Large Haldron collider.

What is it??
Unscientifically put its a setup for a experiment where protons shall and passed and made to collide at very very high speed generating conditions mimicking the early "second" after the bing bang(phew)

Where is it?
The LHC was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and lies under the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland.

Cost?
The collider, 14 years and $8 billion in the making, is the most expensive scientific experiment to date.

To experiment what??
At stake is a suite of theories called the Standard Model, which explains all of particle physics to date, but which breaks down at the conditions that existed in the earliest moments of the universe. The new collider will eventually reach temperatures and energies equivalent to those at a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. There are many theories about what will happen, including the emergence of a particle known as the Higgs boson, which is hypothesized to endow other particles with mass, or the identity of the mysterious dark matter that provides the invisible scaffolding of galaxies and the cosmos.

So whats the big deal?
There has been predictions and concerns raised from many quarters that this experiment shall accidentally cause mini blackholes which could spell the end of the world..(now...thats interesting :D)

If you are someone like me whose eyes widen at the sight of black holes,dark matter and stuff I am sure you would want to know about this...so just wanted to share ..


Also check out
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7543089.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/bigbang/experiment.shtml



References;
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/science/09collide.html?ref=science
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider