Everything is a war these days: Actual wars in various regions of the world, the war on drugs and even wars on various social issues. But there is another war going on, one that doesn't get nearly as much press: The war on science.

In this most recent economic downturn the recent trend of cutting funding for pure science has been exacerbated. The argument, naturally, is that when things are tight we can't afford such extravagances. But is science an extravagance, or is it a fundamental driver of economic growth?

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Unless you live under a rock, you are undoubtedly aware of the work being carried out at the Large Hadron Collider. There, researchers are attempting to find a particle known as the Higgs Boson.

But what is the Higgs? I could try and explain it in this space, but here is an entertaining video from Jorge Cham over at PhD Comics that explains it pretty well. Enjoy!

Image Credit: CERN

The Space Shuttle Discovery was shown off at the Smithsonian earlier today. NASA has posted a photo gallery of the preparation, journey and ceremony; it's worth checking out.

Here in Indianapolis, Indiana, we may not have gotten the coveted Discovery, but we recently acquired a shuttle of our own. Pretty cool. Though, frankly, it's not as big as I thought it would be...

LEGO Shuttle located at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Photo Credit: Melissa Millis.

One of the iconic machines of the 20th century is on its way to Washington D.C. to be displayed at the Smithsonian.

The event, including the flight to Dulles, can be seen on NASA's website. They'll have video of the shuttle preparation and interviews about the program and the future of manned space flight. If you just want to catch the landing - which is really impressive as it involves being piggybacked on a modified 747 - tune in around 10:00 am EDT today.