Particle Panic!: How Popular Media and Popularized Science Feed Public Fears of Particle Accelerator Experiments
About this audiobook
From novels and short stories to television and film, popular media has made a cottage industry of predicting that the end of the world will be caused by particle accelerators. Rather than allay such fears, public pronouncements by particle scientists themselves often unwittingly fan the flames of hysteria.
This audiobook surveys media depictions of particle accelerator physics and the perceived dangers these experiments pose. In addition, it describes the role of scientists in propagating such fears and misconceptions, offering as a conclusion ways in which the scientific community could successfully allay such misplaced fears through more effective communication strategies.
This audiobook is aimed at the general reader interested in separating fact from fiction in the field of high-energy physics, at science educators and communicators, and, last but not least, at all scientists concerned about these issues.
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About the author
Kristine M Larsen holds a PhD in physics and is currently a professor at Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Connecticut, in the Geological Sciences Department. She has published a number of books, among them The Women Who Popularized Geology in the 19th Century, The Mythological Dimensions of Neil Gaiman, The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who, and Cosmology 101.
Jennifer Jill Araya has been trained as an opera singer and orchestral cellist, lending a musicality and depth of understanding to her narration that help bring her authors’ stories to life. When she’s not narrating, Jennifer can be found hiking, biking, running, or generally exploring her home city of Cincinnati with her husband, Arturo, and their two children.
