What might have been a fascinating article on the possibilities suggested by the discovery of a new heavy particle in a Japanese collider, instead became a sad exercise in ways to try to force a scientist to claim physics is a life science. Mystery particle may hold clues to universe
Note the bizarre explanations like:
which is made up of quarks, the basic building blocks of not just life, but everything that exists in this universe--as we know it.It's rare for me to be so critical publicly, but this is a disturbing trend I've seen in more than one place. Articles about the migration of genes across species (see Dawkin's Extended Phenotype) turn into appologies for why this kind of discovery might be related to the disease of the day (SARS). Maybe I'm over reacting, but is there really a need to continuously justify fundamental research in terms of some topical news item? (outside of a grant application) Posted by bill at January 9, 2004 11:21 AM