some now claiming that they have measured neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. While the discrepancy is small (only 60 nanoseconds), it could force physicists to reconsider Einstein’s theory of relativity. Columbia’s go-to physics rock star, Brain Greene, […]

If you give a mouse a Tevatron, and that mouse is an experimental physicist, it will ask for more money to build an enormous super collider beneath Switzerland and France, telling you that it needs more energy to confirm its theory on what makes the Universe do its thing. At least, that’s roughly how it […]

Brace yourselves for The (Less) Social Network Part II: Gratuitous Hashtags. Some allegations about Twitter’s beginnings have been made and it doesn’t look like it’ll play out in less that 140 characters. #SoMuchDrama (Business Insider, NYMag) Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 over a homophobic slur he made to a ref during a game on Tuesday. […]

Columbia’s own Brian Greene has just released his 4th book of popular science, titled The Hidden Reality. In it, Greene provides the latest theory surrounding the multiverse. Wait… do you ever think like, in another world, you are writing Bwoglines and I am reading them? (WSJ) So like, you saw the blizzard on Wednesday from your window, but- […]

Bwog reader and Punny Physicist Steve Ma sent in this sign found in Pupin: Somewhere, in his non-relativistic afterlife, Newton is smiling.

A tipster has forwarded us a notice that “as a cost-saving measure,” Columbia will be closing the physics, chemistry, biology, and psychology libraries a full year early. According to Physics Department Chair Andrew Mills, who sent the email, “I have received two conflicting reports of the closing date: July 1, 2009 and July 31, 2009.” […]

  Image via Parsons’ home page Columbia physics professor John Parsons lectured Thursday night about the science behind the upcoming film Angels and Demons.  Bwog sent our Fu Foundation Bureau Chief Sean Zimmerman, who actually understands these sorts of things, to observe and report. Hollywood and science aren’t known to be fast friends, and explanations […]

   -Photo via YouTube Kurt Hinterbichler, a grad student in the Columbia physics department, joined 95 other musicians from around the world to play in a multimedia concert sponsored by YouTube. About 3,000 musicians submitted audition videos to the site, and YouTube patrons, with their refined taste, selected the winners from the top 200 submissions. […]

Last night, Bwog reporter Karen Leung went to the Chinese Student Club’s annual culture show, and returned both entertained and bemused. Her dispatch follows. Give people an excuse to talk about mass, and it’s only a matter of time before the fat jokes come. At last night’s Lunar Gala, the Chinese Students Club’s annual culture […]