Rich Trenholm

Wednesday 10 September 2008, 2:25pm

Large Hadron Collider generates weird particles, headlines

It's official: we're all in the grip of Large Hadron Collider fever. As forums buzz with apocalyptic hysteria and rational, reasoned -- ie, boring -- rebuttals, even Google has got in on the act with today's logo design. The LHC was turned on today and we're all still in one piece -- or at least we think we are...

Who knew physics could be so much fun? All this talk of quarks and Higgs-Bozo particles has the world of physics in a lather. But, as with motor racing, the reason the LHC has transcended its devoted fanbase and gripped the public imagination is the question that's on every layman's lips: what if they crash?

Admit it: part of you kind of wants mini black holes to start popping up all over the place. Part of you wants the fabric of reality to loosen, perhaps leading to otherwise inexplicable phenomena, like rains of hitherto undiscovered species, spontaneous human combustion, Boris becoming Mayor of London -- oh hang on...

As usual, Crave is at the forefront of tech news -- mainly so we can take the piss out of it -- and this week's Crave Podcast guest-stars ZDNet UK's David Meyer, who has just returned from the Large Headline Generator and is glowing and floating an inch above the ground.

Chief sub-editor Nick already has plans to build a Small Hadron Collider in his shed. Meanwhile, if no-one accidentally falls into the LHC and gains super-powers, I for one will feel cheated.

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