Posts are limited this week and next — partly because a draft of a document about “exotic” Higgs particle decays (which I wrote about here, here, here, here and here), relevant to how the Large Hadron Collider experiments ATLAS and CMS might collect their data in 2012 (in particular, how they might trigger on such decays), needs to get done right away. (Data’s already coming in! we’re later than I’d like.) And it really has to get done now since I’m traveling next week with limited internet.
Meantime, a reminder in case you missed it: For those of you in the New York City area: I’ll be joined by the wonderfully talented singer-songwriter-pianist Andrea Wittgens in giving a physics/music joint performance/presentation at the storied Cornelia Street Cafe, Sunday May 13th at 6 p.m., as part of their Entertaining Science series. It’s entitled Rhapsody for Piano and Universe, and intended for the general public. The place is pretty small, so get reservations in advance by calling 212.989.9319.
One more heads-up: again in NYC, June 16th, I’ll be giving a lecture:
THE EINSTEIN OBSESSION: SCIENCE, MYTH AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION
June 16th, 2pm
Jefferson Market Library, 425 6th Ave. West Village, NYC
Free and open to the public!
Who hasn’t heard of Einstein? We all know Einstein failed eighth grade math. (Although he didn’t.) We know he showed energy is the same thing as mass (or was it “matter”?), that he’s the father of the atomic bomb, that he was an old man with frizzy hair, and that he was a patent clerk whose theory was that everything is relative and that nothing can move faster than light. This messy assortment of half-truths and misconceptions permeates our culture and affects public perceptions of science, at many different levels. In this talk we’ll consider how our culture’s obsession with Einstein impacts efforts to convey science to the public.

