Why Were So Many "Crazy" Higgs Boson Stories Published?

The presumed discovery of the Higgs boson may be one of the most important scientific discoveries ever, but it did bring out quite a bit of "strange" science reporting. In addition to blogs, many mainstream news sites jumped on the crazy headline bandwagon. The ability to soon travel at the speed of light, the building of a Star Trek style transporter, and many stories of the particle proving God doesn't exist have made the rounds in the past week. Is the particle's discovery just on the fringe of common scientific knowledge and therefore prone to wild speculation, or does this all come down to having the most sensational headline?

Seriously?

[Anrego]

The exact same reasons we read headlines about creating universe eating black holes when the thing started up.. about global pandemics that are going to wipe us all out.. about “Africanized” bees. It gets eyeball time, which is what it’s all about.

“A long held theory has been possibly confirmed”

Vs.

“THE FUTURE IS HERE, LIVE LIKE THE JETSONS IN 5 YEARS!”

One of those is going to sell a _lot_ more toothpaste.

God particle

[techstar25]

Calling Higgs boson "The God Particle" is probably the greatest marketing decision in the history of science.

Re:Because Lederman nicknamed it "the god particle

[Anonymous Coward]

When it comes to quantum physics, almost everyone is a moron.

Seriously. Check out this crazy:

[circletimessquare]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/q-and-a-the-higgs-boson-and-you.html [nytimes.com]

...

Q. Will the discovery affect everyday life?

A. Well, duhhh.

Q. Hey, I’m not a science-y person, O.K.?

A. Sorry. The answer is absolutely. Sort of. Well, yes and no.

Q. Can you be like a little more specific?

A. For starters, you’re going to be hearing the phrase “Higgs boson” about 800 trillion times. You’ll be at a cocktail party talking about the Kardashians and someone will say, “OMG, Higgs boson!” and you’ll go, “No, no, no — please, no more with the Higgs boson.” So there’s that. Plus this Halloween, every other trick-or-treater is going to be dressed as — guess what? — the Higgs boson. What else? Ten bucks says Al Gore claims he discovered it. Another 10 says Mitt Romney picks it as his running mate. Romney-Higgs boson. Dream ticket. So, yes, it’s going to affect your everyday life. My advice? Deal with it.

Don't even try to read the rest of it, unless you like wasting your time.

Based on this famous quote:

“Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

That would put this sort of annoying Higgs boson chatter squarely in the realm of average minds.

They can usually come up with something good to say about events most of us understand. But they can't understand the Higgs boson. Doesn't matter: the media is all about generating copy, this is the highest imperative. Making sense is secondary. And so not understanding doesn't prevent them from trying to say something. Nor should it, according to the logic of their profession, since the logic of their profession says the editorial has to be filed on time, the column must fit so many square inches of space, the front page must have timely links about today's news.

And so they all come up with this WHARRGARBL like the NY Times story above. Welcome to the media industry.

The science is above the heads of many folks

[sandytaru]

I wanted to be a theoretical physicist when I grew up (oh, childhood dreams) and I've got an above average understanding of particle physics just from my general fascination with the subject. Even I have a tough time grasping the nitty gritty details of the Higgs field. The sensationalism stems from 1. The general population not understanding particle physics and 2. The general population not understanding the nature of the announcement. The Higgs wasn't so much discovered as it was confirmed to be exactly where we expected it to be all along. No new technology will come out of this so much as our understanding of the universe has been strengthened considerably - we're on the right track with the Standard Model after all.

Two words

[k(wi)r(kipedia)]

Journalism sucks. But let me qualify. Science journalism and journalism in general suck when they're written to beat the deadline in attempt to be "fresh" or "hot off the press" (conference). You can picture the reporter emailing his or her story to the editorial department and the editor, finding the report, a bit dull decides to sex it up just a little, adding "factoids" lifted from Google or Wikipedia (the two not being mutually exclusive) or making snappy generalizations that can reduce to two or three words WTF the whole event is about.

Let's be honest, which would you rather read: "God particle may explain creation" or "CERN scientists discover new subatomic particle"?

A common trick in newspaper headlines is to give off the impression of certainty where there is none. When you read something like "500 feared dead" the day after a disaster, you can be sure that the "500" is an approximation that most likely came from some random bloke or bureaucart.

Wait a few more weeks or months, and the science reporting will get more sober.

Re:Where were they?

[ratbag]

To be fair to our beloved Beeb, none of those links point to "hard news" pages. They're either from the magazine section (a bit like the op-ed section of a paper) or a "balanced" current affairs program where one uninformed talking head berates another one for 30 minutes and noone emerges from the program any the wiser.

Re:Where were they?

[irenaeous]

Did you read the linked article? As a Christian, I rolled my eyes most at the BBC radio headline, "The Higgs boson is another nail in the coffin of religion." This seems like an equal opportunity attempt to offend. It attacks religion, but with an argument that is so stupid that it ought to offend atheists too who might be associated with such asininity. And this is the BBC who you think wouldn't do this kind of thing.

Re:I'm postponing buying toothpaste

[Anonymous Coward]

All of them..

Consistently..

Seriously what the hell is with that. Not that I'm complaining, but that can't just be a coincidence.

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