That's strange. Really, really starnge. A press conference of this magnitude, coverage in main stream media comparable to that of World Cup Football, and no published results in accepted scentific journal yet? It must have been cross verified by some other very reputed groups then?
Well not actually....as none has the required setup !
And this "discovery" (four sigma or whatever) doesn't even point to some hetherto unknown theory or phenomena; nor does it explain any of the gaps in understanding so far. It doesn't complete the unified field theory or explains quantum gravity.
To do any such thing, tons of more data will have to be gathered and analyzed. So why jump the gun then?
I really feel sorry for the big scentists who has to "publicise" such almost true results even before they have got enough time to analyse it in a truely scetific way, as a marketing startegy! After all large hedron colliders don't come cheap and getting such gigantic funding for fundamental research at the time of economic doom and gloom isn't easy.
How can they forget their copetitors across the Atlantic in the Atom Smasher, who had to close the shop. Or the NASA space missions...even though it is in completely different teritory the one thing that is uncannily similar is the need for an astronomical budget.
Hence it seems the scientists resort to the marketting gimmicks . Perhaps they learned it in hard way that equations and experimental details don't sell as much as "God Particle", no matter how prepostorous it may sound!
I can't help remembering that episode of the Big Bang Theory where Leonard was persuaded by Sheldon et all to sleep with a rich, old widow to secure funding for their institute.
Or may be this comparison is a bit unfair on Leonard....at least he didn't compromise his science, merely his sexuality!
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