I just read a very nice article by Nature's Zeeya Merali, and I thought I would link it from this blog. It discusses in detail several aspects of the sociology of the very large communities of particle physics experiments taking place at CERN.

At some point the article mentions blogs, and the problem these and similar communication means pose to the cohesion of the collaborations. However, Zeeya does not fully explore the topic. A pity, because I believe it will be one of growing importance. For a discussion of the matter, give a look at the writeup of a talk I gave at WCSJ 09 in London last July. The post is titled "Where will you hear about the Higgs first?".