August 5, 2016 - And there is another disappointment for the physics community today, as the LHC teams have announced that the now famous two-photon decay discovered last winter is in fact a statistical blip and nothing more. They have spent the past year collecting more data, and this mystery 'particle' did not re-appear, so it really was just a random fluctuation and not a new particle of any sort.
July 30, 2016 - My apologies to anyone who has been trying to phone me in the last few days - it turns out my phone is dead and I cannot get the replacement until late August/early September. Until then please use e-mail or other messaging systems.
July 20, 2016 - The Large Underground Xenon experiment has now completed its run and released its data, and unfortunately they have not detected any dark matter. Like many who work in the field of dark matter, I had hoped for something more interesting. Now we will just have to revise the models and look to the next big experiment.
July 18, 2016 - I have returned safely from my travels, and am now back at work. Relaxed, refreshed, and ready for new challenges!
July 9, 2016 - I am going to be traveling for the next week and away from my email, so if anyone needs anything urgently let me know today.
July 4, 2016 - Congratulations to the teams behind the Juno mission for successfully reaching Jupiter after a five year mission! Now the data collecting can start, and perhaps we can learn a little more about the gas giants in our own solar system and in distant systems!
July 1, 2016 - HAPPY CANADA DAY!!
June 12, 2016 - In a rather unbelievable moment this week, I just learned that an article I wrote on the Higgs mechanism eight years ago has just passed 100,000 views, and a review of special relativity that I wrote twelve years ago has had over 1,000,000 views! When I wrote those two articles I thought they might get a few dozen views, so this is just amazing!
June 3, 2016 - A reminder today that Saturn is in opposition, so in regions with clear skies it should be good viewing tonight. The exact times vary by region, but around 10:00pm it should rise out of the east/southeast and stay in the sky for about six hours. It should also be bright enough to view unaided, but the view with binoculars or a telescope will be even better as it should make the famous rings of Saturn visible.
May 28, 2016 - The Rosetta mission has announced today that the comet that they have been studying for the past two years contains amino acids and phosphorous in its halo. Both are required building blocks for life, adding more weight to the theory that the components that originally formed life on Earth may have been brought from space. The press released can be viewed here.
May 26, 2016 - Congratulations to the University of Victoria and specifically to Dr. Alexandre Brolo for being awarded a research grant to further his studies into the detection and treatment of the Zika virus. Further proof that the University of Victoria is home to some of the best scientific research in the world.
May 9, 2016 - For unknown reasons, the webhost for my updated websites, which I started building in January, have been unresponsive for the past three days. The partial websites are still available on the internet, but they can no longer be updated or edited. At this point it seems to be a technical glitch, but given the history of cyber-attacks against my websites in the past it is always suspicious. I will give updates as they become available.
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