Apologies for not writing anything in depth lately. But if you have a good connection and know some physics, it might be fun to watch Frank Wilczek's "2004 Nobel Prize" MIT colloquium. MIT World Video did a nice job.
In case you hadn't already heard, Frank helped to discover the right theory to describe the strong interaction which binds nuclei together. In particle physics speak, he, David Gross, and David Politzer figured out that to match physical observations (that quarks are "asympotically" free at close distances/high energies), you needed a non-Abelian gauge theory. From the work of others, it was known that the non-Abelian gauge theory had to have SU(3) color symmetry. Today, the theory of the strong interaction is known as quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The talk was good, but mostly I think it was just a nice celebration of Frank's great achievement being recognized. MIT physics alums (2000-present) can be proud!
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