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Breadcrumb Latest Speed Bump for Collider

$8B science project sidetracked by 'bit of baguette'

By Will McCahill,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 5, 2009 11:59 PM CST | Updated Nov 6, 2009 6:29 AM CST

(Newser) – The enormous science project buried beneath the France-Switzerland border has seen all kinds of detours in its search for the so-called “God particle”—busted vacuum tubes, al-Qaeda moles—so the latest might not be a huge surprise: A piece of bread dropped by a bird onto an outdoor segment caused the $8 billion Large Hadron Collider to shut down, again, this week.

“A bit of baguette on the busbars,” as one staffer put it to the Register, caused sections of the 17-mile-long particle collider to overheat. Had it been in use, the LHC would have shut down automatically; since it’s off-line until later this month, little damage was done other than to a reputation that’s already absorbed plenty.

An innocent baguette slice might've shut down the world's biggest science experiment.
An innocent baguette slice might've shut down the world's biggest science experiment.   (Wikimedia Commons)
The Large Hadron Collider.
The Large Hadron Collider.   (AP Photo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 8 comments
njgreen
Nov 7, 2009 1:11 AM CST
Yeah, that'll be the first time in their lives they'll actually be moving fast.
njgreen
Nov 6, 2009 11:38 AM CST
Face it. This thing will never run. Anytime it gets close to starting up, either Picard or Riker will come back from the future to shut it off. I've seen this episode before.
riffran
Nov 6, 2009 7:02 AM CST
niiiiice... :) lmao

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