Mini-hysteria

In the next day or so, you will hear and see some chatter about an experiment slated for Wednesday at CERN in Switzerland. Japan, Europe and the U.S. have pooled their resources to build a particle collider that is about to go live. The gist of it is that scientists will smash subatomic particles together at nearly the the speed of light. I'm not a physicist, but I believe they expect to learn neat stuff about the Big Bang. 

Several opponents to the project fear the collision will form a mini-black hole (which could swallow the Earth whole, in theory). I tend to side with the guys who have designed the experiment, but, as I asserted before, I know jack shit about physics.

I do know, however, that many of the physicists who designed the first A-bomb feared it would trigger an endless chain reaction that would burn up the planet. I think nuclear weapons are an awful scourge, but we are still here. My guess is that we will all wake up Thursday morning in good form.