Brian Cox's Video Tour of CERNs LHC & the Search for the God Particle

Rock-star turned quantum physicist, Brian Cox takes us on a dazzling tour of CERN's Large Hardron Collider and the search for the elusive Higgs Boson.

One of the world's largest assembled teams of scientists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider outside Geneva, Switzerland are attempting to discover what is considered the “Holy Grail” of particle physics, the Higgs Boson, and re-create the conditions that existed a few seconds after the Big Bang and the creation of our universe.

The video linked below is a brilliant tour de force of one of mankind's most exciting voyages of discovery -a journey to the beginnings of time.

Brian Cox , born 1968, an experimental physicist and Royal Society University Research Fellow, is a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester and also works at CERN as one of the spokesmen of an international working group tasked with studying ways to upgrade the ATLAS and CMS detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

In 1993, while studying for his undergraduate degree, Cox joined D:Ream who went on to have three top-ten singles in the UK charts, including a number one hit, New Labour election anthem 'Things Can Only Get Better.'

Cox is also now known outside his profession through his involvement in science programes for BBC radio and television, including In Einstein's Shadow, and as the science adviser for the sci-fi movie Sunshine.

Brian Cox Tour of CERN's Large Hadron Collider

Posted by Casey Kazan.

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Comments

[JTankers]

Brian, you are promoting this experiment which was funded before we knew that creation of micro black holes was possible. Be responsible and review the safety issue for your self if you are going to promote this as safe science.

You are probably not even aware that there is a real danger are you?

CERN predicts the creation of up to 1 micro black hole per second in the Large Hadron Collider and references the 1999 RHIC safety study as proof of safety.
(Rebuttal: But the 1999 RHIC safety study only ruled out any possibility of colliders creating micro black holes based on knowledge at that time.)

CERN predicts that micro black holes will evaporate.
(Rebuttal: But Hawking Radiation has been disputed by no less than 3 peer reviewed studies that found no basis in science for such conclusions.)

CERN and Steven Hawking state that much greater energy cosmic ray impacts with Earth prove safety.
(Rebuttal: But higher energy cosmic ray impacts with stationary particles have net collision speeds of almost the speed of light and send all particles created safely into space, while head-on collider collisions have net collision impact speeds at almost twice the speed of light but are designed to focus all the energy to a single point in space and particles created may be captured by Earth's gravity.)

CERN promised to create and release an new safety report before the end of 2007.
(Rebuttal: CERN's LHC Safety Assessment Group has concluded that particles created by cosmic ray impacts with Earth's atmosphere are safely ejected into space and LSAG stated that they do not assume that micro black holes will evaporate, but CERN never released any safety reports created by their LHC Safety Assessment Group.)

CERN asserts that there is no risk to the planet, even though the Large Hadron Collider will create conditions not seen in nature since the first fraction of a second after the big bang.
(Rebuttal: But the legal action contends a 75% probability of risk with very high degree of uncertainty calculated by a scientist with a masters degree in statistics, and alleges that Chief Scientific Officer Mr. Engelen passed an internal memorandum to workers at CERN asking them regardless of personal opinion to affirm in all interviews that there were no risks involved in the experiments, changing CERN's previous assertion of minimal risk.)

Professor Otto Rossler calculates that a single micro black hole could accrete the Earth is as few as 50 months and Dr. Rossler is world recognized as one of the most prestigious, most eminent, award winning scientists alive. Others including Dr. Raj Baldev, director of the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research, are also warning of a very real, very possible, very present danger to the planet from the Large Hadron Collider.
(Rebuttal?: But CERN has not scientifically refuted his calculations that I am aware of, CERN only promised Dr. Rossler that if they create stable micro black holes that they will stop the experiment immediately. But could that be too late?)

The World might prevent a catastrophy if we delay the experiment until the promised safety studies are completed and peer reviewed.
(Rebuttal?: But then some scientists may not be the first to discover new science and some Nobel prizes may be lost?)

JTankers
LHCConcerns.com

[JTankers]

LHCConcerns.com will pay $500.00 US to the best proposal that can reasonably prove 5% or less Risk of Planetary destruction from Micro Black Holes.

The contest will conclude in a vote by site visitors on all reasonable proofs received, all proofs will be published and the contest will end not sooner than May 20th. (LHCConcerns will make the final call on best proposal that reasonably proves 5% or lower risk from micro black holes being created by the Large Hadron Collider).

You may prove that ANY ONE of the following or provide any other reasonable Proof or method to prevent Micro Black Holes from being created by the Large Hadron Collider or prove that they are harmless!

1. The Large Hadron Collider will not make micro black holes.
2. Micro black holes created will be sent safely into space.
3. Micro black holes will evaporate.
4. Micro black holes will take more than 2 billion years to accrete the Earth. (If you can only prove a lesser time frame, then the prize will be reduced proportionately...)
5. Any form of cosmic ray argument that proves 5% risk or lower.
6. Find a way to make the Large Hadron Collider safe from creating micro black holes (we already requested different speed collissions or different mass collisions, LSAG told us it was not possible, they already thought of it).

It is harder than it looks, the LHC Safety Assessment Group (LSAG) could not produce a safety report... (CERN and LSAG are still using the 1999 RHIC safety report that does not even address what might happen if micro black holes were created, because they did not know that it was possible at that time. We are also being generous on the 2 billion years, we want to be reasonable)

JTankers
LHCConcerns.com

[CadMasterAdam]

JTankers,

Shut the fuck up. God. what an idiot you are. Stop halting science you tool.

Watched this the other day, good listen/watch.

Post spammers fuck off.

[moo]

yeah. Science man.
But really, even if the thing made a bunch of dangerous crap or destabilized the spacetime continuum.. how cool? I mean, of all the ways to go: global warming/meteor impact/alien invasion etc, I'd say that self destruction through simulated genesis environs.. too cool. I'd be happy to get sucked to bits by mini blackholes or whatever, probably be the first humans to die like that (and the last. hah.)

[Barrie O'Leary]

Oh, god! Let us worry !

[knoxvilledaniel]

For Heaven's SAKE !!! Is there a full Moon out tonight ? The bats are busy in a few belfries !!!

Yes, the sky is falling, let's all cower in abject fear of the Mighty Black Hole Machine ( tm ) run by CERN !!!

They're constructing a ginormous machine that could give humanity a rare glimpse or 2 of the processes taking place during Creation, & here we have some fear - mongers claiming that this same machine going to destroy us. Puh - leeeze !!! Good thing they weren't there when fire was discovered or the wheel was invented..... !! If the Earth is pulled into a black hole, through a spatial anomaly, time runs backwards, or some other strange occurence, THEN they can say " I / We told you so..... ".

[knoxvilledaniel]

I agree with " moo " ( or whoever said it. ) - Even if the Earth were destroyed by a black hole or similar spatial anomaly, which is HIGHLY UNLIKELY, it would be an unforgettable way to go, unlike global warming or a collision with an asteroid.....
I could escape from Earth with a field correspondent from the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy !!
42 !!

[Dont' do it]

Please don't start something that will have such catastrophic effects. When the descriptor is "seconds after the original BIG BANG", I would think that would be enough to know that it is sure death to all things. There needs to be safety's in place, testing periods, ramping up of capabilities.

[Peppersgc]

I think the general populace missed something with all this fear mongering. That is "Supporting a theory with a theory". One of the bases of science. But... Haven't we studied Black Holes and postulated with a little something called "material evidence" that they are collapsed stars? Mass so great that even light cannot escape? Doesn't the idea of a "Micro Black Hole", as in microscopic amounts of matter, or very little mass, fly in the face of what we already know about black holes? Yes, I know that some types of matter have exceptionally greater mass than others, but to the extent of a collapsed star? Really? Also, to touch on anti-matter just a little, isn't anti-matter the opposite of matter? So wouldn't its mass be exactly proportionate to matter but in the opposite direction? Negative mass is the opposite of what you would need to make a black hole... isn't it?

[Rick Forrest]

Peppersgc... I don't think that's how antimatter works. Besides, even assuming you're right, then instead of micro black holes we'd have micro WHITE holes, which would be just as deadly/harmless as their counterparts.

Also, micro black holes are proportionate in size and mass to their supermassive brethren. The "micro" applies more to their size than their actual density. Think of it as a ratio, if you will: 64 is to 32 as 8 is to 4. 32 and 4 have the same ratio and proportion as 64 and 8. Different sizes/quantities, same proportional value.

On top of that, how do you "postulate" with "material evidence"? We don't even HAVE any evidence on black holes, aside from indirect signs and the obvious black patch in the sky.

Regardless, my point is not to side with the doomsday naysayers. Neither is it to totally neglect all possibility of risk. Sure, there's risk, and maybe CERN and co. are watering it down a bit, but so what? Life is all about risks. It's a dangerous universe, even without us around. That hasn't stopped us yet. Even if it does stop us now, at least we get to go out with a bang, and not a whimper... and at the very worst, at least it's better than blowing the shit out of each other in another war.

Bottom line, I say exactly what I said at raquo.net: turn on the LHC. If it happens to be our undoing, then so be it. We are bound to be eradicated from the Universe one way or another eventually. Might as well have fun while we're at it.

[E. Pryor]

Is it even possible to collide at 2x the speed of light? I thought a speeds close to the speed of light, that time slows down, so that even if 2 objects are moving at the speed of light, their velocity relative to each other still cannot exceed the speed of light.

[TONY]

Light is fast

[tony]

If E=mc2 then light is much faster than time x 2 space time to the fourth power.That will be one of the first discoveries they will find from the accelarator

[IdleChatter]

This is not the first time a new collider has led to a deluge of scare-mongerers claiming that the sky will fall on our heads.

This article about the RHIC is 9 years old:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/081099sci-essay.html

This article also mentions the similar fuss in the 80s when the Tevatron was started up.

Unfortunately, there is a band of people who sit alone at home watching their Doctor Who and Torchwood DVD box sets for the umpteenth tme and then come on the internet spouting rubbish as if they were real scientists.