"Asking yourself these deeper questions opens up new ways of being in the world. It brings in a breath of fresh air. It makes life more joyful. The real trick of life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery." - Fred Alan Wolf, physicist, from his book " Dr. Quantum's Little Book of Big Ideas"http://www.newser.com/2008 - Newseren-usNewser Feed GeneratorThu, 20 Nov 2008 3:16:54 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/40898/hawking-to-retire-from-cambridge-post.html?refid=rss_all_defaultStephen Hawking will retire from his chair at Cambridge University at the end of this academic year, the Telegraph reports. But the esteemed physicist will continue working at the college in an emeritus position. Cambridge requires profs to step down when they reach 67, and Hawking’s birthday is in January. He is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, the same position held by Isaac Newton.http://www.newser.com/story/40898/hawking-to-retire-from-cambridge-post.html?refid=rss_all_defaultSat, 25 Oct 2008 13:07:24 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/39339/physics-nobel-to-3-who-studied-worlds-origin.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThe Nobel Prize for physics was awarded today to three researchers whose work on "broken symmetry" has clarified the origins of the universe. Their theories—a cornerstone of the so-called Standard Model of physics—explain how the world came into being after the Big Bang; although huge amounts of matter and antimatter canceled each other out, a small deviation in proportions allowed the cosmos to survive.http://www.newser.com/story/39339/physics-nobel-to-3-who-studied-worlds-origin.html?refid=rss_all_defaultTue, 07 Oct 2008 7:15:31 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/38201/balky-collider-offline-into-09.html?refid=rss_all_defaultA serious malfunction, and the necessarily slow progress of repairs, will keep the Large Hadron Collider from starting its first experiments until spring, the Times reports. A major problem Friday shut down the European atom-smasher, and officials said the heating, repair and recooling of the giant magnets would take 2 months. But scheduled winter maintenance will intervene, effectively shuttering the huge experiment into 2009.http://www.newser.com/story/38201/balky-collider-offline-into-09.html?refid=rss_all_defaultTue, 23 Sep 2008 14:31:01 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/37970/atom-smasher-out-2-months.html?refid=rss_all_defaultIt turns out that the glitch with the Large Hadron Collider is worse than originally thought and will keep the massive atom smasher out of commission for at least 2 months, the Telegraph reports. The collider, which seeks to replicate the Big Bang and solve mysteries of creation, began to malfunction the day after its first test last week.http://www.newser.com/story/37970/atom-smasher-out-2-months.html?refid=rss_all_defaultSat, 20 Sep 2008 10:04:13 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/37849/glitch-stalls-atom-smasher.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThe Large Hadron Collider, the $5-billion, 17-mile experiment seeking answers to the universe’s deepest mysteries, hit a snag within hours of its Sept. 10 launch, but its overseer did not report the malfunction for a week, the Daily Telegraph reports. A 30-ton transformer in the cooling system broke, causing tests to cease just a day after it fired its first proton beam.http://www.newser.com/story/37849/glitch-stalls-atom-smasher.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFri, 19 Sep 2008 9:20:48 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/37122/supercollider-beautiful-so-far-scientists-say.html?refid=rss_all_defaultScientists working with the massive atom-smasher buried under the French-Swiss border have already “seen some beautiful tracks coming off” the beams of protons circling the 17-mile loop, Bloomberg reports. “Things can go wrong at any time, but luckily this morning everything went smoothly,” one scientist told National Geographic . With the first test behind them, scientists will now gradually ramp up the experiments.http://www.newser.com/story/37122/supercollider-beautiful-so-far-scientists-say.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWed, 10 Sep 2008 16:35:54 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/37073/big-bang-machine-switched-on-were-still-here.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThe Large Hadron Collider was switched on today and the world did not end, as some doomsayers predicted, Reuters reports. Scientists at CERN in Switzerland now plan to use the giant particle-smashing machine to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang and shed light on the origins of the universe. Interest in the experiments soared after doomsday writers predicted the machine could spawn a black hole and destroy the world.http://www.newser.com/story/37073/big-bang-machine-switched-on-were-still-here.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWed, 10 Sep 2008 4:03:46 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/36979/huge-particle-collider-ready-for-debut.html?refid=rss_all_defaultPhysicists across the world will spend the wee hours of tomorrow morning watching with bated breath as the world’s most expensive science experiment gets under way, the New York Times reports. At 3:30am Eastern, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider will switch on for the first time, sending particles racing through a 17-mile track underneath Geneva, with nothing less than the core of particle physics at stake.http://www.newser.com/story/36979/huge-particle-collider-ready-for-debut.html?refid=rss_all_defaultTue, 09 Sep 2008 10:44:53 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/36601/physics-and-improv-collide.html?refid=rss_all_defaultPhysicists trying to explain the nature of the universe using the largest particle accelerator ever built are also trying to learn something else: communication skills to help them explain what they’ve learned to the rest of world. And they’re going about it in a unique way, the Wall Street Journal reports—through improv comedy.http://www.newser.com/story/36601/physics-and-improv-collide.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThu, 04 Sep 2008 7:25:09 CDT