Scientists Fire Up Large Hadron Collider

Twenty stories beneath the quaint Swiss countryside, scientists at a top-secret nuclear physics lab are trying to figure out how the universe was created.

After years of setbacks, the scientists finally got the Large Hadron Collider working—accelerating tiny, tiny particles to nearly the speed of light before crashing them into each other!

These scientists are working at CERN, or the European Organization for Nuclear Research. They plan to observe a particle that has so far escaped our detection. This secretive particle is the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson has been proposed as a sort of “God particle” by scientists, because our standard model of physics has one teeny, tiny thing missing—the reason that everything has mass.

This has intrigued scientists for years. The observation of the “God Particle” would be one of the most important discoveries ever!

To learn about it, I went to CERN. I was honored to be one of the first kids to visit this enormous underground lab!

After going through all the security and safety procedures, I was giddy with excitement—it was like being in a spaceship!

We went down in a huge elevator. When the doors opened, I was in the Large Hadron Collider, a 27-kilometer circumference circle of pipes devoted to smashing tiny particles together! I was in the very tunnels that could give the human race knowledge beyond imagination! The expanse of metal tubes continued on for miles.

This experience changed my life, and I promised myself that I would pursue my love of physics and other sciences. I know that someday I’ll be working at CERN.

Music Goes Global at New Phoenix Museum

On April 24, people from all over the world gathered to celebrate the grand opening of the Musical Instrument Museum, a two-story, 190,000-square-foot facility in northeast Phoenix.

“(Guests) can visit the whole world here,” says Sarah Weber, education manager. Classes for kids may be starting this summer.

The museum is the first of its kind in the world! “There are other museums that have music instruments collections, but there aren’t any that have such comprehensive exhibits that portray instruments from every country,” Weber explains. Arizona was chosen to be the home of this grand museum because it doesn’t have as many museums as California or the East Coast.

After entering the museum, guests get wireless headsets to listen to video displays.

The Artist Gallery features instruments from celebrities like the Jonas Brothers and the Black Eyed Peas. It also shows instruments like the phonograph and player piano.

The Music Theater seats 299 and has speakers behind the stage’s fabric walls.

In my favorite gallery, the Experience Gallery, visitors get to play instruments from many different countries, including the arpa grande (frame harp) from Peru, the marimba from Zimbabwe and the theremin from the United States. Weber points out that the gong is a favorite among kids.

The Geo-Galleries on the second floor divide instruments into 10 regions. My favorite were the Latin American and the United States/Canada galleries, which feature some of my favorite instruments like the piano, steel drum, and the bottle and spoon.

At the grand opening, I met Louis Halleux, a sculptor from Belgium. He designed the “Phoenix” sculpture that is located both inside the museum’s Target Gallery and near the outside entrance of the building.

This museum is a fun musical experience for everyone! Check out www.themim.org for more info.