When the world's most powerful particle accelerator starts up later this year, exotic new particles may offer a glimpse of the existence and shapes of extra dimensions. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California-Berkeley say that the telltale signatures left by a new class of particles could distinguish between possible shapes of the extra spatial dimensions predicted by string theory.
A fireball created in a US particle accelerator has the characteristics of a black hole, a physicist has said.
Physicists met to discuss plans to link supercomputing centers worldwide into a massive global grid that will help process super collider data.
The international high-energy physics community is campaigning for a 30-kilometer long, internationally funded, particle accelerator that could "offer a precise tool to explore some of the most important unanswered questions in physics."
James Blodgett has setup a new website to discuss the risks that upcoming high energy collider experiments might destroy the earth or even the universe.
Gregg Easterbrook offers a skeptical guide to the most common doomsday scenarios.
Scientists are becoming increasingly confident that they will be able to create black holes on demand, in quantity, using the new atom-smashers due to come online in the next five years. Some estimates suggest that the new Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be able to create an average of one black hole each second.
Martin Rees argues in a new book that coming technological catastrophes could doom billions and to prevent them, society may need to consider restricting specific types of scientific research. He specifically cites dangers from nanotechnology and supercolliders.
UK scientists are to call for faster progress towards building a giant atom smasher. The proposed ?3bn machine will recreate conditions seen moments after the Big Bang.
Physicists propose that five dimensions of space-time can harbor a rotating, donut-shaped "black ring"--the first example of a nonspherical black hole. If we live in a world with extra, hidden dimensions--as many theorists speculate--these rings might even be created in Geneva, at the world's largest particle accelerator, now under construction.