The NewsDemon Blog

In what is perhaps the biggest discovery in the physical sciences in years, scientists at CERN say that they likely have discovered the Higgs boson particle, considered by many a major key to furthering our understanding of the universe as reported on USENET Newsgroups.

Two teams worked separately in arriving at their results, discovering what may be a new subatomic particle. The researchers expressed optimism that the new discovery is, in fact, the Higgs boson particle that could explain how particles obtain their mass. “As a layman, I think I would say, ‘we have it,’” Rolf-Dieter Heuer of CERN said at a press conference announcing the findings, “but as a scientist I have to say, ‘what do we have?’”

Further research is needed to better understand the results and what they mean, but the research teams described their results as ‘five sigma’, which puts the chance that their results were simply an abnormality at extremely minute to say the least. The science world erupted in excitement at the announcement with many evaluating what the new discovery could mean for our understanding of the physical universe.

“This is indeed a new particle,” said Joe Incandela, a spokesman for one of the research teams. “We know it must be a boson and it’s the heaviest boson ever found. The implications are very significant and it is precisely for this reason that we must be extremely diligent in all of our studies and cross-checks.”

Sometimes called the ‘God particle’, the Higgs boson is named after Peter Higgs, one of the scientists who theorized of its existence in the 1960s. He was on hand for the announcement in Geneva.

The possible discovery of the Higgs boson has generated a renewed interest in the field as media outlets from around the world reported and discussed the new findings. ‘Higgs’ was even trending on Twitter on the day of the announcement. The new findings will surely generate plenty of discussion in Usenet newsgroups and other forums designated for the discussion of such scientific discoveries.

According to the latest technology newsgroup postings, humankind has stored more than 295 billion gigabytes (or 295 exabytes) of data since 1986, according to a new report based on research by scientists at the University of Southern California.  And it comes out to 295 exabytes-  at least as of 2007.

In other words, the amount of data the world stored by 2007 is equal to 1.2 billion average hard drives.

The data doesn’t just take PCs into account, though. A total of 60 technologies, from DVDs to paper adverts and books, were included in the research. To provide a sense of scale, Dr Martin Hilbert of the University of Southern California, has been reported to state in cyber world newsgroups: ‘If we were to take all that information and store it in books, we could cover the entire area of the US or China in 13 layers of books.

The same information stored digitally on CDs would create a stack of discs that would reach beyond the moon, according to the researchers.

The researchers say humankind sent 1.9 zettabytes (1,000 exabytes) of information in 2007 through broadcast technology such as televisions and GPS, equivalent to every person in the world receiving 174 newspapers every day. For two-way communications, cell phones for instance, the 2007 total is 65 exabytes, about equal to every person on Earth relaying six newspapers worth of information per day.

The authors say we can consider 2002 the dawn of the digital age, when digital storage of information pulled ahead of analog storage. By 2007, nearly 94 percent of the world’s memory was in digital form.

To put those numbers in perspective, a zettabyte is 1,000 exabytes. An exabyte is 1,000 petabytes. A petabyte is 1,000 terabytes. A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes. And you should know what a gigabyte is. Even with an Unlimited USENET account with constant downloading, you’d be waiting a long, long time to complete that amount of data.

Even if you did, the figure will only have increased since the ’07 cut-off date, given that the researchers reckon the storage capacity of the world’s computers doubles every month.

And you thought you were killing it with your 2 terabyte hard drive.

Accessing USENET newsgroups on the go may quickly become better and faster. The Federal Communications Commission has voted unanimously to allow unused airwaves in the broadcast TV spectrum to be used for unlicensed mobile broadband operations, creating a Super Wi-Fi. The decision will enable both greater bandwidth and longer range than present-day Wi-Fi signals.

The unlicensed airspace, which sits between TV channels on the spectrum and is called “white space,” uses a lower frequency than traditional Wi-Fi, which means it can travel both farther and faster, and can penetrate walls. White space technology’s capabilities have led some to dub it “Super Wi-Fi” or “Wi-Fi on steroids,” in the words of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

By unlocking the white spaces that exist between digital TV channels, namely 50MHz and 700MHz frequencies, it enables Wi-Fi to perform better.

“Unlocking this valuable spectrum will open the doors for new industries to arise, create American jobs, and fuel new investment and innovation,” the FCC said.

Upon FCC’s approval, Genachowski celebrated the possibilities of Super Wi-Fi.

“Super Wi-Fi is what it sounds like: Wi-Fi, but with longer range, faster speeds, and more reliable connections,” he said. “We can also expect, as we’ve seen now with Wi-Fi, enhanced performance from the mobile devices using licensed spectrum that we’ve come to rely on so heavily.”

Super Wi-Fi is expected to generate speeds that are 15 times faster than current Wi-Fi technologies, allowing for mobile devices, such as the upcoming tablets and laptops to access and use it to access these networks for optimal USENET and online access.

Amateur astronomer newsgroups and other space related newsgroups are abuzz with the recent finding from NASA scientists that said one of two small asteroids passed between the Earth and the moon on Wednesday.

The first one passed by early Wednesday morning. The second rock, estimated to be 20 by 46 feet long, is on the same course and is scheduled to pass late Wednesday afternoon.

On our side to help us from these dangers of the Universe,  Asteroid hunters at the CfA monitor and research what these asteroids may or may not do,

According to their calculations, the asteroids will not clash with Earth but they will pass our planet at a relatively close distance.  The asteroids will be visible from amateur telescopes.

The first one, 2010 RX 30, is at least 30 meters long. Its closest pass: about 154,000 miles. That’s 40 percent closer than the Moon. The second asteroid, 2010 RF 12, is about 20 meters long; it will miss us by a mere 49,000 miles. That’s about 80 percent closer than the Moon.

Once every 10 years, one of those 10-meter asteroids sails into the atmosphere. Most of  them burn up – but every now and then, a space rock comes swooping down and burns up through our atmosphere without causing any significant damage.

The second asteroid pass won’t be visible to the naked eye. However, as it has been reported on USENET, it can be seen through an amateur telescope.

It’s unknown exactly how much damage such objects would do if they did hit Earth. On space newsgroups, published reports of simulations showing that a 30 to 50 meter asteroid could cause substantial damage to Earth’s surface by depositing energy several kilometers up in the atmosphere, and causing a jet of expanding gas to plunge to the ground.

A large meteorite exploded above Siberia a hundred years ago – and flattened 80 million trees. The last time a really big asteroid hit the Earth was about 700 B.C. in what’s now Estonia.