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You may have an opinion on climate change, evolution education, stem-cell research, and science funding. But do you have the facts to back up your opinion? This quiz will test your basic scientific literacy.

50 multiple choice questions.

Some of these are gimmes. Some of them are more math then ( Read more... )

By Eryn Brown and Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times
September 23, 2011

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Video from the Associated Press

Physicists at the lab near Geneva say they've observed subatomic particles moving faster than the speed of light. If confirmed, it would defy Einstein - and upend our understanding of physics ( Read more... )

According to The Associated Press, neutrinos may have been clocked going over the ultimate speed limit.

The researchers are asking for reviews of their experiment data before making a claim, but if this is true, the implications are huge.

I don't know much about the physics involved, but this sounds really, really cool: "Optical cloaks hide objects in broad daylight."
( The Story.... )

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US physicists are to announce Wednesday that data from a major atom smasher lab may have revealed a new elementary particle, or potentially a new force of nature.A spokeswoman from the US Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, which operates the powerful particle accelerator Tevatron, said the results would be released at ( Read more... )

Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to run into 2012
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is to continue operating in 2012 after officials dropped plans for an extended shut down at the end of this year.

The decision by managers at Cern - the organisation that runs the LHC - was announced in an advisory report.

Source has more, but doesn't mention the Mayan ( Read more... )

Science News: How to use a pulsar to find Starbucks
Cosmic GPS would employ pulsing stars, not satellites, as celestial beacons
By Marissa Cevallos

To find your favorite coffee shop in an unknown city, getting directions via satellite works like a charm. But that technology won’t get you from Earth to Jupiter ( Read more... )

Physicists probing the origins of the cosmos hope that next year they will turn up the first proofs of the existence of concepts long dear to science-fiction writers such as hidden worlds and extra dimensions.

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NPR: Ig Nobel To Nobel: Creative (And Fun) Science Wins
The star of the physics world today is a new form of carbon: graphene. It's the world's thinnest material, and also perhaps the strongest ( Read more... )