The good folk at the potentially universe-ending Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland have begun revving the machine up again following a boo-boo in September of 2008. You may wonder why it would take them fourteen months to go back online after a system shutdown.
Dude, they're ramming subatomic particles together at near light speeds at temperatures where the lightest gases known to science become liquid. We should want them to take all the time it takes. I'm certain the Swiss do. And the one quote that says it's a "much better understood machine" than it was a year ago when it was first turned on? Well, let's hope that's a little scientist humor because otherwise we have to deal with the fact that they didn't understand the thing when they first turned it on.
So far, so good, LHC scientists report. But if you should happen to notice every molecule in your body exploding outward at the speed of light while all life as you know it stops instantaneously, then you'll know something went wrong. Also if you hear "Uh-oh" followed by a very loud bang.
On the other hand, if it works, I think the Swiss government has an option to put a miniaturized hadron collider in the latest version of the Swiss Army knife. So that'll be cool.
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