Worlds in Collision

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Reuters offers this article on the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN complex near Geneva. Researchers intend to duplicate a miniature version of the events of the Big Bang in this 27-kilometer particle supercollider.

"These beams will have the kinetic energy of an aircraft carrier slammed into the size of a zero on a 20 pence piece," Brian Cox of Manchester University told the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

"We are going to make mini Big Bangs. There has never been such a jump in particle physics. It will go into an area that we don't really understand," he added.

Scientists plan to use this device to try to discover how matter was created when the universe began. But there are a number of other exciting applications. If their theories hold up, then the collider should generate tiny black holes that will evaporate away. They may also find evidence of other dimensions, possibly including evidence of alternate universes.

"For the first time in many decades we have built a machine that exceeds our powers of prediction. New processes are bound to be discovered," he added. "We are truly journeying into unknown territory."

Cox dismissed worries that by adventuring into the unknown and creating tiny Black Holes, the machine could even threaten to destroy the planet.

"The probability is at the level of 10 to the minus 40," he said.

Well, that's a relief. Now if only that mission to Mars -- or better still, that mission to Alpha Centauri -- were ready to go. Never fear, I'd be willing to get my report on the collider results by email.

*Note: The odds they're talking about for global destruction are about 10 duodecillion to one. Or 10 thousand trillion trillion trillion to one.

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