Update: LHC Shutdown from Glitch

Yep...I see what the problem is...Cheetos in the Magnets....

My obsession and I'm sure many others out there, the LHC [Large Hadron Collider] has suffered a minor setback from what would appear to be a 'slight over heating' of a transformer.  Alex Higgins reports for the Associated Press:

The faulty transformer has been replaced and the ring in the 17-mile circular tunnel under the Swiss-French border has been cooled back down to near zero on the Kelvin scale — minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit — the most efficient operating temperature, said a statement by CERN, as the organization is known.

When the transformer malfunctioned, operating temperatures rose from below 2 Kelvin to 4.5 Kelvin — extraordinarily cold by most standards, but warmer than the normal operating temperature.

Total bummer...just when you thought this week couldn't get worse...then this happens.  To make matters worse, due to the complexities of the LHC...its still questionable as to when it will be up and running again. It looks workable, but man...i just got slightly MORE nervous about this whole 'milestone in technology'.

Read more here.

Hurray For Not Being Blown Up!

We The Best Mang...We Deed It

Although later I am posting another article about the CERN lab itself. If you are reading this then you should know that we, and by we I mean a hand full of physicists and scientist watched two white dots blink on a computer screen. Noticed what's missing? We [and they] did not die! Isn't that awesome!? Not dying rocks! The thing is, this is step one [or step 421] depending on how you look at this of many equally great and dangerous steps to come.

Here's what Alex Higgins [Associated Press] has to add:

"Now that the beam has been successfully tested in clockwise direction, CERN plans to send it counterclockwise. Eventually two beams will be fired in opposite directions with the aim of recreating conditions a split second after the big bang, which scientists theorize was the massive explosion that created the universe."

More photos and the AP article after the jump...

Click to read more ...