Hyperbole and a Half’s Allie Brosh is back after a two-year hiatus, with part 2 of an illustrated account of overcoming depression. Dark and delightful. [Hyperbole and a Half]

Stephen Hawking: Questioning the universe

Even world-famous scientists have tiffs. Obviously this bet between Stephen Hawking and Neil Turok means they are just like us. [Mail & Guardian]

A Spanish foundation uses lenticular printing to show a different anti-abuse ad to people depending on their height, to convey a secret message to abused children when walking with their abusers. [Gizmodo]

Julian Baggini, on why Kierkegaard is still awesome and relevant. [Aeon] Watch his TEDx talk »

Neil Turok makes his TED Prize wish

Researchers observe that theta brainwaves are predictors for the ability to overcome ingrained Pavlovian biases, which could help in treating conditions like addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder. [Sci Tech Daily]

Neurohumanities: Breakthrough cross-disciplinary approach, or reductionist field? In other words: Does “how your brain is firing … tell you if something is ironic, metaphorical or meaningful”? The jury is still out. [The Nation]

A redditor projected a circle (ish) on a map of the world and observed some astonishing facts. [io9]

Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals and the art of roughness
Jim Holt reviews a new memoir about Benoît Mandelbrot, the mathematics legend who coined the word “fractal.” A story of truly infinite beauty. [NYRB] Watch Mandelbrot’s talk from 2010 on roughness »

Our friends at Science Studio, dedicated to collecting the best science video and audio on the interwebs, have launched a preview edition of their site. [Science Studio]

A lovely visualization of the number of meteorites with eyewitnesses in proportion to those recorded. [Bolid.es]

The Cicadapocalypse is nigh as billions of cicadas return to New York for the first time in 17 years. [Gothamist]

Today in Ontario, Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, announced $20 million CDN in federal funding to expand the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) into five new locations across Africa by 2015, including Ethiopia, Ghana and Senegal.

AIMS was founded by TED Prize winner Neil Turok, the director of the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario. Turok founded AIMS in his hometown of Cape Town, South Africa, to help bring postgraduate mathematical science instruction to Africa — and help talented students across the continent access higher education without having to go abroad. This past June, 53 students from 17 African countries graduated with the AIMS Postgraduate Diploma in Mathematical Sciences. As Neil Turok said in his TED Prize acceptance talk, “the next Einstein may be found in Africa.”

Supported by the Perimeter Institute’s Global Outreach program, the Canadian government’s $20 million CDN will seed five new AIMS centers across Africa. The government funding will go a long way toward AIMS’ eventual goal of 15 new AIMS centers by 2020, via the Next Einstein Initiative, the project kickstarted by Turok’s 2008 TED Prize win.

The video above comes from the presentation today at Perimeter Institute, with Canada’s PM, Stephen Harper, Perimeter Institute director Neil Turok and special guest Dr. Stephen Hawking.

Read the press release >>

Dr. Stephen Hawking has made a $100 bet that the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which throws its first beam tomorrow, will not find the elusive particle knows as the Higgs boson.

What makes the Higgs the most highly sought-after particle in physics? In his TEDTalk, Brian Cox describes the Higgs particle “in language a politician can understand”:

What the Higgs does is, it gives mass to the fundamental particles. The whole universe is full of something called the Higgs field, Higgs particles if you will. [Referring to the sketch above] The analogy is that these people in a room are the Higgs particles. Now, when a particle moves through the universe, it can interact with these particles. But imagine someone who’s not very popular moves through the room, and everyone ignores them. They just pass through the room very quickly, essentially at the speed of light. They’re massless.

Now imagine someone incredibly important, and popular, and intelligent … walks into the room, they’re surrounded by people, and their passage is impeded. It’s almost like they get heavy, they get massive. And that’s exactly the way the Higgs mechanism works. The … electrons and the quarks in your body, and in the universe that we see around us, are heavy, they’re massive, because they’re surrounded by Higgs particles. They’re interacting with the Higgs field.

The physicists at the LHC are looking to the Higgs particle to finally explain some mysteries of the universe. And that’s why Dr. Hawking doesn’t really want it to be found, he says:

I think it will be much more exciting if we don’t find the Higgs. That will show something is wrong, and we need to think again. I have a bet of $100 that we won’t find the Higgs.

Watch Peter Diamandis’ 2008 talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances — including Stephen Hawking’s 2008 TEDTalk about humanity’s greatest questions.

Get TED delivered:
Subscribe to the TEDTalks video podcast via RSS >>
Subscribe to the iTunes video podcast
Subscribe to the iTunes audio podcast
Get updates via Twitter >>
Join our Facebook fan page >>

Subscribe to the TED Blog >>

Above: Professor Stephen Hawking met South Africa’s former president, Nelson Mandela, in Houghton, Johannesburg, today. From left to right are Stephen Hawking, Neil Turok, Nelson Mandela, Pik Botha and David Block. Photograph by Dr Robert Groess.

Professor Stephen Hawking today met with South Africa’s former president Nelson Mandela to discuss the NextEinstein initiative — part of Neil Turok’s TED Prize wish to develop math and science talent all over Africa.

The NextEinstein initiative builds on the success of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, AIMS, a pan-African centrer for postgraduate training and research, based in Muizenberg, Cape Town. AIMS has so far graduated 160 young scientists from 30 African countries; 53 students, including 20 women, are currently enrolled.

The Next Einstein plan is to create many AIMS centres all over Africa. The second AIMS centre opens in Abuja, Nigeria, in July and additional centres are planned in Ghana, Uganda, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Botswana, Rwanda and Sudan.

Upon meeting Mr Mandela, Professor Hawking said, “I am very pleased to meet you. I admire how you managed to find a peaceful solution to a situation that seemed doomed to disaster. It was one of the great achievements of the twentieth century. If only the Israelis and the Palestinians could do the same.”

In turn, Mr Mandela expressed a great interest in AIMS and a desire to visit the centre.

Professor Hawking leaves tonight for Cape Town to participate in a workshop on cosmology at the new National Institute for Theoretical Physics at Stellenbosch.

Read the full press release here >>

Learn more about NextEinstein.org >>Photo Caption: The world’s most famous scientist, Professor Stephen Hawking, met former President Nelson Mandela in Houghton today. Photographed from left to right are Professor Stephen Hawking, Professor Neil Turok, Nelson Mandela, Pik Botha and Professor David Block. Photograph by Dr Robert Groess.

The world’s most famous scientist, Professor Stephen Hawking, today met with former President Nelson Mandela for the first time.

Professor Hawking is in South Africa to launch the Next Einstein initiative, to discover and nurture maths and science talent all over Africa. The initiative builds on the success of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, AIMS, a pan-African centre for postgraduate training and research, based in Muizenberg, Cape Town. AIMS has so far graduated 160 young scientists from 30 African countries and an additional 53 students, including 20 women, are currently completing the programme.

The Next Einstein plan is to create many AIMS centres, all over Africa. The second AIMS centre opens in Abuja, Nigeria, in July and additional centres are planned in Ghana, Uganda, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Botswana, Rwanda and Sudan.

Accompanying Professor Hawking were David Block, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Witwatersrand University, Pik Botha, former cabinet Minister in the government led by President Mandela, and Neil Turok, founder of the AIMS institute and Professor of Mathematical Physics at the University of Cambridge.

Upon meeting Mr Mandela, Professor Hawking said, “I am very pleased to meet you. I admire how you managed to find a peaceful solution to a situation that seemed doomed to disaster. It was one of the great achievements of the twentieth century. If only the Israelis and the Palestinians could do the same.”

Mr Mandela responded by welcoming Professor Hawking and the other visitors, expressing a great interest in AIMS and a desire to visit the centre. The meeting was hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, in Houghton, Johannesburg. At the end of the meeting, Professor Hawking said “It was wonderful to meet you.”

Professor Hawking leaves tonight for Cape Town to participate in a workshop on cosmology at the new National Institute for Theoretical Physics at Stellenbosch. He returns to Cambridge over the weekend.

Amy Novogratz reports from the AIMS celebrating weekend in Muizeberg, Cape Town:

During a luncheon to celebrate the opening of the new Research Center at AIMS — the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences — Barclays announces their support by starting with 20 AIMS scholarships a year, renewable.

Stephen Hawking (right) is in South Africa for this event — and to deliver his first-ever lecture in Africa. This all grows out of 2008 TED Prize winner Neil Turok’s wish — that the TED community will help him to educate the next Einstein in Africa. More reports from the AIMS party to come!

Below, AIMS founder Neil Turok receives the support of the South African government at the luncheon.

2008 TED Prize winner Neil Turok sends these great photos from the new AIMS Research Centre, which is set to open May 12 in Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. AIMS — the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences — promotes math and sciences education throughout Africa. Its goal is, quite simply, to find the next Einstein in Africa.

During a two-day festival starting this weekend, Neil Turok, AIMS director Fritz Hahne and the students of AIMS will dedicate the new AIMS Research Centre — and launch a drive to build a dozen more AIMS schools all over Africa. At the party: the head of NASA, two Nobel laureates, poets and musicians, and the 25 amazing students at AIMS, as well as Stephen Hawking, who’s expected to give his first-ever lecture in Africa. Look to the TED Blog and to TEDPrize.org for more reports!

Watch Stephen Hawking’s talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.

Get TED delivered:
Subscribe to the TEDTalks video podcast via RSS >>
Subscribe to the iTunes video podcast
Subscribe to the iTunes audio podcast
Get updates via Twitter >>
Join our Facebook fan page >>

Subscribe to the TED Blog >>