Physicists Find Tiny Particle With No Charge, Very Low Mass And Sub-nanosecond Lifetime

ScienceDaily ^ | December 7, 2006

[Psycho_Bunny]

There are times at Slashdot when I consider DU more credible.

[Carl LaFong]

Ummmm...Paris Hilton's brain?

[Montana4Jesus]

Where did they find it, what does it do and why do I get this sick feeling that my tax dollars are being spent on this somehow?

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Now this is no time to be making fun of Bob Dole and those Viagra commercials.

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

Ping

What say you? Potential confirmation, or artifact of the experimental technique?

[TChad]

The only particle named after a detergent. Really.

[gb63]

Sometimes when I read these articles, I suspect much of what we call modern physics may be an 'artifact of the experimental technique'. My high school course in Physics was the one subject I most enjoyed ( All A+'s ), but within a few years afterwards, almost all I had learned proved to be inoperative.

[kinoxi]

Speculation on this 'particle's characteristics are varied. The source article for this thread gives no information. Here's a link to a generally credible source that speculates on potential uses for this 'axion'. If it exists.http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225794.900-darkmatter-particles-could-xray-the-sun.html

[CharlesWayneCT]

It's Pelosi's Brain!!!!

[rawcatslyentist]

Brittneys underwear? IQ? Talent? Self respect?

Harumphf!!!!

[IronJack]

"axion"

Wasn't that a laundry detergent?

If it's of minute mass, has no significance, and a brief lifespan, why didn't they call it the "algoron"?

[annie laurie]

Thanks for the link!

[harrowup]

Slashdot has this covered.

Their consensus is that it's seriously flawed, and that the whole thing is wrong.

---

And they would be seriously correct. This is an artifact, pure and simple and someone desperate to publish got their pituitary producing testosterone instead of adrenaline in place of common sense. In my not so humble opinion.

[Tenniel]

New Scientist "generally credible"? Depends on the meaning of "generally," I guess.

Over the last couple of years its drift to the left has sped up to a swivel, and reading its articles now means picking your way through a minefield of international socialist assumptions.

[Domestic Church]

"The axion...and is believed to be a component of much of the dark matter in the universe."

They should have picked a better name!

Evil Nanonewts?

[kinoxi]

It's still generally credible when taken in the aggregate IMO.

[Verginius Rufus]

The axion's lifespan is less than a nanosecond and these physicists are concerned about its recreation? They are too kind-hearted.

[AmishDude]

Physicists Find Tiny Particle With No Charge, Very Low Mass And Sub-nanosecond Lifetime

They discovered a freshman!

[ElkGroveDan]

a tiny particle with no charge, a very low mass and a lifetime much shorter than a nanosecond

They should have called it "McCain for President, 2008"

[AmishDude]

Their consensus is that it's seriously flawed, and that the whole thing is wrong.

by large groups of well-funded physicists who have, for three decades, unsuccessfully sought the recreation and detection of axions in the laboratory, using high-energy particle accelerators.

Lovely. I think it's great to pay for "scientists" who don't know what the hell they're doing.