Thursday, August 7, 2008

Secrets of the Universe, eh?

Well, I'm getting reactionary, older and wiser, or sophomoric. Anyway, this week's article is entitled, "Sept launch for bid to crack secrets of universe" (Reuters, August 7, 2008). Ok, so I understand the need to be dramatic to sell news. But what the particle accerlator supposedly will do is this (again, more quoting), "help explain fundamental questions such as how particles acquire mass. They will also probe the mysterious dark matter of the universe and investigate why there is more matter than antimatter."

So, are these indeed the fundamental questions? What about the ones on my list:
- Why do men think differently than women? (i.e. directions, feelings, raising children, having children, etc. etc. etc.)
- What is it about young children and "why" questions?
- What are people irresitibly attracted to accidents?
- Are humans intrinsically good or evil?
- What, exactly, is the soul? (Do animals have one? If so, what animals? Primates? Lower animals?)
- What makes humans different than animals?

Okay, so I know that a particle accelerator cannot answer these questions for me. But the article writers really shouldn't get my hopes up like that.

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