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.