Scientists have just announced an historic discovery on a par with the splitting of the atom: the Higgs boson. The key to understanding why mass exists has been found. In this lecture, based on the book The Particle at the End of the Universe, Caltech physicist and acclaimed writer Sean Carroll takes you behind the scenes of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to meet the scientists and explain this landmark event.
Skeptic: Examining Extraordinary Claims and Promoting Science
Results for the keyword:
physics
Past Lecture at Caltech
The Particle at the End of the Universe:
How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us
to the Edge of a New World
eSkeptic for 11-12-14
In this week’s eSkeptic, Michael Shermer reviews Margaret Wertheim’s Physics on the Fringe: Smoke Rings, Circlons, and Alternative Theories of Everything. This book review first appeared in the Wall Street Journal on December 10, 2011.
Past Lecture at Caltech
Quantum Man: Richard Feynman’s Life in Science
In this gripping new scientific biography, theoretical physicist and best-selling author (The Physics of Star Trek), Lawrence Krauss, offers a unique scientific biography of an immensely colorful persona: revered Nobel Prize-winning physicist and curious character Richard Feynman, arguably the greatest physicist of the second half of the 20th century.
eSkeptic for 11-03-09
In this week’s eSkeptic, James N. Gardner reviews Brian Greenes’s book The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos.
From the Reading Room
Is God in the Equations?
In this book review Joe Cuchiara considers the validity of the new theories of emergence and complexity and how complex systems arise naturally from the bottom up through the natural forces of nature as emergent properties, instead of the traditional top down explanation of divine design. Herald Morowitz’s book The Theory of Everything is an all encompassing theory to explain the cosmos.
Past Lecture at Caltech
A Special Dual Event
How Old is the Universe? and The Shape of Inner Space
In this special dual lecture event, Venderbilt University astronomer David Weintraub explains how old the universe is and how we know in an enthusiastic way. Following that lecture, Dr. Shing-Tung Yau tells the story of “Calabi-Yau manifolds,” — one of the smallest things you can possibly imagine — six-dimensional geometric spaces that may be more than a trillion times smaller than an electron. They might also be one of the defining features of our universe!
eSkeptic for 10-11-03
In this week’s eSkeptic, we present an article from Skeptic magazine vol. 2, no. 2 (1993) wherein physicist Milton Rothman examines the relationship between science and religion and the extent to which a scientist should apply his belief in realism to all aspects of our knowledge of the universe.
eSkeptic for 10-03-17
In this week’s eSkeptic, Kenneth Grubbs reviews The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins as well as and The Case for God by Karen Armstrong. In this week’s Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Sean Faircloth (the new Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America) about some troubling current events.
From the Reading Room
The Great Afterlife
This debate between Deepak Chopra and Michael Shermer came about after the widely read and referenced debate the two had last year on the virtues and value of skepticism. Deepak and Michael thought it would be stimulating to have a debate on the topic. Michael read Deepak’s book and goes first in the debate, offering his assessment of the “proofs” presented in Deepak’s book, then Deepak responds.
eSkeptic for 09-11-11
In this week’s eSkeptic, Lloyd B. Lueptow asserts that the Large Hadron Collider experiments should be delayed or stopped while the risk/cost-benefit equation is sorted out in debates the public can comprehend. The only acceptable risk is zero when the cost is the possible destruction of planet Earth. This piece is followed with a rebuttal by Dr. Lawrence Krauss.
get eSkeptic
our free newsletter
Science in your inbox every Wednesday!
eSkeptic is our free email newsletter. Delivered once a week, you’ll receive fascinating articles, announcements, podcasts, book reviews, and more…
Watch Live Broadcasts from Caltech for free!
Lectures Live Streamed from Caltech
Can’t make it to Caltech for a Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture? Watch the live stream of our lectures for free online, right here, broadcast live from Caltech!
Popular Articles
on skeptic.com
Here are the articles that people have been sharing over the last few days.
Help the
Skeptics Society
at no cost to you!
Planning on shopping at Amazon.com? Start your shopping by clicking the button below, and the Skeptics Society will receive a commission. Your prices for all Amazon products will remain exactly the same, yet you’ll provide essential financial support for the work of the nonprofit Skeptics Society.
See our affiliate links page for Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, and iTunes links.
The Believing Brain
(now in paperback)
Get the autographed paperback
In this, his magnum opus, Dr. Michael Shermer presents his comprehensive theory on how beliefs are born, formed, nourished, reinforced, challenged, changed, and extinguished. Sam Harris calls The Believing Brain “a wonderfully lucid, accessible, and wide-ranging account of the boundary between justified and unjustified belief.” Leonard Mlodinow calls it “a tour de force integrating neuroscience and the social sciences.”
FREE PDF Download
Top 10 Myths About Evolution (and how we know it really happened)
This concise pamphlet provides answers to common objections to evolution, such as: If humans came from apes, why aren’t apes evolving into humans?; Only an intelligent designer could have made something as complex as an eye; The second law of thermo-dynamics proves that evolution is impossible; Evolution can’t account for morality; and more…
FREE PDF Download
Top 10 Things You Should Know About Alternative Medicine
Harriet Hall, MD (aka the SkepDoc), shares her wit and wisdom about alternative medicine including: chiropractic, the placebo effect, homeopathy, acupuncture, and the questionable benefits of organic food, detoxification, and ‘natural’ remedies.
FREE PDF Download
Learn to be a Psychic in 10
Easy Lessons
Psychic readings and fortunetelling are an ancient art — a combination of acting and psychological manipulation. While some psychics are known to cheat and acquire information ahead of time, these ten tips focus on what is known as “cold reading” — reading someone “cold” without any prior knowledge about them.