How exactly would a Higgs boson give a particle mass?

Scientists say that they are close to proving the existence of the elusive Higgs boson, a theoretical particle that imputes matter with the property of mass. How does that work anyway? ?

By Natalie Wolchover,?Lifes Little Mysteries / July 3, 2012

In this file photo, a physicist explains the ATLAS experiment on a board at the European Center for Nuclear Research, CERN, outside Geneva, Switzerland. The illustration shows what the long-presumed Higgs boson particle is thought to look like.

Anja Niedringhaus/AP/File

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The infamous Higgs particle has a weighty task: It grants all the other elementary particles their mass. Without it, they ? we ? would zip around frantically at the speed of light, too foot-loose to form atoms. But how does the Higgs do it?

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In lieu of equations, physicists tend to explain the process in terms of sports and syrup.

First, each of the elementary particles acquires its unique set of attributes by interacting with invisible entities called fields. Like football fields, these are large stages upon which individuals (be they electrons or running backs) dash this way and that, and occasionally bash together. But unlike football fields, the fields of physics are three-dimensional, and?extend infinitely in all directions.

One such field is the electromagnetic (EM) field ? the kind you can feel near the poles of a red and silver?bar magnet, but which actually exists everywhere all the time. Each particle interacts with the EM field in a way that depends on its electric charge. For example, electrons, whose charge is -1, tend to move through the field toward the positive ends of bar magnets, and to clump together with positively charged protons.

Like a sports field with its corresponding ball, each field of physics has a corresponding particle. The EM field, for example, is associated with the photon, or particle of light. This correspondence plays out in two ways: First, when the EM field is "excited," meaning its energy is flared up in a certain spot, that flare-up is, itself, a photon.

Secondly, when particles interact with the EM field (for example, when they are drawn toward the oppositely charged end of a magnet), they experience the field by absorbing and emitting a constant stream of "virtual photons" ? photons that momentarily pop in and out of existence just for the purpose of mediating the particle-field interaction.

There also exists a Higgs field. It gives particles mass.?[How Do You Weigh an Atom?]

Except for masless photons and gluons, "all elementary particles get their masses from their interactions with the [Higgs] field, kind of like being 'slowed down' by passing through a thick syrup," explained James Overduin, a physicist at Towson University in Maryland.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/v0Zz7J3XJYQ/How-exactly-would-a-Higgs-boson-give-a-particle-mass

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Is gay marriage debate driving young Christians from church?

Rachel Held Evans, a Christian writer, fears that a renewed culture war over the issue of gay marriage could alienate young Christians.

By Becky Bratu, msnbc.com

As the battle over gay marriage heats up in this election year, one evangelical Christian writer is calling for a truce, fearing that the outspoken opposition to gay marriage among some church leaders could alienate an entire generation of religious youth.

?Evangelicals have been so submitted to these culture wars for so long, so that?s hard to give up,? evangelical writer and speaker Rachel Held Evans, 31, told msnbc.com. But ?the majority of young Christians really, really, really want to stop with the political emphasis.?

Held Evans, who regularly speaks at Christian colleges, said the young Christians she meets are much more open to gay rights than are older generations, an observation backed up by polling data.

A 2011 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute shows the generation gap between young Christians and their elders is large, with 44 percent of white evangelicals aged 18-29 in support of marriage equality compared to only 12 percent of those 65 and older.

According to the same survey, nearly 70 percent of young Christians also agree that religious groups are alienating young people by being too judgmental about gay and lesbian issues.

?For young Christians, having gay and lesbian friends is just a part of our life,? Held Evans said. ?It?s just really hard for us to see them as mere issues to debate, because we?re talking about our friends here.?

The shift is manifesting itself increasingly on Christian college campuses, including at Biola University in California, where, about two months ago, an anonymous group of students announced the presence of the "Biola Queer Underground," asking that the LGBT community on campus ?be treated with equality and respected as another facet of Biola's diversity."

Underground gay group emerges, shaking Christian college

At Wheaton College in Illinois, a group of alumni known as OneWheaton coalesced in 2011 to express its support of the LGBT community on campus.

?OneWheaton understands that LGBTQ issues are difficult to process at Wheaton College,? reads a statement from the group. ?We desire this to change for current students and wish to create such an environment, a safe place for them to process these issues and develop into the people they are meant to be.?? In response, school officials have said they are open to having a conversation about homosexuality on campus.

To Held Evans, American churches? attitude toward gay rights will play an important role in the retention of young Christians. In an article she wrote following North Carolina?s recent vote to ban gay marriage, Held Evans points to data mentioned in David Kinnaman?s book You Lost Me, which shows that 59 percent of teens who were raised Christian abandon the church when they become adults. One of the main reasons, the article says, is the church?s attitude toward gay rights.

Fellow Christian writer Matthew Lee Anderson, 30, agrees that there is a generational shift taking place in Christians? support for gay rights, but he is less convinced it?ll lead to any profound changes in the near-term.

?Those of the conservative side aren?t going away. They?re just going to be a lot more careful in terms of how they frame their positions,? Anderson told msnbc.com.

He also doesn?t think younger Christians are going to embrace more liberal views on matters of sexuality, including homosexuality.

?There?s going to be a large, less vocal, at least a substantive minority? ?? it?s not an outright majority? ?? of younger evangelicals who are going to take a broadly conservative position on sexual ethics,? he said.

That position stems from the conviction that God defined marriage in the scripture as between a man and a woman, Anderson said, and Christians don?t believe they have the right to redefine it.

Jeff Hawkins Photography / Courtesy Northland Church

Joel Carl Hunter is the senior pastor of Northland church in Florida.

For thousands of years the definition of marriage has been the same, said Pastor Joel Hunter, a spiritual advisor to President Obama. ?And so, there?s some reason for the apprehension that says this thing is moving so fast that I wonder what the next 10 years will hold,? he told msnbc.com.

In Hunter?s view, the word ?marriage? cannot be used to characterize a same-sex union, but he believes having this debate on a national stage offers a unique opportunity.

?We really have an opportunity to raise the level of respect, to raise the dialogue to where no rights of one group trumps another group?s rights,? he said, adding: ?The scripture has certain listed sins, and we want to dissuade people from those behaviors, because we think in the long run if it?s in scripture then that?s not something that God approves of.?

Hunter, who leads a Florida megachurch, said he believes the government could establish a kind of civil marriage, which would not fit within the definition of Biblical marriage.

?We don?t 100 percent?equate this as a part of the civil rights movement because for us at least a part of this is a matter of choice, it?s a behavior, and so it?s a different category than skin pigmentation,? he said. ?Having said that, we want to be sure that all Americans do have citizens? rights to enter any legal relationship that they want to.?

But finding compromise appears unlikely, Anderson believes, as most players on the national stage treat the debate as a zero-sum game.

?It?s winner-take-all, and there?s sort of no middle ground between the two positions,? he said.

While young Christians may be divided on whether gay relationships should be celebrated in the church, Held Evans said, they?re increasingly unified on their stance against legislative action, such as North Carolina?s gay marriage ban and others that will be up for votes this fall.

"Even young Christians who think that gay relationships are not God?s design, a lot of them will still say ?but I think it should be legal for gay people to get married, because this is America,?? Held Evans said.

?I think the main problem we have is that a lot of the folks voting about homosexuality, voting about gay marriage, don?t know any gay people,? she said. ?And I?m certain that if they did, it would change their attitude.?

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Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/02/12524736-could-gay-marriage-debate-drive-young-christians-from-church?lite

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Bombs kill 4, judge shot as Iraq attacks grind on

FILE - In this Thursday, June 28, 2012, file photo, people inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the Washash neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq. June was the second-deadliest month since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq in mid-December, but more significant than the numbers was the fact that insurgents appeared able to sustain the level of violence over a longer period than usual.(AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, June 28, 2012, file photo, people inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the Washash neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq. June was the second-deadliest month since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq in mid-December, but more significant than the numbers was the fact that insurgents appeared able to sustain the level of violence over a longer period than usual.(AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File)

FILE - In this Friday, June 29, 2012, file photo, Zainab Abbas inspects her destroyed house a day after a car bomb attack in the Washash neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq. June was the second-deadliest month since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq in mid-December, but more significant than the numbers was the fact that insurgents appeared able to sustain the level of violence over a longer period than usual. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Bombers killed four people in two Iraqi cities and gunmen assassinated a judge, officials said Sunday, as al-Qaida's affiliate ramped up attacks six months after the last U.S. troops withdrew.

Three coordinated bomb attacks within minutes of each other Sunday morning hit the central city of Tikrit, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, a provincial official said. A civilian walking by was killed and two others were wounded.

The bombs went off near a middle school where students were taking exams, but authorities said none of the students was hurt.

Further south, three policemen died when a suicide car bomb and three roadside bombs exploded at a security checkpoint on Saturday night in Samarra, 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, a police official said.

The bombing Saturday night raised the death toll for June to at least 237, the second-bloodiest month since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq in mid-December.

In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen killed criminal court judge Abdul-Latif Mohammed in a drive-by shooting as he was returning home from work, police said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Government officials and security forces are among the chief targets of al-Qaida-affiliated insurgents, who experts say have been emboldened by political feuding that has paralyzed the government and are hoping to reignite fighting among the country's ethnic and sectarian factions.

More significant than the numbers was the fact that insurgents appeared able to sustain the level of violence over a longer period than before.

There was a major bombing or shooting rampage almost every three days in June, many targeting Shiite pilgrims on their way to the annual Baghdad commemoration of a revered imam. Shiites are also often targeted by the extremist Sunni insurgency.

Another Shiite pilgrimage set for this week has security forces on high alert.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are expected to travel to the holy city of Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, for the festival of Shabaniyah, celebrating the birth of the ninth-century Shiite leader known as the Hidden Imam. The pilgrimage peaks on Friday.

___

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-07-01-Iraq/id-ae64fbd68ac54c9c95f6485ad19e984e

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Acer Aspire V3 review: an affordable, Kepler-packing laptop for back-to-school season

Back in March at CeBIT, Acer unveiled a slew of new laptops, among which the Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 Ultrabook was easily the most celebrated. But while slim designs and instant-on technology are shoe-ins for media attention, slightly thicker machines with revved-up internals and discrete graphics are champions of the "don't judge a book by its cover" philosophy. And besides, not everyone is willing to part with a DVD drive, much less spend $1,000-plus on their next PC.

More Info

• Acer Aspire V3 notebook hands-on (video)
• Acer Aspire V3 coming to Japan for $1,100 with right processor, wrong ppi
• Acer announces Ultrabook-like Aspire V5 series, we go hands-on (video)

Hence Acer's Aspire V3, which is available in sizes ranging from 14 to 17.3 inches (for the purposes of this review, we took a look at the middleweight 15.6-inch version). While it weighs a hefty 5.8 pounds and looks positively bloated next to 0.8-inch-thick laptops such as the M3, the V3 packs serious power in the form of NVIDIA Kepler graphics and a Core i7 Ivy Bridge CPU. And unlike many Ultrabooks trickling their way into the market, this guy is priced to compete, making it a viable choice for the back-to-school season. But is it the best mainstream notebook $850 can buy? Let's see.

Gallery: Acer Aspire V3 review

Continue reading Acer Aspire V3 review: an affordable, Kepler-packing laptop for back-to-school season

Acer Aspire V3 review: an affordable, Kepler-packing laptop for back-to-school season originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Russia and West tussle at Syria peace talks

GENEVA (Reuters) - Russia and Western powers locked horns over a peace plan for Syria on Saturday as U.N. mediator Kofi Annan warned the conflict could spread across the Middle East and beyond.

Foreign ministers and international diplomats were meeting in Geneva with governments still in dispute over whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, condemned in the West but still backed by Russia, could have any role in a political transition.

"The Russians have set out a series of objections with the current draft. The Russians are stonewalling quite a bit," a Western diplomat told Reuters as the talks paused for lunch.

"A redraft of the text is looking likely," she said, referring to Annan's draft proposal.

Annan, the former U.N. chief and the special international envoy on Syria, is hoping the meeting can salvage his plan for a unity government that would exclude controversial figures from leadership - effectively meaning Assad would step down.

"We are here to agree on guidelines and principles for a Syrian-led political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," he said in opening remarks.

"No one should be in any doubt as to the extreme dangers posed by the conflict - to Syrians, to the region, and to the world."

His plan for a negotiated solution to the 16-month-old conflict is the only one on the table and its failure would doom Syria to even more violence. More than 10,000 people have been killed since the anti-Assad uprising broke out and the past few weeks have been among the bloodiest.

Moscow objects to any solution imposed on Syria from outside. The United States and its European and Arab allies see no way ahead while power remains in Assad's hands.

With the wrangling extending the talks beyond their schedule, a report from Russia's Interfax news agency said Russia would propose a new international meeting on the crisis and that Syria should be represented.

"The Russian side will propose to hold such a meeting in Moscow. Syrians themselves should take part in the meeting," it quoted an unidentified source as saying.

Highlighting the deteriorating situation on the ground, Syrian government forces pushed their way into Douma on the outskirts of Damascus on Saturday after weeks of siege and shelling. Fleeing residents spoke of corpses lying in the streets.

Britain's ITV showed footage of clouds of black smoke over built-up areas and said war planes had struck at targets in the suburb.

The army also attacked pro-opposition areas in Deir al-Zor, Homs, Idlib and the outskirts of Damascus, opposition activists said.

DIVIDE AND FAIL

Annan said the crisis should never have reached this point.

"Either unite to secure your common interests or divide and surely fail in your own individual way. Without your unity, your common resolve and your action now ... nobody can win and everyone will lose in some way," he said.

The mood of pessimism was reinforced by a senior U.S. official who said the talks might not reach a deal on Saturday.

"Discussions remain challenging," the official said.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad and his close associates could not lead any transition. Accountability for war crimes must be part of such a process, he added in his speech to the meeting.

Hague called for the U.N. Security Council to start drafting a resolution next week setting out sanctions against Syria, a move that he noted put him at odds with Russia.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told the talks the solution lay with the Syrian people, not outsiders, but that Beijing fully supported Annan's mediation.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said as she headed for lunch that she was hopeful a good solution would be reached.

The foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - Russia, the United States, China, France and Britain - were all attending the talks along with Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and the EU's Ashton.

Iran, Syria's closest regional ally, and Saudi Arabia, a foe of both Damascus and Tehran and leading backer of the rebel forces opposing Assad, are not represented. Nor is anyone from the Syrian government or opposition.

According to a draft document from Annan, seen by Reuters, the envoy envisages the setting up of a transitional government of national unity which can establish a neutral environment for political change. It would have full executive powers.

"It could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but would exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize stability and reconciliation," it said.

That proposal is the stumbling block as it effectively means Assad cannot be involved, which Moscow and Beijing views as imposing a solution. The Syrian opposition also demands that he be barred from any role.

PATH TO WAR

The Syrian conflict has evolved from peaceful protests against the Assad family's four-decade rule to something akin to a civil war with a sectarian dimension.

The world has condemned the ferocity of Assad's forces' crackdown - including military assaults on pro-opposition areas and mass arrests - but has been unable to halt violence which threatens to draw in the region's religious and political rivalries and alliances.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 56 people had been killed across the country on Saturday.

Syria's border with Turkey was also tense following a Turkish military build-up in response to Syria's shooting down of a Turkish warplane last week.

Syrian forces reentered Douma and soldiers were carrying out searches in hospitals for dissidents and rebel fighters, activists said. Electricity and water were cut off.

Abo Abdullah, 50, said he and his five children left Douma on Sunday morning fearing attacks by government forces.

"I saw at least three bodies on a street corner, some houses were destroyed, others were on fire. Only a few people remained inside the city. Those who can, leave," he said.

"I saw a body on the side of the street and dogs were gathering around it."

State news agency SANA said security forces were raiding hideouts in Douma of "armed terrorist groups" and had killed, wounded or arrested scores.

Although the government routinely refers to its enemies as foreign-controlled terrorists, Assad himself conceded this week that the country was now in a state of war.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn, Tom Miles and Emma Farge in Geneva and Oliver Holmes and Mariam Karouny in Beirut; Writing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by Andrew Roche and Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-writhes-divided-powers-meet-geneva-034811011.html

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Video: Governors on health care statistics

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/48032186#48032186

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Mt. Diablo Health Care District seeks to cash out Concord mayor's lifetime health benefits

Concord Mayor Ron Leone stands to cash out a lifetime health care benefit for possibly hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars, courtesy of a perk he earned during his 16-year stint as a part-time elected director of a small hospital district.

The soon-to-be-downsized Mt. Diablo Health Care District is seeking to settle up its legal obligation to provide coverage to Leone -- who also is covered under Concord's medical plan -- and current board member Grace Ellis, 85, the only two people eligible for the lucrative benefit awarded years ago.

There is nothing illegal about the payoff, but the public has grown increasingly dissatisfied with the idea of elected officials -- particularly part-timers -- earning free lifetime benefits while city and county services are slashed and voters are asked to pay more taxes to keep those services intact.

Leone says he will accept a cash payout as long as a third party manages the funds and all remaining dollars after his death revert to taxpayers.

"I"m not looking for a check," said 61-year-old Leone, who served on the health care board from 1991-2006 and was elected to the Concord City Council in 2010. "What I am looking for is the benefit guaranteed to me in exchange for my service on the health care district."

But the path to resolution is a twisted one fraught with political implications for the Concord mayor.

Leone became eligible for the free lifetime medical and dental insurance

for himself, his wife and two children in 2003.

Faced with skyrocketing premiums for the CalPERS plan that approached $2,000 a month apiece, the district in late 2011 asked Leone and Ellis to accept cheaper alternatives.

Ellis enrolled in Medicare and a supplemental plan, which cut the district's costs by more than half.

Leone agreed to sign up for Concord's health plan as long as the district covered his out-of-pocket costs, which he estimated at $580 a month.

The mayor and the district, as it turned out, defined "cost" very differently:

For a period of time that Leone had received free benefits from the health care district, he also had collected from Concord an equivalent health insurance cash payment of $571 a month. It's a perk offered to all workers and employees who opt out of the city's health plan.

When Leone agreed to switch from the district to the city's plan last November, he asked the district for $550 a month based on his loss of the city's payment. The district paid him at this rate from January through May.

But when the district found out Leone's premium cost him only $104 a month, it cut the councilman's cash payments accordingly. The district's push to pay off its liability comes in anticipation of local regulators' vote this summer to disband the district's five-member elected board and shift to the Concord City Council its few duties and small pot of tax revenues.

"I'm going to do the best I can to resolve the issue as quickly as possible," said Health Care District Chairman Jeff Kasper. "Once we agree on a dollar amount, the district could write Ron a check and he can purchase an annuity or do whatever he wants to do. And we will do the same for Grace."

If Leone and Ellis agree -- and they could refuse -- the dollar amount will depend on the outcome of the negotiations.

The district's May analysis puts the combined value of the pair's benefits at $218,304 although a prior study set the figure at $713,660. The decline was attributed to the pair's voluntary shift in late 2011 to cheaper plans.

The district has been under fire over the free lifetime health benefit for years.

Four Contra Costa civil grand juries and a Contra Costa regulatory agency have cited the expense as an unreasonable use of public money and a reason to shut down the district, which hasn't run a hospital since 1996.

The district spent $455,144 between 2000-2011 on medical and dental premiums for Ellis and Leone, according to an independent consultant. During the same period, the consultant found the district spent the bulk of its $240,000-a-year in property tax receipts on administrative, legal and election costs.

State lawmakers in 1994 banned the provision of health benefits to elected special district board members unless they met specific criteria, including having served at least 12 years. Most of the district's liability is for the much-younger Leone. The district has asked its consultant to provide updated individual estimates, Kasper said.

A lump sum payout is a reasonable option, agreed pension and benefits expert Gary Craft of Lafayette, who recently conducted an analysis of public employee retirement costs for the Contra Costa Council.

Leone and Ellis would likely invest the money or purchase an annuity, and use the proceeds to buy coverage, Craft said. The district would no longer fund or manage their plan.

The move carries some risk, Craft said.

"You don't know what the future will bring," Craft said. "Health care costs could escalate and the payout might not be enough. On the other hand, the district could shut down and they could lose the benefit. But in theory, (Leone and Ellis) will be made whole and the district will have satisfied its legal obligation."

Contact Lisa Vorderbrueggen at 925-945-4773, lvorderbrueggen@bayareanewsgroup.com, www.ibabuzz.com/politics or at Twitter.com/lvorderbrueggen.

Source: http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_20965260/mt-diablo-health-care-district-seeks-cash-out?source=rss

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