The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World by Sean Carroll

Scientists have just announced an historic discovery on a par with the splitting of the atom: the Higgs boson, the key to understanding why mass exists has been found. In The Particle at the End of the Universe, Caltech physicist and acclaimed writer Sean Carroll takes readers behind the scenes of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to meet the scientists and explain this landmark event.

The Higgs boson is the particle that more than six thousand scientists have been looking for using the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and highest energy particle accelerator, which lies in a tunnel 17 miles in circumference, as deep as 575 feet beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva. It took ten years to build and this search has now cost over $9 billion and required the collaboration of engineers from more than one hundred countries.

What is so special about the Higgs boson? We didn’t really know for sure if anything at the subatomic level had any mass at all until we found it. The fact is, while we have now essentially solved the mass puzzle, there are things we didn’t predict and possibilities we haven’t yet dreamed. A doorway is opening into the mind boggling, somewhat frightening world of dark matter. We only discovered the electron just over a hundred years ago and considering where that took us—from nuclear energy to quantum computing–the inventions that will result from the Higgs discovery will be world-changing.

The Particle at the End of the Universe not only explains the importance of the Higgs boson but also the Large Hadron Collider project itself. Projects this big don’t happen without a certain amount of conniving, dealing, and occasional skullduggery— and Sean Carroll explores it all. This is an irresistible story (including characters now set to win the Nobel Prize among other glories) about the greatest scientific achievement of our time.

Jean Carroll

Biography Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology, specializing in cosmology, gravitation, field theory, and quantum mechanics. His research addresses the foundations of cosmology: What happened at the very beginning of the universe? Why was entropy low near the Big Bang? Is there an interpretation of quantum mechanics that applies to the universe as a whole? What are the dark matter and dark energy that dominate the universe today? How do complex structures evolve over time?

Carroll has been blogging regularly since 2004. His textbook “Spacetime and Geometry” has been adopted by a number of universities for their graduate courses in general relativity. He is a frequent public speaker, and has appeared on TV shows, such as The Colbert Report and Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. He has produced a set of lectures for The Teaching Company on dark matter and dark energy, and another on the nature of time. He has served as a science consultant for films such as Thor and TRON: Legacy, as well as for TV shows such as Fringe and Bones. His 2010 popular book, “From Eternity to Here,” explained the arrow of time and connected it with the origin of our universe.

“The Particle at the End of the Universe,” about the Large Hadron Collider and the quest to discover the Higgs boson, was released November 2012. A TV special for NOVA on PBS, based in part on the book, is currently in development. Look for that in 2013.

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Sean Carroll – The Particle at the End of the Universe

Published on Jan 18, 2013
It was the universe’s most elusive particle, the linchpin for everything scientists dreamed up to explain how stuff works. It had to be found. But projects as big as CERN’s Large Hadron Collider don’t happen without dealing and conniving, incredible risks and occasional skullduggery.

Award-winning physicist and science popularizer Sean Carroll reveals the history-making forces of insight, rivalry, and wonder that fuelled the Higgs search and how its discovery opens a door into the mind-boggling domain of dark matter and other phenomena we never predicted.

Sean Carroll – The Particle at the End of the Universe: Q & A

Following his talk at the Ri, theoretical physicist Sean Carroll takes questions from a packed audience in the famous Faraday Theatre. Chaired by science journalist, Alok Jha.

Sean Carroll Interview – Beyond the Higgs Boson

We caught up with theoretical physicist Sean Carroll to find out why the discovery of the Higgs Boson was such a major breakthrough and what it means for scientists and our conception of reality. Emphasising the importance of fields in particle physics, Sean explores what’s in store next at the Large Hadron Collider and discusses and what exactly physicists mean when they refer to ‘symmetry’.

We ask him what could lie beyond the Higgs and if it is worth spending over $10 billion to find out. Watch Sean Carroll present his talk on ‘The Particle at the End of the Universe’

The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams

This is a pivotal moment in human history. New technologies and theories are allowing us to see a universe no one ever could have imagined. The two of us feel extremely fortunate to have witnessed first hand and in some cases participated in these discoveries. The universe has filled much of our professional lives, through Joel’s work as an astrophysicist and Nancy’s work as a writer and a lawyer working in science policy. It has helped inspire our personal lives and our marriage as well. We have collaborated in developing new ideas, in teaching, traveling, writing – in life itself since 1977. While cooking or sitting around the dining room table, and in late night talks with many of the world’s leading astronomers, we have been able to explore the ideas presented in this book. We have repeatedly found in the other’s viewpoint the insight we needed. Over decades we have created for ourselves a sense of the universe that is much richer than either of us could ever have conceived alone.

We have done this because the nature of the universe matters to us – and we believe to millions of others as well. Where do we really come from? What are we made of? Are we alone? And perhaps most importantly, do we matter? The answer to this last question is yes: we humans are significant and central to the universe in unexpected and important ways. We are discovering this fact at a moment in history when so much is at stake. It is our hope that this new picture of the universe will help convey the preciousness of the cosmic experiment on planet Earth. An understanding of our universe and our extraordinary place in it may reveal solutions to the problems that confront us personally and globally.

We invite you to join the conversation and explore the view from the center of the universe.

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2 minute video presentation of the The View from the Center of the Universe Discovering our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos
View2minVer2.mov

Nancy Ellen Abrams: “View from the Center of the Universe” personal journey

Nancy Ellen Abrams is co-author (with Joel Primack) of two books that develop deeply meaningful and imagistic perspectives from a mainstream understanding of the scientific picture of the Universe — and our role in the Cosmos. Coming from a secular Jewish background, educated in science, mythology, law, and public policy, Abrams demonstrates in this excerpted interview (by Connie Barlow) the contours of “religious naturalism” as a vibrant worldview. This interview was conducted in 2006, in the year when her book with Primack “The View from the Center of the Universe” was published.

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Cosmology of the Bible: Where Is God? ~ Steve McSwain

I once heard J. S. Spong tell of co-lecturing with Carl Sagan at a conference in the northeast a few years ago. Carl ran up to Spong, a long-time friend, and said with excitement, which he expressed with his hands, “You know, Spong, if the Ascension of Jesus occurred as it is literally portrayed in the New Testament … that is to say, had Jesus actually been caught up in the heavens in order to sit at the right hand of God … well … you know what that means, don’t you?”

“What?” asked J. S. Spong.

“Well,” explained the cosmologist, “if Jesus were caught up at the speed of light — 186,000 miles per second — with what we know today about the vastness of our galaxy — Jesus would still be traveling today just to reach the outer limits of the Milky Way! Furthermore, there are billions and billions of galaxies!”

Fascinating. Actually, our galaxy alone is not only vaster than you think, it is vaster than I can think. Hypothetically, for example, if you could place our sun at the outer limits of the galaxy and the earth at the opposite reaches and then shut off the suns rays, as in turning off a light switch, we would not know it for another 82,000 years. Theoretically, the last rays of light would take that long to reach us.

So, the cosmologist raises an all-important point for religious people, one I suspect many of them have never considered. The cosmology of the average New Testament saint was primitive at best. Clouds made up the sky and the heavens were just beyond the clouds. They had no way of imagining our nearest star being nearly 10 light years from planet earth. So, if the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are going to have any relevance in our world today, will not those who would like to take it “literally” need to rethink how they’re going to understand, and so interpret, the scriptures? Is it possible to regard sacred writings as inspired, as well as relevant and applicable, without pretending, and demanding others pretend, its limited views of the world must be accepted and never questioned?

Here’s something else. As long as you think of God as separate from you, which I did for decades and many still do today, that is to say, as long as you think of God as a male figure, grandfatherly type, having a long beard, wearing a white robe, sitting on throne and floating around in an imaginary heaven while angels sing the chorus to “Holy, Holy, Holy,” then your cosmology, and very likely your faith, is regarded by thinking people as mere fairytale with no connection whatsoever to reality. Sanity is the unequivocal acceptance of reality — of truth. Which explains why much religion today, and virtually all of it that you see on television, is insane.

What if you were to give up the ideas you learned from sincere but misinformed sunday school teachers that God is separate from you or that he lives somewhere in outer space in a place called heaven? Or that Jesus will return one day in a Rapture and rescue you?

Is it not enough that Jesus said: “The Kingdom is within you” (Luke 17:21)? Is it not enough that Jesus also said, quoting the Scriptures, “You are gods” (John 10:34). If he is the way, as most Christians insist, why would you look elsewhere or, as he put it, “travel a broad road that leads nowhere” (Matthew 7:13)? The “narrow road” leads to the universe within.

If you wish to find God, there is no need to look beyond for what could only ever be found within. Which is precisely why Rumi, the Sufi poet, said: “I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know answers … knocking on doors. Suddenly, the door opens … I’ve been knocking from the inside.”

Note:For more book reviews/articles/video clips, copy and paste Steve McSwain and go to search on this website.

On Knowing God

Dr. Steve McSwain has been called “the voice for the SBNR (Spiritual but Not Religious).”

He grew up in the Baptist church, but he’s an advocate of inter-faith dialogue. He was a Christian minister for over 20 years but didn’t receive his spiritual awakening until he quit going to church. Today, he is devoted follower of the Christ-path to knowing God but argues that Christianity isn’t the only pathway to the Divine.

Dr. McSwain may be a walking contradiction. Or, he may speak for a growing number of Americans who are finding and creating new pathways of spirituality.

Birth of the Akasha Paradigm: New Thinking For A New World by Dr. Ervin Laszlo

Description

The Akasha Paradigm is the new concept of the fundamental nature of reality. It suggests that there is a dimension in the universe that subtends all the things that exist in it. It not only subtends all things: it generates and interconnects all things, and conserves their trace. It is the network of the world, and the memory of the world.

The Akasha Paradigm, according to Dr. Laszlo, is the coming scientific “(r)evolution” that will change everything we have known about cosmos, life, and consciousness. It brings the realization that there is a deep dimension in the universe that generates and interconnects all things in the world. This gives us a new, encompassing concept of cosmos and consciousness, fresh meaning for our life, and reliable guidance for creating our future.

Recognizing that our “coherence” – connection with our interior and exterior world – is the key to our health and viability, Akasha paradigm-based science also offers a new concept of freedom and morality. “Using our freedom to our best advantage means doing the best to be a positive element in the web of life…”

Dr. Laszlo predicts that the Akashic (r)evolution will enable modern civilization to regain the coherence it has lost in society and with nature. Connecting with the Akasha and regaining our coherence is more than an option and an opportunity: “It is a fundamental precondition of creating a world where humankind is not the biggest part of the problem, but the conscious and decisive part of the solution. This is the practical meaning of the comprehensive worldview coming to light in science’s Akasha Paradigm Revolution,” according to Laszlo.

Merlian News Podcast Interview with Dr. Ervin Laszlo

In this interview, Dr. Laszlo discusses with Merryn Jose, the Akashic Field, Master’s Degrees, consciousness, holograms, time, The Club of Budapest and more.

Prof. Dr. Ervin Laszlo, founder and President of the Club of Budapest, was one of the first representatives in the area of systems philosophy and general theory of evolution. He published nearly 70 books translated into as many as 18 languages. In the course of his long academic career as a professor for philosophy, systems philosophy and future sciences, Dr. Laszlo worked in teaching and research at a variety of reputable universities in the US, Europe, and the Far East.

Dr. Ervin Laszlo’s titles and distinctions include a Ph.D. in “Lettres et Sciences Humaines” from the Sorbonne in Paris, an “Artist Diploma” from the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, an honorary medal from the Kyung Hee University in Seoul, the title of honorary doctor in economic sciences of the Turku School of Economics and Business in Finland, as well as the title of honorary doctor in the area of human sciences of the Saybrook Institute in San Francisco.

Laszlo worked as program director for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). On August 08, 1999, he ws awarded an honorary doctorate by the Canadian “International Institute of Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics”.

Laszlo serves not only as President of the Club of Budapest and head of the General Evolution Research Group, which he founded. The former President of the International Society for Systems Sciences, Advisor of the UNESCO Director General, Ambassador of the International Delphic Council, member of the International Academy of Science, the World Academy of Arts and Science and the International Academy of Philosophy, also held and holds positions as a board member or extraordinary member of numerous international associations, including, at one time, the Club of Rome.

ScienceCasts: The Super Moon of May 2012

Another “super-Moon” is in the offing. The perigee full Moon in May will be as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full moons of 2012.

The Earth Star Chakra

As we all know, the movement from the chakras are rhythmic, constant and harmonious. They circulate the energy through the four bodies in order to promote the perfect integration between our physical body and our Higher Self. When imagining the rotation of the chakras, imagine them rotating in the clockwise movement. Emphasis should be placed on the proper direction because there is that some literature affirms the opposite. When the chakras are perfectly aligned, cleared and strong; one can observe an interesting phenomenon: the root chakra and the crown chakra will undergo a polar inversion, which gives the origin to an opening or a Light gateway to new dimensions of consciousness.

The chakras should be experienced as live consciousnesses. They are not three-dimensional in nature, but they can be perceived tri-dimensionally, as some people have the ability to visualize them with the gift of sight. Normally the chakras are divided in two groups and differ in nature according to their location and they function. They are either “physical”, or personal, chakras, which include the seven most often discussed, or they are transpersonal, or spiritual, chakras which reach the areas beyond the realms of Self.

Among the transpersonal chakras, which are the ones of a more refined spiritual characteristic, we find the ones that are located “below” the self: the sub-personal chakras.

The Earth Star

The Earth Star chakra is the first sub-personal chakra. It is a chakra, believed by some members of New Age and Neo-Pagan, to exist in line with one’s spine, six inches below the feet. Other traditions place the Earth Star chakra as being “two arms lengths” below the feet. Either way, it is located in a fixed position relative to the physical body and not necessarily specifically located beneath the ground.

It is believed that one of the primary functions of the Earth Star is to coordinate the “grounding cord” for one’s Lightbody that leads to the center of the earth; and when functioning properly in coordination with the first, or root, chakra (the Muladhara Chakra) allows one to be grounded and centered in daily living.

What we call Lightbody is the fusion of the four bodies that compound the human body: the etheric, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies. Once this fusion is achieved, health, balance, harmony and stability of perfect physical, emotional and mental are finally established.

This same merge represents the unification of the objectives of the Soul and personality, the final identification between the Karma and Dharma when all becomes One. In accordance with the ancient system from Assyria, one would need to activate a fully integrated Lightbody to make the final journey through the enlightened path of the stars. One activated, the Lightbody would enable a soul to be free from all the mutational aspects of duality, igniting what we called the personal Merkabah.

One of the delicate steps of this process is the effective connection with the Lightbody of the planet, through the connection with its heart and the Christic Grid. The prospect to make this connection is only possible to the clearing, activation and integration of one’s energy system with the Earth Star Chakra.

Source: http://humanityhealing.net (http://s.tt/1bwj6)

David Wilcock: Occupy Your Self! Personal Spiritual Development (updated May 3, 2012)

David Wilcock explores the core spiritual teachings we need today… in order to be able to truly become who we already are!

The 2012 prophecies now have a stunning factual basis behind them in David Wilcock’s New York Times bestselling book, The Source Field Investigations. In this video, breaking new ground in production value for Divine Cosmos, David Wilcock goes into the spiritual principles hidden behind these scientific investigations.

Meditation, dreamwork, out-of-body experiences, philosophical principles, the Law of One, the fourth-density shift… all of this and more is explored. David Wilcock’s brilliant spiritual insights give you practical tools that can help improve the quality and joy of your life… right now!

The Future in the Stars: The Astrological Message for 2012 and Beyond

Predicting changes and trends for the future, this fascinating book debunks the myths surrounding 2012 to provide a logical and spiritual theory. Wild claims and bad astronomy have fuelled a doomsday sensation about that energetic and special year, yet little or none is mentioned about the key planets sending the messages—Pluto, Chiron, Cere, Makemake, Eris, and Sedna, as well as some newly discovered planets. This resource delves deep into these important astrological beings to reveal what will really happen in 2012 and how the gods and goddess of these planets will help humanity navigate financial, social, and physical revolutions. Part history, scientific theory, and spiritual insight, this cutting-edge contention provides an understanding not only of 2012 but also of the transformations that will follow.

Watch a video book trailer on “The Future in the Stars” (Findhorn Press) that was written by Alison Chester-Lambert. The author explains about dwarf planets that have been newly discovered in a realm at the edge of our Solar System. They tell a fascinating story about the coming industrial discoveries and social transformations of the 21st century. She will also debunk the hype around 2012 and provide the REAL astrological meaning behind the energy of that special year. A new Industrial and Social Revolution is about to happen. To order a copy of “The Future in the Stars” from Findhorn Press, visit http://www.findhornpress.com.

*Produced and edited by Joy and Daniel Davis of Beyond 50 Productions.

The Stellar Mater – The Blueprint of Creation

The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.
~ Carl Sagan

The process by which the Divine Mind creates may always be beyond our common understanding. Despite of all the efforts to resolve this existential mystery, it continues to be a thematic philosophical search of human nature to comprehend the origins of life and the reason why we all exist.

According to the philosopher Plato, the Universe was built by the “First-Born” on the geometrical figure of the Dodecahedron, a figure having twelve sides. This is typified in the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The twelve signs of the Zodiac are emblematical, in their multiple aspects, of the spiritual and physical evolution of human races, of ages, of the division of time, and order of creation and life.

We are made of star stuff. For the most part, atoms heavier than hydrogen were created in the interiors of stars and then expelled into space to be incorporated into later stars. ~ Carl Sagan

Many ancient traditions pointed to the place of our origins the trails of stars, the circle of constellations and its fixed stars and Solar Beings. They believed that the genesis of Gods and men took its rise in and from the same Point, which is the One Universal, Immutable Eternal and Absolute Unity, the Divine Mind of All creation, the Stellar Mater.

“Nuit, divine Mother, open your wings upon me, while the immortal stars shine in the eternal sky” ~ Tutankhamun mausoleum

The archetypical imagery of our ancestors created a vast referential of stories and myths that allowed them to infer some order to a previously chaotic and unknown universe. The ancient science of the stars, , an ancient science of initiation, was cultivated not only as a source of forecasts but to be the exoteric door that opens an individual to the realization of the movements of their souls during an incarnation, and to facilitate the stimulation and the development of consciousness. The cycle of initiations represented in miniature the great succession of Cosmic signs of the sidereal year.

In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist’s signature.
~ Carl Sagan

As part of the cosmic Light universe that unfolds itself inside of one orchestrated infinite rhythm, the human soul travels from a point of non-creation to the manifested reality, entering a personal journey to experience its Divinity through Selfhood. The magic of expansion of consciousness is that the more individualized we become, the more universalized is our perspective on life. We are the sons and daughters of the Light.

Only through our experiences and the integration of our multi-dimensionality and assimilation of our Stellar elements as power codes that we humans beings can develop the capability to understand , not only the vastity and deepness of Creation, but also unveil the ways in how to insert ourselves as an active and conscious Soul in a bigger plan of the Divine Mind

The Stellar Mater is the matrix of the Stellar Codes™, a series of Light Codes and transmissions that enrich our spiritual life and procures the “accelerated path” of initiations and transformation within. They are a path of reawakening, of increased connection with our Higher Selves and reintegration of the original Light Codes of Creation.

I AM a Soul. I AM a Star of Gold ~ Pyramid Texts

©2012 Humanity Healing. Partial Rights Reserved.

Journey of the Universe – Film Trailer

WRITERS’ STATEMENT

The Inspiration Behind Journey of the Universe

“We have a new story of the universe. Science has given us a new revelatory experience. It is now giving us a new intimacy with the earth.”

- Thomas Berry, Dream of the Earth

At its heart, this 60 minute documentary and book celebrates the collective inspiration of a lively and prolific 30-year-friendship between three visionaries in the fields of science, evolutionary philosophy and world religions – Thomas Berry, Mary Evelyn Tucker and Brian Thomas Swimme.

Deeply inspired by Berry’s article titled “The New Story,” which observed how humans are in between stories–creation stories of the world’s religions and the scientific story of the evolution of the universe–both Brian and Mary Evelyn joined forces to co-write this epic narrative that translates our wondrous connection to the cosmos to a broader audience.

We live in a universe of remarkable creativity that has evolved over some 14 billion years. The goal of Journey of the Universe is to tell the story of cosmic and Earth evolution drawing on the latest scientific knowledge, in a way that makes it profoundly relevant and deeply moving to the viewer. What emerges is an intensely poetic story, which evokes emotions of awe, excitement, fear, joy and belonging.

This story told in Journey of the Universe is a dramatic one. Throughout billions of years of evolution, triumph, and disaster have been only a hair’s breadth apart. Violence and creativity are pervasive. The ability of matter to organize and re-organize itself is remarkable – from the formation of the first atoms to the emergence of life.

The message of Journey of the Universe shows how we are not just a part of this astonishing process, we are at the very edge of evolution, a primate species that has found in its language and symbols the power to take over the very evolutionary process itself. But this control that we now exercise comes with a responsibility; and viewers of Journey of the Universe will not only be imbued with a sense of astonishment at all that has taken place, they will also come to feel the excitement in learning that now we live in a time when the human species is being asked to play a central role in activating the flourishing powers of Earth’s living systems.

One of the aims of this project is to use the art of storytelling to capture the grandeur and drama of this epic of the universe – from the Big Bang, to where we are today in a moment of great transition.

Carl Sagan was the first to remind us that “We are all stardust,” in Cosmos (a series co-created by the Director of this film). Twenty five years on, The Journey of the Universe will show us how the lineage of stardust can shape the way we feel about our own planet, so that we might better cherish and protect what gave us life and nourishes us still.