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Large Hadron Collider Clogged by Bird's Baguette Bomb

by Amar Toor on November 6, 2009 at 11:04 AM

Every now and then, something will randomly fall out of the sky into an extremely insular environment, and chaos and confusion will erupt. Those consequences, as Chicken Little will tell you, can be devastating.

Something along those lines recently happened at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) when a bird dropped a baguette on the giant particle accelerator as it was flying overhead, nearly shutting the whole thing down in the process. The Register reports that the LHC, located at CERN laboratories in Switzerland, saw temperatures in parts of its accelerator circuits rise rapidly as a result of this baguette-bombing bird. (We're gonna go out on a limb and guess it was French.) Luckily, the LHC wasn't in operation, because if it had been, the incident would've likely suspended all further activity. Dr. Mike Lamont, who works in the CERN control center, reassured everyone that the LHC's safety net would have been strong enough to withstand the attack, especially in light of its significant upgrade in September.

The technical details are a bit too opaque for us, but we can pretty well understand the general "disaster averted" theme of the story. You have to wonder, though, if this whole LHC idea isn't perhaps cursed in some way. After magnet issues ground the accelerator to a halt in September, or the delay to address lingering safety issues in October, and now this breadcrumb bungle, it may only be a matter of time before a routine, infield ground-out passes through CERN's legs. [From: PopSci and The Register]

Tags: animals, birds, CERN, funny, large hadron collider, LargeHadronCollider, LHC, nature, science, top

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