Summer recap

Yes, it's been a while and a few hot topics have emerged since then. Let's recap:

The LHC, the giant particle smasher, did not create a black hole that destroyed the world. In fact, the project was initially a failure due to the machine breaking down. Then it got delayed because of lenghty repairs and ties to Al-Qaeda. It has recently been tested at a fraction of its full capacity. But rest assure physicist will eventually use the collider's full potential as they believe "seeing nothing is really not an option."

One of the more interesting stories of the summer has to be the launching of the first clown in space. Cirque du soleil founder, Guy Laliberte, added space traveling to his curriculum this year, spending a little less than two weeks in orbit. He used the opportunity to create Moving Stars and Earth for Water, a show that's literally "out of this world." Moving Stars and Earth for Water is available online through www.Onedrop.org.

We can safely say that the demotion of pluto from a planet to... well, something short of a planet rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. The little planet that could was always a misfit but people love underdog stories and are ready to go to the barricade for what they believe is an unwarranted injustice towards, frankly, a mass of space debris... Fear not though, for the Kepler telescope was launch this year in hope of finding an earth-like planet in the inhabitable region of our solar system. Basically, a replacement for when we're done messing this planet.

Swine flu has given headaches to autorities around the world. The latest worldwide pandemic has become such a threat that here in Canada a vaccination program is currently underway. I, for myself, have not taken the shot. The relatively low turnout for the program is in part due to scepticism toward the potency of the virus. We'll have to wait for the end of the season to evaluate whether authorities were right in pushing for mass inoculation.

The big event these days is the debate climate change is generating. World leaders met at Copenhagen to determine their post-Kyoto actions. I won't say much about it since it will likely be the topic of my next post but needless to say, there are some interesting patterns to analyse from this episode.