Biology seminars every Monday at San Diego State

Since 2006, San Diego State faculty members have hosted seminars for guest speakers and professors to discuss current research in the biological and environmental sciences. During these seminars, students can listen and discuss research conducted by the professionals who prepare them for futures in scientific research. The seminars, which are open to all students and staff, are held at 4 p.m. every Monday in the Alan and Debbie Gold Auditorium for the Life Sciences on campus.

To view upcoming talks, go to bio.sdsu.edu/eb/seminars.html

Existence of the Higgs boson particle more certain

One of the great mysteries of the universe is beginning to unravel. The Higgs boson, a quantum particle with zero spin that gives matter its mass, eluded scientists since its mechanism was first proposed in 1964 by physicist Peter Higgs. In 2012, physicists at European Organization for Nuclear Research Large Hadron Collider stated they had potentially discovered the particle. On March 14, physicists who have been analyzing data from CERN’s are now more certain this particle is the Higgs boson.

“To me it is clear that we are dealing with a Higgs boson, though we still have a long way to go to know what kind of Higgs boson it is,” Compact Muon Solenoid experiment spokesman Joe Incandela told Reuters.

The Higgs boson is the element in the Standard Model of particle physics that has yet to be discovered.

CERN is closed for maintenance and upgrades until 2015, but scientists said no new data on the Higgs boson will be available until the end of the decade.