Higgs video in Alom Shaha's piece

[amy c.]

!!? So mass is not an inherent quality, but is created and defined by a relationship? God, you can't hang onto anything these days. This is craziness. Did you all know about this? And is there not something phlogistonish about it?

I must admit that I like it better than the hapless "er, it's the amount of, um, stuff in stuff."

This was wonderful, btw. Thank you. I have no idea what it means, or whether it really means anything, and yet I'm staring very hard at it. (Ow.)

It also immediately suggests terrific stories. Imagine a villain who could manipulate mass at will, and created EXTREMELY POPULAR particles.

I need more diet Coke.

[Reg_200]

I really liked the piece. It's so true, all these metaphors in science and nobody ever spares a thought for who thought them up. They're like super memes, persisting through time and spreading through space. It's not just teachers who spread them, though, our textbooks had lots in them too.

I bet David Miller is happy too!

[Mad Dan Eccles]

Oh. Wow.

I am stunned by the analogy, and by the concept.

(When I looked an hour ago, the embedding was screwed up. The direct link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cHW1FJ45z4 )

[fnorman]

I enjoyed another analogy, relayed in the current issue of Nature Genetics - vol 40, p 375 (2008).

"Oxford University researcher Kim Nasmyth explained molecular mechanisms of chromosome segregation with a riddle. Two blind men are sent by their spouses to buy socks—with the instruction that each is to buy himself five pairs of different colors—and each buys pairs of red, orange, blue, green and yellow. Unfortunately, the shop assistant puts all ten pairs in one bag. The riddle is to devise a way for the men to redistribute their socks into two sets of five pairs of different colors. The answer is, of course, to pull the socks apart into two bags (the mechanism of the mitotic spindle), as socks are sold toggled together (standing in for the cohesin proteins used by the cell for sister chromatid cohesion)."

http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v40/n4 ... 8-375.html

[Mad Dan Eccles]

Ha ha! Yes! I was at a seminar in, oh, 2004 or 5 in which Kim used that analogy. Fantastic, isn't it?

(welcome, fnorman!)

[hedge]

Hi fnorman, and welcome.

That's a really nice one, but not quite as conceptually easy as Shaha's film. OR...maybe if I saw a *film* of the socks, it would be easier for me to understand then just staring at the words without enough caffeine in my system.

Film is probably a great medium to bring some of the more complex analogies (like relativity with the flashlight in the lift) to light.

[Dr Mike]

Welcome fnorman (can we call you fn for short)?

it would be a brilliant film project for someone like Alom to seek out the top ten analogies and (a) illustrate them, as he's so nicely done in the clip, and (b) try to trace down who came up with it and explore the history a bit. A nice way to learn about science and also science history at the same time!

[Mad Dan Eccles]

Maxine talks about socks.

[Beatrice]

I wonder if Kim came up with it?

[Mad Dan Eccles]

If I'd known then what I know now, I'd have asked him!

[henrygee]

I'm still puzzling over the Higgs video. Unfortunately it raises more questions than it answers. What is inherent about each particle that the Higgs field reacts to it in a different way? And how is the retardation of each particle mediated? I raised this with my friend and colleague Karl Ziemelis, Physics Editor of Nature, who said that no analogy is perfect. And it could be that I don't know enough about physics.

I like the analogy about chromosomes and socks. Unfortunately it reminded me of a joke about religious underwear, which I can't resist recounting. Those of a nervous disposition can stop reading now...

A man walked into the Lingerie department of a large department store. He asks the saleslady, "I would like a Jewish bra for my wife, size 34B."

With a quizzical look the saleslady asked, "Which kind of bra?"

He repeated "A Jewish Bra. She said to tell you that she wanted a Jewish Bra, and that you would know what she wanted."

"Ah, now I remember," said the saleslady. "We don't get as many requests for them as we used to. Mostly our customers lately want the Catholic bra, or the Salvation Army bra, or the Presbyterian type."

Confused, and a little flustered, the man asked "So, what are the differences?"

The saleslady responded. "It is all really quite simple. The Catholic type supports the masses. The Salvation Army lifts up the fallen, and the Presbyterian type keeps them staunch and upright." He mused on that information for a minute, and asked "So, what is the Jewish type for?"

"They," she replied, "make mountains out of molehills."

[Editor]

And it could be that I don't know enough about physics.

It could also be that the physicists don't know the answer to those questions yet, either. After all, that's why the need the LHC in the first place.

[The Prof]

Nice joke, HG.

Jenny: yes, it could be that the analogy is attempting to describe the observation, not the mechanism.

[tideliar]

And it could be that I don't know enough about physics.

It could also be that the physicists don't know the answer to those questions yet, either. After all, that's why the need the LHC in the first place.

[Daughter of Darwin]

Ha ha!! (<-- what I like to refer to as 'retro lol')

That's fabulous, tiddles.

but it does sort of raise the sobering question, what happens if the LHC actually doesn't show anything useful? That would be devastating. And possibly bad news for future mega-projects, people might think they aren't worth funding, too risky

Does anyone know if the LHC can be useful for other stuff besides Higgs?