NEWS

15 JUNE 2017
Please allow 5-7 days for orders this week of June 15-23.

25 MAY 2017
The Particle Zoo gets a nice big shout-out from the awesome guys at Mysterious Universe podcast. I was guest speaker on episode CITD (season 15) where we do our Contact in the Desert wrap-up . Hilarity ensues.

3 APRIL 2017
Shipping too much? For the heavier items, we've added a shipping saver option when adding to cart. The heavy particles will be stuffed with lightweight stuffing instead of gravel or beads to minimize shipping costs. You won't get the varying weights, but the particles will be the same in every other way! As always, we ship using the most economical ways available from the US Post Office and choose Flat Rates when it will save you money.

21 MAR 2017
OMIGAWD! How did I not see this? Professor Peter Higgs photographed professionally with his Higgs toy by Graham Clark:
http://www.grahamclarkphotographer.com/USERIMAGES/_MG_7916(1).jpg

20 MAR 2017
I finally updated the product shots. Everything should look more realistic and there are even some action shots sent in by customers on various product pages. Hopefully this will help in your selection of particle - you can see how they behave in the real world!

10 MAR 2017
Stickers are here! Stickers are here! GET EXCITED.

29 JAN 2017

The news is that we have a new website... you're looking at it! I built the old website in the dark ages of 2008 and never once updated it. It was a dinosaur! Now the site is more professional, more mobile-friendly and more fun. Your shopping experience will be much better and we will be plugged in more to social media so you can stay on top of Zoo news and new products. If I could hug an e-commerce platform, I would squeeze Shopify so hard for making my website dreams come true.

3 JAN 2017
If you're in Brisbane, Australia, visit the Hadron Collider exhibit at the Queensland Museum. You can buy The Particle Zoo plushes there - as well as buttons.

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NEWS ARCHIVE

1 JUL 2016
We moved to Joshua Tree! The 300 sq foot apartment/studio in Los Angeles just wasn't cutting it anymore. After 8 years of trying to work and live in one tiny room (yes, ONE ROOM!!), I made the plunge and got a house with sunny studio room in a semi-rural area 2 hours outside of Los Angeles. Perfect for conjuring up exciting new products for YOU!
OCT 2015
I have a new side store called Fabric of Spacetime. I will be selling astrophysics and astronomy themed toys there. Stay tuned!
1 JAN 2014
I finally created a Particle Zoo Facebook page and Instagram!
25 JUNE 2013
The news today is that I am updating the news after 3 years of neglecting to do so!
The Particle Zoo has partnered up with Glimling.com to bring you particle-shaped reflectors.
22 SEP 2012
We traveled to Mountain View, CA to attend the Google Science Fair at Google headquarters. The finalists are getting Higgs Bosons in their goodie bags. We're hoping to make some super smart students smile when they open their bag!
24 MAR 2010
The Particle Zoo will have a table at the Bizarre Bazaar as part of the 2010 Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA May 22-23.
19 FEB 2010
2010 Sakurai prize winners T.W.B. Kibble, Carl R. Hagen and Gerald Guralnik hold a custom Hagen boson.
3 DEC 2009
Higgs and W bosons used to illustrate story by Don Lincoln in Fermilab Today
26 AUG 2009
You can download a free Particle Zoo iphone app at the Apple app store through itunes. Many thanks to Richard Burgess!
25 AUG 2009 
My trip to Fermilab flickr gallery up
24 AUG 2009 

Waiting for the Space Shuttle carrying the neutralino with astronaut Christer Fuglesang to launch tonight! Friday

19 AUG 2009
The Universe In A Box – now with antiparticles.

5 AUG 2009
Back from Chicago and Ann Arbor and catching up on orders.
Also I'm turning 40 on Sunday so taking the day off to relax ;o)

26 JUL 2009
I will be at the AAPT Summer Meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Also, a photo gallery of my trip to the CDF and MINOS experiments at Fermilab will be up soon!

17 JUL 2009
I added a physics LOLcat page to the site. Feel free to send in yours!

16 JUL 2009
Particle Zoo interview in the CERN Courier.

5 JUN 2009
Particle Zoo interview in the CERN Bulletin.

30 MAY 2009
Back from a great trip to CERN! Flickr photo and video gallery here.


A proton at the Control Centre

19 MAY 2009
I am off to Paris for a few days of vacation and then Geneva for a day at CERN!
I have a feeling I will discover some elusive particles of chocolate while there...

18 MAY 2009
The biggest news came 2 hours ago in the form of a 5.0 earthquake here in Los Angeles. Other than that, please check out
the Laserfest events coming up in a city near you in 2009 and 2010! They will be giving out free limited-edition
Particle Zoo photons in red, green and blue. If you can't make it to the events, you can order a special Laserfest photon here.

19 APR 2009
Read about the neutralino that will be going into space with a NASA astronaut.

8 April 2009
Tiffany Ard is an artist who sells a book entitled Pat Schrodinger's Kitty,
a takeoff on the popular Pat the Bunny book for young children. Even if you don't have
children (like me), you will want this book because it's such a wonderful idea and beautifully illustrated, yet holds sophisticated ideas in theoretical physics. A self-proclaimed science nerd, she has many other lovely items for sale on her site and in her Etsy shop.

 

1 APR 2009
It's no joke that the particles appeared on Fermilab's splash page today!

21 MAR 2009
The beginning of spring is a perfect time to introduce my newest product:
Universe-in-a-Box: A complete set of 22 mini particles + booklet

13 MAR 2009
Fermilab physicists Heidi Schellman and Ann Heinson use Particle Zoo
plushies in demo for the discovery of the single top quark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03ffrEpvFXk

11 MAR 2009
Check out the new custom particle section.
Also, a photograph of the W and Higgs in Symmetry Breaking magazine.

19 JAN 2009
Whew! After the busiest holiday season ever, I am finally breathing a sigh of relief and getting particle orders out in a more timely manner. But what could make me happier than a photo of Professor Peter Higgs holding his Higgs. 

 

16 OCT 2008
If you're in the Bay Area, please come to the Wonderfest at Stanford and Berkeley the weekend of November 1-2. It's the 10th Annual San Francisco Bay Area Festival of Science and there will be talks on physics, statistics, biochemistry, astronomy and a Klein bottle trophy. The Particle Zoo will be attending and vending all weekend, so stop and by and say hi! (and it's free!) We'll have a table of selected particles for sale Saturday in Stanford from 4-7 pm and Sunday in Berkeley from 11:30-2:30 pm.

18 SEP 2008
I'm sewing like mad to get the flood of orders done. Between my recent Higgs sale, the LHC being in the public eye, two magazine reviews coming out at the same time and being Boinged, it's never been busier at the Zoo! So bear with me.

This has nothing to do with The Particle Zoo, but but since it involves some scientific experimentation and something cute, I'll post it:
my cat Squeaky has been invited to be on local Los Angeles TV.

2 SEP 2008

Particles for Animals: Donate to the Farm Sanctuary Walk for Animals.
I'll be walking in Santa Monica September 27. Particles heart animals of all kinds and sizes.

5 August 2008
Article in The Denver Post!

2 August 2008
The particles get a thumbs-up in Nature magazine (UK).

28 July 2008
Thanks to the nice people at CERN, the particles were given to the Nobel laureates in physics at the Lindau, Germany
conference earlier this month. I couldn't be more honored. Photo gallery


Nobel winners David Gross and George Smoot pose with their particles in Lindau.

22 July 2008
No decent website is complete without a blog, right? Here is the new Particle Zoo blog.

11 July 2008
We're off to San Francisco to peddle the particles at the fair. The first batch of orders from the blogstorm will be shipping today, finally! Whew...Thanks to all my friends (and some neighbors) for working at the particle production studio the past 10 days.

 

3 July 2008
From Prof. Dr. David Gross in his lecture at the Lindau Nobel laureate meeting
on July 3, 2008, on hopes for the Large Hadron Collider:

"The discovery of supersymmetry... that is the discovery of quantum dimensions of spacetime. We will be
observing–as we always do–using both our eyes and our minds, new quantum dimensions of space and time.
We have a wonderful theory of elementary particles, but the best is yet to come."

1 July 2008
blogged:
neatorama
geekologie

oh gizmo!
everything below $29.99

25 June 2008

I am excited to announce Seed magazine reviewed The Particle Zoo in the new July/August 2008 issue (#17). My only regret is that they ordered particles in February so the ones pictured are old old old and "not my best work" but I'm overjoyed nonetheless! Please notice a down quark in their photographic collage on the facing page to the contents. I never knew that my interest in space and physics would lead endless days and nights of ironing and sewing. Click each for larger.

24 June 2008
The particles are reviewed in Plastic and Plush Designer Toy News and Reviews.