CERN: Large Hadron Collider set to start unprecendented tests (+Video)

In the early morning of Wednesday 3 June, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is set to start delivering physics data to its experiments for the first time in 27 months.
After nearly two years of maintenance and repair, as well as several months of re-commissioning, the experiments at the world’s largest particle accelerator are now ready to take data at the unprecedented energy of 13 teraelectronvolts (TeV) – almost double the collision energy of the LHC’s first, three-year run. Data taking will mark the start of season 2 at the LHC, opening the way to new frontiers in physics.
LHC Season 2: First physics at 13 TeV to start tomorrow
http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2015/06/lhc-season-2-first-physics-13-tev-start-tomorrow

The LHC is, arguably, the most impressive machine ever built by Mankind

Astronomers know that something else, invisible and mysterious, must pervade every inch of space, its subtle gravity affecting the movements of the galaxy. 

This material – no one really has a clue what it is – has been dubbed ‘dark matter’ and it is hoped that the collider just might shed some light on what it is, perhaps uncovering a new type of particle. 

Perhaps more embarrassingly, we don’t know what it is that gives even ordinary matter its mass

So  is there really a chance that the scientists have made a terrible miscalculation and that their new toy could inadvertently kill us all?

As for the rest of us, we have to hope that the scientists have done their sums right – and keep our fingers crossed tomorrow..

Large Hadron Collider set to smash in the name of science
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/large-hadron-collider-set-to-smash-in-the-name-of-science/

World’s largest atom smasher returns: 4 things it could find
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/worlds-largest-atom-smasher-returns-4-things-it-could-find/

Image credit: CERN