As you most likely have already heard, the Large Hadron Collider was taken offline due to a problem with the device’s magnets. But then, we found out a full-on helium leak caused even more concern. And now we won’t see the good ‘ol LHC up and running again until the spring of next year.
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The director of CERN, Robert Aymar, called the flub up a “psychological blow,” however, I’d much rather they take the time now to get the collider working properly before it’s up to full speed.
It seems the malfunction was a bit more serious than previously anticipated. The fire department was called when a ton of liquid helium leaked into the tunnel. This caused the magnets to overheat. Even though I don’t think this is the doomsday device some people seem to think it is, I definitely don’t want the largest particle collider ever to have any sort of quirks when it’s cranked up to full capacity.
[via Gizmodo]






