Physicists probing the origins of the cosmos hope that next year they will turn up the first proofs of the existence of concepts long dear to science-fiction writers such as hidden worlds and extra dimensions.

And as their Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva moves into high gear, they are talking increasingly of the "New Physics" on the horizon that could totally change current views of the universe and how it works.

"Parallel universes, unknown forms of matter, extra dimensions... These are not the stuff of cheap science fiction but very concrete physics theories that scientists are trying to confirm with the LHC and other experiments."

Its the quark-gluon plasma that makes it all worthwhile ;)

Who really cares about 'gay marriage' when we are on the brink of new dimensions! Literally! ;)

Sylvestor

(edit: added link to 'gay marriage' post)

By Katia Moskvitch Science reporter, BBC News

The Large Hadron Collider has successfully created a "mini-Big Bang" by smashing together lead ions instead of protons.

The scientists working at the enormous machine on Franco-Swiss border achieved the unique conditions on 7 November.

The experiment created temperatures a million times hotter than the centre of the Sun.

Two days later and we're still here...but wait, its not over yet folks! The LHC is still on track to go after the elusive 'god particle' expected results around December, 2012 ;) hmmm that date seems eerily familiar!

Sylvestor

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Giant NASA balloon lands in outback

By Chrissy Arthur

Updated Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:53am AEST

PreviousNextSlideshow: Photo 1 of 2

The balloon is the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, (ABC News: ABC News)

• Video: Scientists release research balloon (7pm TV News NSW)
• Map: Longreach 4730

Scientists are trying to recover a massive NASA balloon and several tonnes of equipment that drifted into outback Queensland over the weekend.

The 300-metre balloon was launched recently from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory to gather data about the universe.

The balloon is the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and carries two tonnes of equipment used to study outer space phenomena.

Launch director Associate Professor Ravi Sood says it landed without incident near Longreach in central western Queensland on Sunday afternoon.

"About 70 kilometres south of Longreach very close to a farm track, so we should have our recovery people there some time this morning," he said.

"The balloon landed separately - the balloon landed about 20 kilometres west of where the instrument and the parachute impacted."

Associate Professor Sood says overall the exercise was a success, considering its magnitude.

"The equipment was just about two tonnes - then there was about a tonne of ballast and the balloon weighed about two tonnes - we had a gross lift of about four or five tonnes," he said.

"It was spectacularly successful ... the whole flight was flawless and that's a great credit to the team that comes out from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Texas."

He says some residents may have thought the balloon was a UFO.

Tags: astronomy, the-universe, space-exploration, research, australia, nt, alice-springs-0870, longreach-4730, mount-isa-4825

First posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:37am AEST

MORE stories from Queensland

Just updating from a previous post.

And no, we didn't make it to the launch. Maybe next time!

Sylvestor