Some fear atom smasher could end world

ah, the same fear was raised about the atomic bomb. the likelihood is ridiculously small of some sort of chain reaction and if we're wrong, we'll all be evaporated instantaneously so what's the big deal? everyone gets to go to the next land together.

Atom smashing sounds fun!

Although extremely dangerous...

erm. why ould you risk the earth to smash some atoms?


wow. the earth IS really coming to an end.

The risk is very very small and we have a lot to gain.

we need to build a smasher to smash the atom smasher

It's the creation of the new "internet" that will result from this experiment that i have a larger concern for....


Skynet will be getting the big upgrade....

Push president bush into it LOL HAHa I crack myself up

Atom smashing sounds like a new term for having sex.

WOW! and there still going to make it? Lets just sees what happens. atom SMASHER! it just sounds like it would hurt.

turn it on. I want to see what happens

I think it'd be great for Steven Hawking, who has studied them his whole life and made so may great discoveries, to see a Black Hole up close. Not so great for life on earth as we know it though...

"Obviously, the world will not end when the LHC switches on," said project leader Lyn Evans.

Sounds like some more 'famous last words' to me.

Hey, think of it this way. If the world does end it will probably happen pretty quickly... Better than the slow death the world is experiencing right now...

But if Stephen Hawking thinks its safe it probably is...

Although he has changed his mind about things before...

Half-Life!

Awesome! First dibs on the shotgun

We just have to hope that Darth Vader doesn't get a hold of it!

If you actually read the article and look at the quotes, the scientific consensus is that the chance of this having a negative effect are extremely, extremely teeny tiny, and there's nothing to worry about. But what headline does the media go with? One that advocates fear. Sensationalism at its best, folks!

"Critics of the LHC filed a lawsuit in a Hawaiian court in March seeking to block its startup, alleging that there was 'a significant risk that ... operation of the Collider may have unintended consequences which could ultimately result in the destruction of our planet.'"

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that journalists instinctively tend to try to give "both sides" of the story, even when one is heavily backed by scientific evidence and the other is backed by paranoid theorists. It's the same reason some people still think human-caused global warming is merely a "theory," when in fact there is no debate among (legit) scientists about the basic facts.

And then in the end, when it comes time to pick the headline to go along with the story, we always end up with the one that will draw the most attention to it.

Totally agree; the media should limit their policy of 'giving both sides': Here there is realistically only one side: The chances of this going wrong are effectively equal to zero; on the same order as earth being destroyed by an number of incredibly unlikely natural phenomena.

More generally this kind of 'argument for argument's sake' gives an opinion to people who, with all respect, are completely unqualified to have, and therefore do not deserve one (until they judge for themselves given the evidence). Unfortunately in the case of global warming politicians risk being unpopular even if they go with what is essentially fact, as a result of certain ignorant people's inherent phobia of science.

We lack the ability to surpass what the universe has already done. Rule #1: matter is a constant. Rule #2: matter cannot be created or destroyed merely changed in form. Rule #3: smashing atoms will make pretty colors, hence fun on the Fourth of July( that was the best fireworks I've ever seen)( of course now I am only atoms hoping to form again one fine day ).

Push George bush into it lets see what happens? :)

I'd love to see someone make a typo when typing "Large Hadron Collider".

i think theres a chance that theres a chance that it might make a black hole, not a direct chance.. so, we might, might all die...

so... PANIC!!!... i am joking of course..

but seriously... panic..

I say let 'em smash a few atoms what's the worst that could happen ...right.

"lareg hedren clloider" aw shucks...

Smashing an atom dangerous? That's what people were saying about the atomic bomb. Ok bad example.
Maybe more like y2k.

ANybody want to play the game Half-Life now, to see how many bad decisions you can make before the real thing happens.???

that damn thing is going to make black holes that will end up swallowing us whole by 2012!!!!!!!!!!!
a scientist actually is afraid of this, heard him on"coasttocoast"

A black hole with many solar masses could pass within 300km of planet earth without us even noticing, a tiny black hole (if it is even possible to create one) on earth couldn't do that much damage. Payoff is way higher than risk.

This experiment could lead to a new battery technology that could contain a miniature big bang magnetically sealed within that generates a massive amount of electrons flowing out of the matrix.

The CERN is pretty darn cool. I don't really get what they do, but my husband gets as excited as a kid in a candy store when he reads about their stuff.

Technology is crazy, especially at the multinational level. Still, I can't believe that humans might actually be physically capable of literally obliterating our planet, just by pushing a button.

Just another thing to catalyst a sci-fi flick

Think about it though, when it happens it will make a great movie.

Hmm, lets see, either this will do nothing, create micro-black holes which will evaporate nearly instantly and prove Hawking Radiation, or disprove hawking radiation and we're all screwed. I hope we can get some kind of hyperdrive out of this.

ATOM SMASH!!!... The Hulk said it better..