Physics in the news

There was a nice article in today's NYT by Dennis Overbye about Tony's experiment here at CERN. He is on the ATLAS experiment--one of the big ones mentioned in the article. I hope to get a guided tour before I leave! Here's the link: "A Giant Takes on Physics' Biggest Questions."

I interviewed one of the guys quoted in the article--Joe Lykken--for an article I wrote for Highlights for Children about the search for the top quark. Nice guy. I interviewed my husband for the article, as well. He is also a nice guy. This was one of my first pieces of science writing for kids, and I'm still happy with it. I like the challenge of writing about "difficult" topics for kids. Meaning, nothing to do with dinosaurs or cute furry animals.

Not that I have anything against dinosaurs or cute furry animals. In fact, in my Antarctic Scientists book (just submitted!) I devote an entire chapter to paleontologists and most of another to a guy who studies Weddell seals. (They are unbearably cute.) But I also have a chapter about astrophysicists working in Antarctica. I think that too many people underestimate kids when it comes to science writing. I'm not sure if Stella Brite and the Dark Matter Mystery was a complete success or not--there are some things I would do differently if I were to re-write it--but I mean, holy cow, think of the kid appeal. Did you know that we have no clue about the stuff that makes up most of the universe? The stuff you can SEE, that's peanuts. Cool? Cool.