Scientists (or to give them their tabloid newspaper name: “Boffins”) at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, are going to switch on their Large Hadron Collider tomorrow.
ITN report that the Collider is designed to:
smash particle beams together at close to the speed of light to create mini-versions of the explosion believed to have triggered the birth of the cosmos.
The BBC website go into much greater detail, talking about protons and Higgs bostons and dark matter. But after a while my brain started to go all fuzzy and I had to go for a lie down.
According to ITN (who are clearly a news provider of merit and distinction and would never go for a cheap sensationalist angle) the physicists in charge are “ignoring” critics who warn:
the experiment will create “black holes” of intense gravity that could implode the Earth, or that it will open the way for beings from another universe to invade through a “worm hole” in space-time.
Blimey!
On Radio Four this morning they reported that CERN made a statement saying that the chances of this happening were “very low”.
Very low? I think I would have preferred something like “non-existent” personally, but you can’t have everything.
Still, I think it’s worth the risk. Not because the experiment might uncover the secrets of the universe or anything like that. No, to be honest all that stuff makes my head swim. I think it’s worthwhile because this is just the kind of thing that is almost guaranteed to produce Earth’s first superhero.
Lets face it, with all those energy beams and black holes flying around all over the place one of them is bound to hit some mild mannered scientist and transform him into The Amazing Proton Man or something like that. I only hope they are vetting their employees properly. Knowing our luck it will be some bitter psychopath called Victor Von Death that gets hit instead.
Related posts:
Arjan (3)
Ian (3)
Idaho Dad (3)
Ed (2)
ImPerceptible (2)
john Gray (2)
Kevin Spencer (2)
Andy (1)
Avitable (1)
David Ingalls (1)
on Sep 9th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
In case we all die tomorrow, I bid you farewell.
VegasDads last blog post..random act of posting
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 12:41 am
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 12:53 am
I look forward to meeting our new superhuman overlords.
Kevin Spencers last blog post..Yeah, That Whole Mad Dogs & Englishman Thing…
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 1:55 am
Not to be confused with the Cylons who are waiting for us to kill ourselves so they can take over the planet.
JJ Daddy-Os last blog post..Favorite Blog du Jour – Photoshop Disasters
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 2:46 am
Now I’m scared.
Nats last blog post..A moment at the kitchen table
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Brandons last blog post..Non-Fantasy Football Post: McCain Gets Barackroll’d
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Whits last blog post..The Accidental Liberal
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Henris last blog post..Your First Day of PreSchool: Today You Are a Man
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Hey, maybe if you get zapped you could be Super Dan Man? You’ve already proved you can walk a squillion miles, who knows what else you could do! ;o)
Penelopes last blog post..Not one of my better days.
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 9:44 am
I watched a feature that included an interview with my favourite monocle wearer, Sir Patrick Moore. He said ‘of course you can’t say no risk, yet the risk is akin to the chances of Elvis landing an alien spaceship on the Loch Ness Monster’s back, in Basingstoke’. I might be taking a bit of a liberty with that, but it was a similar gist.
And he was on Gamemaster and everything.
SingleParentDads last blog post..Checkpoint 3.5
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 10:08 am
JJ Daddy-O – Leptons? That’s a village near me! I knew it was quite small but…
Nat – Lets just thank got the NSA is fictional.
Brandon – It’s better than those evil flying monkeys you were dreaming about before I suppose.
Whit – I KNEW IT!
Henri – That wasn’t my bum. It was Kerry’s.
Penelope – Super Dan Man has a good ring to it. My powers would be emanating noxious fumes from my bottom and the super human ability not to wash for months on end.
SingleParentdad – Oh I know. I was only messing about. In actual fact they are only sending one beam around today. They intend to start colliding them some point in november. That’s when the world will end.
Dans last blog post..It’s the end of the world as we know it
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Arjans last blog post..Shooty warriors rééémixxxxx
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Trust no-one. Keep your crowbar handy!
PandoraCaitiffs last blog post..Number 1: The KLF
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Another missed opportunity.
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
(un)relaxeddads last blog post..Photo day
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
My buddy’s ex is involved in there somewhere too, probably making the tea or something.
I think the idea of two of those buggers colliding and ending existence as we know in an instance is brilliant…
“the results are in… the next president of the united states of America is….”
…silence…
Xbox4NappyRashs last blog post..The bushel and the camel’s back
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Jeffs last blog post..***Important*** Don’t make this same mistake!
Reply
on Sep 10th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Reply
on Sep 11th, 2008 at 4:42 am
Jamess last blog post..Cursed Birds!
Reply
on Sep 11th, 2008 at 7:24 am
As every fuele know, big science projects only exist to provide mankind with extremely important gadgets.
The Apollo moon missions brought us non-stick frying pans, how can you say that the godzillion dollar spend wasn’t worth it ?
The Space Shuttle eventually spawned a super glue that would stick ceramic tiles to metal under extreme re-entry temperatures, ok so I haven’t seen that one in B&Q yet but I’m waiting as I need to tile my central heating boiler (seems like a good idea)
And the Russians invented an anti gravity pen that writes upside down that you can now buy from Freeview low budget TV Auction programmes I have so far resisted the purchase of such an item as I don’t find myself inverted too often at work but the first time that I do I just know I’m going to regret not having bid for one.
Garys last blog post..Colonel John Jacob Astor IV – Top Bloke
Reply
on Sep 11th, 2008 at 8:38 am
PandoraCaitiff – I prefer Sim City myself, although I recognize that that is slightly less relevant.
Rol – I’m a mutant, so I don’t have to worry about these things.
(un)relaxeddad – *crackle*……back hole……*crackle*…….zombies…….*crackle*…….ARRRGGGG
Xbox – You nihilist you.
Jeff – I think you can get them from ACME
dishywinniie – I agree completely. Why waste money trying to uncover the secrets of the universe when there are unnecessary wars to start.
James – Aliens have already been here for a long time. And the are our politicians.
Gary – Ahh, humanities endless quest to tile their water boilers. Can it be true that we are close to realizing it? And also; nice Molesworth reference.
Reply
on Sep 11th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Holmess last blog post..365 # 70: Kid I Threw A Block At
Reply
on Sep 11th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Reply
on Sep 12th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Webcam
Arjans last blog post..Shooty warriors rééémixxxxx
Reply
on Sep 12th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
All I can say is those guys must smoke a lot of good dope, yo.
JJ Daddy-Os last blog post..Favorite Blog du Jour – Photoshop Disasters
Reply