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Turning 60

Strange how time goes by. And strange I would say that, since I know time does not flow, it is...

On The Illusion Of Time And The Strange Economy Of Existence

I recently listened again to Richard Feynman explaining why the flowing of time is probably an...

RIP - Hans Jensen

Today I was saddened to hear of the passing of Hans Jensen, a physicist and former colleague in...

2026 Plans

This year opened in slow motion for me, at least work-wise. I have been on parental leave since...

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Tommaso DorigoRSS Feed of this column.

Tommaso Dorigo is an experimental particle physicist, who works for the INFN at the University of Padova, and collaborates with the CMS and the SWGO experiments. He is the president of the Read More »

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How Do We Fix Science Journalism ? Simple - We Don't.

How Do We Fix Science Journalism ? Simple - We Don't.

Mar 09 2010 | comment(s)

How do we fix science journalism ? Simple: we don't. We let it sink, and be reborn in a different form.

It is rather utopic to insist that in a world of changing means of communications, a world where printed matter is losing ground to the advantage of electronic media, the diffusion of scientific information may or shall stay the same.
Ten Thousand Internal Documents

Ten Thousand Internal Documents

Mar 08 2010 | comment(s)

The CDF collaboration, which runs one of the two proton-antiproton collider experiments at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory since the early eighties, has published hundreds of scienticif papers in the course of its 25 years of operation. I believe the number has abundantly surpassed the half-thousand mark, but I am unaware of its exact entity.
All Women Team Runs The CMS Experiment On March 8th

All Women Team Runs The CMS Experiment On March 8th

Mar 06 2010 | comment(s)

On March 8th, international women day, the CMS experiment at CERN will be run almost entirely by women. 32 of the 34 shifts needed to run our experiment will be covered by women scientists of our Collaboration - which counts 588 women overall.

I think this is great news and a very good idea. 588 women scientists are quite an impressive force! And believe me, most of them really do kick ass!!
The Say of the Week

The Say of the Week

Mar 06 2010 | comment(s)

"Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."

Plato
Understanding Muon Decay

Understanding Muon Decay

Mar 04 2010 | comment(s)

Yesterday somebody asked me here if I could explain how does a muon really decide when and how to decay. I tried to answer this question succintly in the thread, and later realized that my answer, although not perfectly correct in the physics, was actually not devoid of some didactic power. So I decided to recycle it and make it the subject of an independent post.

Before I come to the discussion of how, exactly, does a muon choose when and how to decay, however, let me make a few points about this fascinating particle, by comparing its phenomenology to that of the electron.
Pitfalls of weekend shifts

Pitfalls of weekend shifts

Feb 28 2010 | comment(s)

Cannot resist posting the following paperclip, grabbed from a news site this afternoon (it's a Sunday, a critical detail you should not overlook; and this is an Italian newspaper, as should be obvious).



The piece reports news on the Chilean earthquake. Here is a quick-and-dirty translation of the relevant part: "In Conception 350 buried under the rubble. Jackals in action. The government imposes the offside."