I don't know about you, but for me that hour between 11:45 and 12:45 on Tuesday seemed to take a very long time to pass. What was going on in that room in Stockholm we'll never know, but whatever it was, it produced a fantastic result for particle physics. There could be no more deserving laureates than François Englert and Peter Higgs, embodying as they do all the hallmarks of great scientists: brilliance, of course, but also humility and a sense of teamwork. >>

Tuesday’s hour-long delay of the Nobel Prize in Physics announcement was (and still is) quite the cause for speculation. But on the Twittersphere, it was simply the catalyst for some fantastic puns, so-bad-they're-good physics jokes and other shenanigans. Here are some of our favourite #FakeNobelDelayReasons. >>

At the PS Booster, the old beam dump and the shielding blocks surrounding it have been removed (see here). Installation of the new beam dump is now under way (see video). >>

You may perceive the grid and the cloud to be two separate technologies: the grid as physical hardware and the cloud as virtual hardware simulated by running software. So how are the grid and the cloud being integrated at CERN? >>

Neutrons are among the fundamental building blocks of matter. Some of the processes in which they are involved are responsible for energy generation in nuclear power plants. In this context, CERN’s n_TOF and other facilities participating in the ERINDA EU-funded programme help the community integrate all the scientific efforts needed to produce high-quality nuclear data for future nuclear technologies. >>

This summer, CERN took part in the Google Summer of Code programme for the third year in succession. Open to students from all over the world, this programme leads to very successful collaborations for open source software projects. >>

Have you ever heard of “BYOD”? No, it is not a pop band. Try again. It is short for “Bring Your Own Device” (the French use “AVEC” -  “Apporter Votre Equipement personnel de Communication”) and describes an option long since offered at CERN: the possibility to bring along your personal laptop, smartphone or PDA, use it on CERN premises and connect it to the CERN office network. But hold on. As practical as it is, there is also a dark side. >>

Achieving two goals at once is a real challenge in personnel management: on the one hand, a manager must reach the results expected by the institution with the available workforce; and on the other hand, the manager must take care of their collaborators' well-being. Pursuing these dual aims calls for a real potential towards leadership. Why should a line manager care about the well-being of his/her supervisees? Is it not sufficient and satisfactory that the deliverables for which he/she is accountable come in time and within the budget? >>