A cross-section image showing debris (or “splash”) of particles entering the detector when the LHC beam was steered into the collimator (tungsten block) at around 9:50am, September 10. (Credit: CMS Collaboration ) 

– by Lauren Rugani and Joseph Caputo

September began a season of change.
Schools reopened, summer waned.
And as the Nation prepares to vote,
there’s still some science worthy of note.

Although some thought the end was near,
the Collider started and we’re still here.
We haven’t discovered the Higgs Boson yet,
due to a meltdown, it was reset.

After months of searching, a Lander found,
snow on Mars, and ice on the ground.
Up above Earth, off the spaceship Shenzhou,
China took its first steps in space, oh what a view.

As baby boomers got hooked on cocaine,
adolescents take pills, but not for the pain.
Other addictions took hold as well,
a game called Spore has geeks under its spell.

Carbon dioxide is filling the air,
and doctors don’t want to do primary care.
But none of these stories are far from over,
check back for updates in the month of October.

In May, there were many options online:
Look here, frogs that lay eggs on sea and land.
Dirt on your elbow that isn’t just grime.
Platypus genes that roused public demand.

So much to e-mail, so much more to Digg:
The Stonehenge mystery now put to rest.
The polar bear’s threatened? That’s pretty big.
A broken toilet – NASA’s toughest test.

In minutes I’ve skimmed the day’s Boston Globe
In it, news of Bush’s climate change woes.
Here is the latest on the Mar’s space probe,
Wired reports, noise is nature’s new foe.

And so I complete, with no sign of grief,
My time with the press, my daily news brief.

We learned happiness
comes with age,
and beekeeping is
all the rage.

Gene therapy helped
a blind man see.
And we lost the brain
behind chaos theory.

Bush released his
climate change plans,
and scientists found poop
from a prehistoric man.

Archeologists battled over
Egyptian history,
while activists tried to save
the last marsh tacky.

A science festival
made Cambridge a happening place,
and artists used computer models
to visualize space.

There’s toxins in plastics,
and infection in wheat,
and nanotechnology
could have cancer beat.

E. Coli are all unique,
said Carl Zimmer,
and the narwhal is becoming
one endangered swimmer.

So as the spring colors
begins to show,
Science Metropolis
will continue to grow.

- by Lauren “FZX” Rugani and “Blogger Joe” Caputo

Unless you count blood going bad,
And dying trees making experts sad.
There was little, you know…
Some bacteria in snow,
And turns out stretching was only a fad.

Science wasn’t altogether removed.
The thermoelectric effect was improved.
Watch out for pacemakers at risk,
Polyps shaped like disks,
And climate skeptics with something to prove.

– by Joseph Caputo and Lauren Rugani

The world’s largest science conference
convened in Beantown,
and we listened to scientists
both new and renowned.

They spoke about sharks
and antarctic invasions,
why there’s no life on Mars
(That took no persuasion).

The Encyclopedia of Life
is online at last
and a spy satellite
was destroyed by a blast.

Midlife suicides
are on the rise,
and a new devil toad
takes the prize for size.

Bats in the Northeast
are falling ill
and you can’t cure depression
with one little pill.

Norway opened
a bank for seeds
and Pakistan blocked
all video feeds.

The choking game
is taking teenage lives.
TB is in Russia
and no one knows why.

Way up in the sky
the space station grew,
and despite a vaccine
we still got the flu.

So even if winter
gives you the blues,
this groundhog promises
six more weeks of news.

– Joseph Caputo and Lauren Rugani

(permalink) ]]> http://www.sciencemetropolis.com/2008/01/31/january-2008-rap-up/feed/ 0