StewBlog

I have just ordered this book from www.play.com It was originally published in 1884 by Edwin A. Abbot and is set in Flatland, a world where only two dimensions exist. All of the characters within this world are, necessarily, polygons whose social class is directly proportional to the number of sides they have. Whilst most of the characters in Flatland are blissfully content going about their business in two dimensions, our narrative hero, A. Square, is enlightened one day to the presence of a third dimension when he befriends a sphere, who has been observing the inhabitants of Flatland completely unnoticed from above... This in turn leads to the possibility that the sphere is unaware of further dimensions beyond his own comprehension of his 3D world... Perhaps he is being watched by unnoticed beings in a fourth dimension?

In the summer of this year the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, on the Swiss/French border, will finally begin operation after 15 years in the making. This huge underground circular tunnel with a circumference of 27km will accelerate particles near to the speed of light (~300 million metres per second) at a temperature of -271 degrees centigrade and ultimately cause them to collide with each other. It is hoped that upon the collision of two proton beams, under such conditions, a particle first theorised over 40 years ago by Dr Higgs, of Edinburgh University, will be flung out and finally be proven to exist experimentally - The elusive Higgs Boson; also dubbed the 'God' particle, such is its significance. Based on this and many other experiments planned at CERN, huge advances in our understanding of quantum mechanics may be realised. Indeed, a theory to unify the four forces known to act in the universe - electromagnetism, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force and gravity - may be within reach. Come July, the world will be gazing toward this mammouth machine to see the results of one of the most eagerly anticipated experiments ever undertaken...