Friday, May 09, 2008

Particle physics in the oilfield

This at a time that US investment in particle physics research is plummeting:

Geneva, 9 May 2008. A Protocol to the 2006 Cooperation Agreement between Saudi Arabia and CERN was today signed at CERN by H.E. Dr. Mohammed I. Al-Suwaiyel, President of the King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology, on behalf of the Government of Saudi Arabia, and Robert Aymar, Director General of CERN , in the presence of H.E. Ali I. Al-Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral resources and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Aramco, H.E. Dr. Ibrahim A. Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance and a delegation of representatives of Saudi universities and Saudi Aramco.

The objective of the Protocol is to provide the operational framework as required for the execution of a range of specific tasks under the Cooperation Agreement in order to build a growing high-energy particle physics community in Saudi Arabia that eventually will participate as a visible member in the global scientific community collaborating at CERN.


Saudis know they must work on having a life after oil. When the US gives up leading the way in any and all research, what will we have left?

source: Interactions News Wire #32-08 (9 May 2008)

Whoopsie


This sinkhole opened up a few days ago in Daisetta, TX. It's an old salt dome that probably had the oil pumped out from underneath it and has now decided to collapse. According to the Houston Chronicle, some local teenage girls have taken to calling it the "Sinkhole de Mayo." Clever!

picture credit: James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle