Large Hadron Collider comes online

If your browser window is bigger than 800 by 600 pixels, you may notice the new graphic to the left. It and this post are announcing that the Large Hadron Collider is officially online. The LHC is a giant science experiment which will try to detect the Higgs boson, which according the the Standard Model should be the particle that gives everything mass. So far it has been elusive, but the LHC should have the power necessary to detect it. If the Higgs is not detected, more than likely that part of the Standard Model is incorrect and physicists will have a lot of rethinking to do. The LHC also has the capability to test parts of string theory which we have so far been unable to test sufficiently. It is all very exciting for scientists.

Unfortunately it was not very exciting for a teenage girl in India who committed suicide based on doomsday predictions about the LHC she had seen on television. None of these doomsday predictions are based on real scientific facts and are just wild accusations that have turned out to be very, very harmful. Ironically, the ones promoting these falsehoods claim to be trying to prevent harm.

In that light my graphic might be in poor taste. It represents the eating away of matter that these buffoons who are against the LHC thought might happen. Nonetheless, the graphic will remain as will the LHC which will further our understanding of the universe for years to come.