Earlier today scientists fired a beam of particles called protons around the 27km-long tunnel which houses the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) located on the Swiss French border.  And we are here to tell the tail!

Not that I really thought that we were going to be sucked into a black hole or anything!

I love the commentary on this:

Eventually, two proton beams will be steered in opposite directions around the LHC at close to the speed of light, completing about 11,000 laps each second.

At allotted points around the tunnel, the beams will cross paths, smashing together near four massive "detectors" that monitor the collisions for interesting events.

That is some serious speed! and what are "interesting events"?  I am sure that we will find out in time.

Another interesting fact that emerged related to the LHC’s predecessor, a machine called the Large-Electron Positron Collider, engineers found two beer bottles wedged into the beam pipe – a deliberate, one-off act of sabotage.

The culprits – who were drinking a particular brand that advertising once claimed would "refresh the parts other beers cannot reach" – were never found.