Hadron collider halted

The Large Hadron Collider near Geneva is expected to be out of action for several months.

Part of the giant physics experiment was turned off while engineers investigated a failure which caused some of the super-cooled magnets to heat up by as much as 100 degrees.

The damaged sector needs to be warmed up from its operating temperature - of near absolute zero - so that repairs can be made, and then cooled down again.

This process is estimated to take at least two months and the LHC could be out of aciton for longer.

Large hadron collider

"I thought of throwing an end of the world party but I was worried some people might not realise it was a joke!"

Stephen Hawking's comment when the large hadron collider went into action.

The LHC has been nicknamed the "Big Bang Machine" because scientists will use it to recreate the cosmic conditions just after the Big Bang, in the hope of finding insights into the origins of matter. It consists of a 27 kilometer tunnel and huge underground caverns. The accelerator magnets that guide the beams on their circular orbit are supercooled to a temperature slightly above absolute zero, which is colder than outer space.

For more information, visit: http://events.internet2.edu/2008/fall-mm/

Dr Horrible

Dr Horrible's sing-along-blog

What Joss Wheedon did during the TV writers' strike.

Billed as the "internet sensation of the summer", it has become a top iTunes download. Worth a look if you haven't seen it already.

DVD release scheduled for November.