Is gravity a force? It’s complicated
From Big Think, Oct. 12, 2023
Which theory on gravity is the most accurate at describing reality? Don Lincoln suggests perhaps we have reached a moment of scientific Zen and that gravity just is.
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How the Moon is helping us confirm Einstein’s relativity
September 24, 2023
From Big Think: A recent series of precise measurements of the Moon confirms that there are two types of mass which are the same. In Einstein’s most advanced theory, there are three “kinds” of mass that are thought to be one and the same but there is no fundamental reason why. Don Lincolns explains why.
The strange behavior of a subatomic particle could shake up physics
From RTS (Swiss Broadcasting Corporation), Sept. 7, 2023: Fermilab’s August 10 announcement indicated the muon does not behave as theory predicts. Professor Tobias Golling, from the particle physics department at the University of Geneva, explains in a video that there are two possibilities to explain the observed discrepancy.
A fleeting subatomic particle may be exposing flaws in a major physics theory
From Popular Science, August 17, 2023: Breaking the Standard Model would be one of the biggest moments in particle physics history. The Muon g-2 collaboration reported that the muon doesn’t always look like physicists expect it to look, but the collaboration isn’t done. Once they analyze all the remaining data, physicists believe they can make their g minus 2 estimate twice as precise again.
The muon, the particle that agitates physicists, is talking about him again
From Le Monde, August 16, 2023: The characteristics muons were analyzed in an ongoing experiment by the Muon g-2 collaboration at Fermilab and the results are shaking up the theory community.
Do hidden influences give neutrinos their tiny mass?
The quest to understand the small mass of neutrinos is also a quest to discover new particles.
How fast is gravity, exactly?
From Big Think, October 25, 2022: Don Lincoln explores the two theories of gravity from Newton and Einstein. Due to astronomers observations of gravitational waves recorded in 2017, we now know that gravity and light travel at the same speed.
The standard model of particle physics may be broken – an expert explains
From The Conversation, May 6, 2021: A recent series of precise measurements in the LHCb, Muon g-2 and CDF experiments have threatened to shake up physics. Now, the LHC is gearing up to run at higher energy and intensity than ever before to make very precise measurements that will test the predictions of theories by looking for deviations from the Standard Model.
Can a theory ever die?
Neglected theories will wilt and wither but can bloom again with enough attention.
Theorists imagine a different kind of dark matter
Physicists are revisiting what they previously assumed about how dark matter interacts with itself.