DailyDirt: Measuring Really Small Stuff

Science has made a lot of progress, and most of that progress has been based on increasingly accurate measurements. Scientists have access to better and better tools that allow them to see ever smaller bits of matter. Here are some recent discoveries and some nifty new equipment that might help us see how more stuff works.

• The DOE's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has the world's first hard X-ray free-electron laser -- which can capture images of the 3D structures of proteins, intact viruses, and perhaps live microbes in action at a scale that could revolutionize the study of life. The slight downside for this tool is that the measured samples are totally destroyed in the process. [url]
• The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has found no evidence for the Higgs boson yet. Remember, scientists never prove anything, they only disprove things. But now, physicists can exclude the Higgs mass range of 144-207 GeV/c2 from their models. [url]
• A new ultra-sensitive Raman scattering sensor claims to be a billion times more sensitive than previously possible. Funded by DARPA, the sensor can detect all kinds of chemicals -- such as explosives or biological agents. [url]
• Physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have measured something strange with the Tevatron particle accelerator. It could be a new particle or force... or just a glitch. [url]
• To discover more interesting science-related stuff, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Source: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110304/17152013370/dailydirt-measuring-really-small-stuff.shtml

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