Today was CERN‘s big announcement that results from the Large Hadron Collider proton-proton collisions point to a new particle that could be the Higgs boson.
Read their press release or watch the video “What is the Higgs boson?” from theoretical physicist, John Ellis.
I have always found the Large Hadron Rap to be educational and entertaining.
Journal Citation Reports has just been updated. It now contains the journal impact factors for 2011.
The following is a brief refresher on the journal impact factor. The journal impact factor is published annually in a database called Journal Citation Reports and is calculated according to a formula. It is the citations that a journal receives in a given year to articles published in the previous 2-year period (for example, citations that a journal receives in 2011 to articles it published in 2009-2010). This number is then divided by the number of articles published in that previous 2-year period.
Some consider the journal impact factor to be a leading indicator in determining where to submit your manuscript for publication.
Image from Reeding Lessons
The UEFA 2012 European Championship final was decided yesterday but here is one tech item that may help to fill the void. Two young inventors found a way to turn a soccer ball into a power source as a project for an engineering class. Jessica O. Matthews and Julia Silverman founded Uncharted Play last year and have introduced the SOCCKET. It turns a soccer ball into an eco-friendly portable generator.
Here’s how it works: the SOCCKET has a mechanism inside that captures and stores the kinetic energy from playing with the ball. The mechanism turns a motor and the motor powers a battery that can support small appliances when they are plugged into the ball. For example, after being kicked around for about thirty minutes the ball can power a reading light for three hours. If you are interested in the SOCCKET, find out how you can get in the game.