End of the World?

The large hadron collider (LHC) is expected to be online by this Christmas. Some crazy people think that this device, that accelerates tiny particles to nearly the speed of light, could cause a black hole to form, destroying the world. Fortunately, no scientists that anyone takes seriously are saying this.

The LHC was expected to come online around this time last year, but has been fraught with problems. First, it was inadvertently flooded with helium. Then magnets fused together, causing failure. Somehow a bird dropped bread crumbs into the machine, causing bad readings.

These problems have inspired Dr. Nielsen, who was interviewed by the New York Times, to say that the LHC is destined to fail. He posits that the particles the LHC will create (Higgs-Boson particles) will be so abhorrent to nature, that they will send ripples back in time. Thus preventing the device from working. Right, if only there were evidence for him saying that rather than "Oh, bad things keep happening to the LHC, that's a strange coincidence".

You may wonder how we would know if the world was ending (due to the LHC). Well luckily, someone has set up a website with up to the minute information on whether the LHC has destroyed the world. Click here for an update.

(via BrandX)