And a lawsuit to shut it down? – Some people thought that CERN was some sort of scientific conspiracy of science, and plaintiffs from several different countries have asked their courts to halt its operation for a rather incredible reason: they claim that CERN may create a black hole that will swallow up the Earth. Meanwhile, results from the experiments being carried out by the there are finally coming out: It created even more particles than they thought it would. In fact, so many particles have been created that some scientists worry that they will gum up the works.
In BBC News, Jason Palmer quotes researcher Roland Gunter as saying, “I think it’s not going to be a problem, but it is one of the many things that we need to know as we move toward searches for the most rare particles and new physics.”He says the “extra” particles will be more of an issue later in 2010, when the LHC concentrates on high speed collisions involving lead, which is a heavier element and thus will throw off even more particles.
In New Scientist, Jessica Griggs reports that for the time being, CERN is slowing down: its engineers will run it at half power in hopes of making new kinds of discoveries.
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