Category Archives: Arts

Could the Higgs boson have been discovered by accident?

We have a tendency to oversimplify complicated issues. Sometimes this gives useful clarity, but more frequently it gives a distorted impression of what I am stubborn enough to call the truth. Clarity can be seductive, but is disastrously misleading if it … Continue reading

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After a summer of excitement, we’re left with the status quo. And maybe that’s no bad thing

At the Guardian.

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To think like scientists, students should work like scientists

In Aeon Magazine

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Neutrinos, antimatter, and science as a holistic detective agency

‘Holistic’ is a much abused word. Like ‘quantum’ and ‘paradigm’, it is beloved of snake-oil sellers of many types. But some kind of interconnectedness forms a key part of science’s defence against spurious results and crackpots. Two new scientific results … Continue reading

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