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Averick
Calculateurre of Chaos
Joined: Mar 06, 2007
Age: 29
Posts: 2277
Location: in the trenches..
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 Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:04 pm Post subject: Doomsday Machine Makers Get Sued |
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"The builders of the world's biggest particle collider are being sued in federal court over fears that the experiment might create globe-gobbling black holes or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet.
Representatives at Fermilab in Illinois and at Europe's CERN laboratory, two of the defendants in the case, say there's no chance that the Large Hadron Collider would cause such cosmic catastrophes. Nevertheless, they're bracing to defend themselves in the courtroom as well as the court of public opinion.
The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, is due for startup later this year at CERN's headquarters on the French-Swiss border. It's expected to tackle some of the deepest questions in science: Is the foundation of modern physics right or wrong? What existed during the very first moment of the universe's existence? Why do some particles have mass while others don't? What is the nature of dark matter? Are there extra dimensions of space out there that we haven't yet detected?
Some folks outside the scientific mainstream have asked darker questions as well: Could the collider create mini-black holes that last long enough and get big enough to turn into a matter-sucking maelstrom? Could exotic particles known as magnetic monopoles throw atomic nuclei out of whack? Could quarks recombine into "strangelets" that would turn the whole Earth into one big lump of exotic matter?"
By Alan Boyle
Science editor
MSNBC
MSNBC News
Maybe Dan Brown forseen these events in Angels and Demons?  |
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tweety_fan
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 03, 2007
Posts: 1633
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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| whoa |
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DeaconBlues
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide - call me...
Joined: Apr 22, 2007
Posts: 1673
Location: Earth, mostly
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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Or, more likely...
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Averick
Calculateurre of Chaos
Joined: Mar 06, 2007
Age: 29
Posts: 2277
Location: in the trenches..
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:50 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, totally DeaconBlues.
Wouldn't it be nice with all the technological advances that the super-scientists at CERN produce me a machine to instantly molecularize par nul a real Butterball turkey at my waking disposal to cure world hunger? |
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bicentennialman
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Mar 21, 2008
Posts: 39
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:38 am Post subject: |
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| Those fears sound like they're more informed by science fiction than by science. It's a shame they're getting in the way of physics research. Not that I'm an expert, but I tend to trust the physicists more than the critics in this case. |
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Aaron_Mason
Phoenix
Joined: Jul 04, 2005
Age: 23
Posts: 653
Location: Bathurst, Australia
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 5:08 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, it sounds really frivolous. The first thing I thought of when I saw this was "you've gotta be kidding me..."
I think it'll be fine. People are just dumb.
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Scribbler
Snowy Owl
Joined: Mar 16, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 127
Location: UK
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:35 pm Post subject: |
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I bet it cost millions and millions and millions to make and will cost yet more millions to run... I wish the science community would pump its money into something useful like a cure for aids, rather than frivolous tat like this.
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"Who says 'marvellous' to the Job Centre?!" |
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pakled
"Bless his Heart"
Joined: Nov 13, 2007
Age: 51
Posts: 3993
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| Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:23 am Post subject: |
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one function of a black hole is mass (not the state north of Connecticut.. . How much could they actually make?
Actually, antimatter has been made in much the same way. Almost a dozen or more atoms of it. Even transported by commercial jet (this was a few years back). haven't heard about any problems with that... |
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spudnik
Better Stronger Faster
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 3953
Location: Calgary, Alberta Canada
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Something to do with the Higgs Boson particle, might be why there hasn't been any contact with any other civilizations in in the galaxy, having discovered the particle and destroying themselves in the process |
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pezar
Deinonychus
Joined: Apr 06, 2008
Age: 34
Posts: 301
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:33 pm Post subject: Re: Doomsday Machine Makers Get Sued |
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| Averick wrote: |
Some folks outside the scientific mainstream have asked darker questions as well: Could the collider create mini-black holes that last long enough and get big enough to turn into a matter-sucking maelstrom? Could exotic particles known as magnetic monopoles throw atomic nuclei out of whack? Could quarks recombine into "strangelets" that would turn the whole Earth into one big lump of exotic matter?"
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This sounds like a SciFi Channel Original Movie, of which TV Guide once said they "were written on a bender and filmed in Bulgaria". "Oh no, the Medusa Project is turning the earth into one big lump of exotic matter! We must stop the matter ball before it reaches Seattle!"
OTOH, "strangelet" sounds like a good name for aspies if "aspie" ever gets too loaded. |
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CowboyFromHell
Toucan
Joined: Dec 23, 2007
Age: 19
Posts: 260
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Averick wrote: | Yeah, totally DeaconBlues.
Wouldn't it be nice with all the technological advances that the super-scientists at CERN produce me a machine to instantly molecularize par nul a real Butterball turkey at my waking disposal to cure world hunger? |
It'd cook a mean bag of popcorn for the next big sci-fi blockbuster.
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reika
Supporting Member
Joined: Aug 14, 2007
Posts: 1011
Location: Alaska
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| Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 1:11 am Post subject: |
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That made me LOL Deacon Blues, I even sent it to an acquaintance of mine, thanks.
Also, I saw an interview w/ Simon LeVay, A Neuroscientist who just wrote a new book "When Science Goes Wrong" and he mentioned the black hole/anti-matter issue also.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=165229&title=simon-levay
Forewarning, its The Daily Show, so its also "amusing". The comment begins at about the 4 minute mark in the interview.
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If only closed minds came with closed mouths. Lau: "But where would they put their feet?" Postpaleo: "Up their ass." |
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Macbeth
Thane of Bar and Cellar
Joined: May 28, 2007
Posts: 1974
Location: UK Doncaster
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| Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:27 pm Post subject: |
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Pretty sure that this was part of the plotline in a Joe Haldeman novel.
(Possibly part of the Forever War sequence.)
Might be thinking of a different thing entirely, but its definitely an old sci-fi standard.
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KingofKaboom
Naughty by Nature
Joined: Oct 21, 2007
Age: 21
Posts: 4066
Location: North Mississippi
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| Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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I feel smarter by just reading this thread ^___^
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Zara
Skyfish
Joined: Jun 24, 2007
Age: 28
Posts: 1607
Location: Deep Dungeon, VA
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| Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:13 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not worried.
Miniture black holes? There's no technology on Earth that can compress enough matter to even make a micro black hole. The most they could ever get is a highly radioactive and unstable heavy element that will only exist momentarily.
Destructive mono-poles? If such things exist, then they probably already exist here in some minute trace amounts. Well we're still here aren't we?
Don't know about stranglets and exotic matter... guess I'll have to look those ones up. But still not worried.
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