tagged w/ LHC
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Scientists working on the world's biggest machine are being besieged by phone calls and emails from people who fear the world will end next Wednesday, when the gigantic atom smasher starts up.
The Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, where particles will begin to circulate around its 17 mile circumference tunnel next week, will recreate energies not seen since the universe was very young, when particles smash together at near the speed of light.
Such is the angst that the American Nobel prize winning physicist Frank Wilczek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has even had death threats, said Prof Brian Cox of Manchester University, adding: "Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a twat."
The head of public relations, James Gillies, says he gets tearful phone calls, pleading for the £4.5 billion machine to stop.
"They phone me and say: "I am seriously worried. Please tell me that my children are safe," said Gillies.
Emails also arrive every day that beg for reassurance that the world will not end, he explained.
By Roger Highfield
Link to the rest of the article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/09/05/scilhc105.xmlScientists working on the world's biggest machine are being besieged by phone... more
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In case you're worried that the earth will be destroyed when they switch on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in a few days, you can chillax. You actually have a better chance of spontaneously evaporating while you're having a shave than the likelihood that things will go awry with the LHC. According to a comprehensive report on the project, nature's own cosmic rays produce particle collisions substantially more powerful than the ones to be generated by LHC. We wouldn't exist if they were strong enough to create universe-destroying black holes.
Check out all the sciency bits in this article http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904220342.htmIn case you're worried that the earth will be destroyed when they switch on the... more
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"It has cost 4.4billion and is designed to unlock the secrets of the Big Bang.
But rather than providing vital information about the beginning of life, the world's biggest experiment could cause the end of the world, say scientists.They fear that the Large Hadron Collider - due to be switched on in a few days' time, will create a black hole that could swallow the planet.
By smashing sub-atomic particles together at close to the speed of light, the LHC aims to recreate the conditions that existed a fraction of a second after the birth of the universe or Big Bang, shedding light on the building blocks of life. But critics claim that the 'time machine', which has been built 300ft beneath the French-Swiss border near Geneva, could instead spawn a shower of mini-black holes.
The Large Hadron Collider smashes particles together at nearly the speed of light
Within four years, one of these 'celestial vacuums' could have swollen to such a size that it is capable of sucking the Earth inside-out, said Otto Rossler, one of a group of scientists mounting a last-minute court challenge to the project.
They claim the experiment violates the right to life under the European Convention of Human Rights. However, the case at the European Court of Human Rights is not expected to delay the switch on, scheduled for Wednesday September 10th.
Professor Rossler, a German chemist, said the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, or CERN, has admitted its project will create black holes but doesn't consider them to be a risk..."
"It has cost 4.4billion and is designed to unlock the secrets of the Big Bang.... more
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