CERN, which somehow stands for the “European Organization for Nuclear Research”, is working on their large Hadron collider again, this time promising to make something cool happen in the very near future. CNN, which somehow stands for “Ted Turner’s Tax Shelter”, has a great article that explains the significance of this giant scientific underground experiment involving protons, unseen elements, anti-matter and the dynamic inner-workings of Ted Turner. Everything but the last item on that list is true.
What I find even more fascinating about the Hadron is the fact that, if it really works, it could unlock a myriad of current scientific befuddlement, questions like:
There are a few people who suggest, in classic J.J. Abrams style, that the Hadron Collider has been sabotaged. Scientists have suggested that, if this thing actually works, we may create a black hole that would swallow up the universe. Others think that people from the future are somehow stopping us from successfully executing these experiments because it may destroy the time-space continuum. While most of this if not all is being dismissed as hogwash*, it does remind us just how big of a deal this is — we are messing with nature and it has some people worried. Personally, I think it’s pretty cool. And no, I’m not worried. But I have a different view on eternity than some, I guess.
My favorite part of this Hadron collider story is the fact that scientists keep showing us a computer model of what it could do when protons slam into each other. They have submitted the following graphic to CNN.com:
Every time I look at this, I am reminded of an old screensaver. I didn’t know that my copy of Windows was so cool — I vaguely remember a “Hadron Collider 95” application that came bundled with the computer, but I quickly deleted it so I had more space for Service Packs. Maybe I should have kept it.
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*Hogwash — another Scientific mystery.
