LHC

Huge day in the science world today - the earth's largest particle collider passed its first obstacle by successfully firing two beams of protons in opposite directions around the extraordinary 17-mile track at the CERN headquarters in Geneva. The particle physicists (led by the smartest dude in the world, Stephen Hawking) behind the project are aiming to isolate a subatomic quirk called the Higgs Boson (also known as the God particle) by shooting and crashing two protons at each other with the enormous Large Hadron Collider. To put it simply, by recreating the Big Bang, the scientists behind the LHC could potentially explain the universe and its origins. For those of you who don't know CERN, you clearly haven't read Angels & Demons --- member scientists have invented the internet and x-rays.

This vid gives a great description of CERN if you want to learn more



Props to Google for recognizing the achievement today






The endeavor didn't come without its critics, however. A minority of physicists strongly believes that the collision will create a black hole that will engulf our planet! The fear of this even drove a 16 year-old Indian girl to suicide earlier today. Hawking says there is no chance, and he discovered black holes so I'm gonna take his word for it. Here's a pretty cool youtube depiction of the "potential disaster"

Posted by Buck Dancer on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 3:43 PM