Author: Sweet Tea, Science

Borrowed from PhD Comics: The Higgs Boson Explained

Yet another example of how I am constantly amazed by people’s ability to distill down difficult topics and concepts and present them in an understandable and entertaining manner. Jorge Cham of Piled Higher and Deeper  intersperses comics inspired by life as a grad stud with interviews at various universities and research institutions. This week he traveled to CERN to interview Particle Physicist Daniel Whiteson about the Higgs Boson and how the LHC is attempting to find it.

The combination of visual and audio information presented in such a unique and entertaining way gets me excited to learn about a new topic. I recommend watching the video in full screen to get the entire experience.

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Don’t forget to vote in this weeks poll. What sort of posts do you want to see on this blog? More like this one? Your opinion is important to me!

Thinking About the Future of This Blog

It took me a few days of those unavoidable ‘woe-is-me-I’m-not-qualified-for-space-travel-research‘ blues, but I’m back in the pilot’s seat and already engrossed with finding my next potential 2013 adventure. Something has to distract me from writing my thesis, right?

I’d like to first extend a hearty ‘Best of Luck’ to the 30 finalists in the HI-SEAS program. I will be following along from wherever I end up and possibly providing updates to my readers from my position on the outside. I am also considering applying for the 2014 crew, so any advice for making it to the finalists would be greatly appreciated.

One last tidbit to carry with you to the Red Planet:

On To The Future


My main focus with this blog is still sharing an interest and passion for science. However, I am going to be focusing less on the space and astronomy aspects and more on general science topics. Are you ready to get your biology on? I hope to incorporate aspects of travel and food blogging and I’ll have a lot of time to focus on these topics once I graduate. Until that point, get ready for some grad school/thesis writing ‘How to…’ posts.

Do you have requests for blog topics? Please allow your voice to be heard in this week’s poll. The poll is located on top left side bar, and you may choose as many answers as your heart desires. Thanks for your support and advice! If you would like to request topics not on the poll, by all means include them as a comment here!

Be patient with me in the short-term. I’ll be playing around with different visual themes and layouts. A new outfit helps when starting something new! I also need to brainstorm for a new name. One that will apply to my blog over the long-term. Again, suggestions are appreciated.

Not This Time

I got the most disappointing news today.

Dear HI-SEAS Applicant,
Thank you again for your interest in the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation. I am sorry to inform you that you have not been selected for the interview stage of the application process. We had a very large number of highly qualified applicants, and it was extremely difficult to narrow the pool down.

I believe I’ve put a lot of hard work into this application process and to be cut now is really saddening. I will hopefully be able to apply next year and get further. I wish all the best to those applicants who have advanced and will go on to interviews and flight physicals.

I don’t know what will happen in the short term with this blog. I am sinking into the final two months of my thesis and need to concentrate. But, I hope to not abandon everyone who has been so supportive. Stay tuned while I figure a few things out.