If you’ve been anywhere near the BBC news over the last month you probably know that the Large Hadron Collider is going to be powered up on Wednesday. Now, while this is a very cool (and very expensive) piece of scientific experimentation — that will not cause the end of the world by creating a black hole thankyouverymuch — I think the BBC has somewhat oversold the story. When they switch it on, the best we can hope for is some interesting squirly lines on a screen and a scientist saying, “Yep, that there’s your genuine Higgs boson, mate. Okay, job done, switch it off boys!” (You don’t see enough Australian scientists on television, if you ask me.)
So, I’ll be expecting some fairly dull reports tomorrow. Louise has just told me that “the results” won’t be out until 27th December… which leads me to think that I should put a Higgs boson on my birthday list.