As I was saying to God the other day "you have to let these people have their head". "You're probably right" he said sadly. He did seem a little put out that people keep checking his calculations. "Get over it " I said, "everyone needs to have their work checked",

David, Bromley,

I am so disappointed this marvelous news has been hijacked by Religious and Libertarian nutcases. You don't understand a thing about what the LHC is about and how it will serve us even if it does not find the Higgs Boson yet you have the arrogance to denigrate it and the scientists? Pathetic.

Even more frightening is aside from a very few people from elsewhere, all of the nutcases are from the US (with a few American voices of reason thrown in there). What the heck is happening to reason over there?

Andrew, Sydney, Australia

Get ready for the minature Blackholes that they reacon they can contain considering they have never been able to create one before, this is once again a major point in time for humanity similiar to when the atom was split scientists knew there could be consequences but in the name humanity they had to do it and we managed to come out of that one alive and an evolutionary growth with a new power, this will be the same i see maybe this is what the mayans meant when the said we would reach the 5th dimension the galatic conciousness by 2012. Peace and Love

Andy, Scotland,

To: Jim, Gaithersburg, Maryland

I, along with a friend of mine, found your following scientific observation quite interesting:

"Relativity theory and quantum physics are patches to account for the non-physical point particle, which possess infinite self energy, no spin or angular momentum, inability to radiate, etc...

Actually, it caused us to argue regarding the scientific basis for your proposition. I thought it was Genesis 1:1, but my friend was sure it was Revelation 1:8. Could you please help us resolve this difference by providing a link to your paper. I think it is important that these types of scientific nuance be worked through.

Hayden Scott, Melbourne, Australia

Great stuff-lets do a Henry VIII-take all the money away from religion, put it into science, and one fine day invent Replicators.

Pete, wolverhampton,

The LHC is worth every penny. Scientific exploration must continue at all costs. It's preventing mankind from exterminating itself.

Surviving religions are based on a "faith" which cannot be proved or disproved. If proof were possible, all conflicting beliefs would disappear. How flourishing is the Flat Earth Society, confronted with pictures of an obviously round one?

If I have a set of religious beliefs, and you disagree, without demonstrable facts I have no argument to convince you. To silence criticism I resort to force and beat the crap out of you. This has been behind most human conflict and it's still happening now, God help us.

We must combat this by constantly striving to increase our knowledge. Yes, it could turn out that, say, there is only a one-in-a-zillion chance of life existing elsewhere in the Universe and we must be part of some Grand Design. But at least let's find out, not just make assumptions based on some ancient writings.

Mike, High Wycombe, UK

As already mentioned you cannot make something from nothing, Which is why the scientists who did not believe in a creator, lost the contest to build a human from the dirt. God said, Go, ....and the scientists started grabbing dirt, and God said, no way, you have to make your own dirt.

All we can do is play tetrus with things that already exist, and move them from one place or shape to another. We can figure out HOW everything works, but if you put those same letters in the right order it is the most imortant question, WHO.

If you are really bored and in doubt, ask yourself one of infinite questions, like, why is your heart behind your sternum, the most protected spot for it??

If you are retired like me, and really want to ignite the grey cells, try this theory, yes , there is a magnetic field, but "gravity" is not what holds us down, it is air pressure, (14.0 appx), Same as water, if we weigh a certain amount we sink, if not we float, just like helium..

Gary Trammel, Morro Bay, USA, CA

I really wish that those who oppose research like this could simply not benefit from scientific research and live their lives without the technology that comes about by this (and other) research.

The statements from most US Christians (and some others) are laughable and ironic bearing in mind they are actually using technology that is the product of the scientific method to reply here. But then again they are too stupid to see the irony. I really wish they would leave the rest of the world alone to progress.

The LHC is a fabulous achievement with huge co-operation and should be celebrated rather than derided and sneered at. The benefits may not be clear now but there will be based on what this machine uncovers.

Russ, Reading, UK

To: Jim, San Diego, California

I live in the USA and I and many other people i know DO NOT believe in god at all. Who are you to speak for all Americans. Religion is a real problem in this country and many peoples minds are back in the dark ages. they are a bunch of religious nuts. I don't blame people in the UK for making fun. I believe in science and evolution but i am a bit afraid of this experiment and i hope it does not get out of control!

Christianity is a disease.Education is the cure!

Tom, mountains, pa usa

So how much more does the money spent on lavish, tax exempt, churches each year compare to the money spent on CERN. How about the US cost of the Iraq war? Seriously people the funding that goes to science is a drop in the bucket compared to the money wasted on eyesores and destruction yet the paybacks are enormous. High energy physics gave us the internet and it continually leads to higher capacity networks as the amount of data produced grows, making the internet faster and faster.

It is understandable if you people just don't get it, but if you are going to complain, please compare the numbers first and then consider how much of that money actually goes back into the economy in the form of jobs and government contracts.

Rob Dinsmore , Urbana, USA / Illinois

To all the many Brits attacking American posters here for having faith in God: We all know you "don't do God" in the UK; you replaced Him with your religion of football, binge drinking and the "News of the World" a long time ago. And you wonder why your society is in such a mess now, and respect, civility, good moral values, and the rule of law have broken down in the UK? Please, do yourselves a favor and pick up a Bible. You might learn some life lessons about how to respect yourself and your fellows. Then perhaps, when I get off the plane in Heathrow in years to come, I won't be so appaled at the rudeness, selfishness and moral turpitude of the average Brit. Time to clean up your act, guys - or us Americans will be staying away from our formerly God-fearing cousins across the pond.

Jim, San Diego, California

Uh, I like sciene. This stuff scares the heck out of me. No, Iam not religous. If there is a chance of creating a black hole now or in the future, these nut job scientists need to be put in a padded room..

Roberto, Tacoma, Wa.

David Chung Wrote
"To those numerous posts above complaining about the money spent at CERN, you ARE using the World Wide Web (www) technologies that came out of CERN to make your posts.

Without CERN, you will NOT be reading nor posting here.
"
But we would be still be posting and reading here, the WWW protocol is not a technology, is merely a set of protocols that web servers back then had to adhere to, and dealt primarily with the formatting of text on the local host interpreted by the browsers of the day. There was nothing inherently sophisticated about anything that came out of CERN relating to matters of the internet. The technology that underpins the Internet was invented by the US department of defense thus they derseve most of the Kudo's for the evolution of the internet.

araz, leeds, England

You can't simply retranslate the Bible. The things the Bible says have a distinct meaning that is written in such a way as to be either completely true or worthless. "Fanatics" are not anti-science as they have been portrayed by Secular Humanists. We do exactly what atheists keep telling us we should do, which is to interpret scientific evidence through scripture. And Despite certain Mainline organizations doomed attempts to coincide Bible teaching with Secular Naturalism, Scripture has consistently shown that it does not need reinterpretation to fit scientific revelation.

KP, Macon, Georgia

Face it, this experiment is going to open up a black hole into which all of earth will be devoured. Nothing else to see here, move along.

Bob Sloggin, Chantilly, USA

I'm s professor of Engineering in Canada and I think that these sort of experiments, along with the international space station, are the biggest waste of money ever conceived. It's so sad to see nations spending billions of Euros on grandiloquent underground science experiments, while, on the surface people are going hungry. This is money that could be better allocated to social programs and infrastructure.

matthew Clarke, Calgary, Canada/AB

To those numerous posts above complaining about the money spent at CERN, you ARE using the World Wide Web (www) technologies that came out of CERN to make your posts.

Without CERN, you will NOT be reading nor posting here.

David Chung, Sydney, Australia

The number of comments here that criticise the investors and the science team themselves for working on this is quite shocking.
The work that this science team completes will help solve a mystery of our universe and take the human race as a whole a step further forward.
Research like this may have no direct affect on us as something such as curing cancer would. However, the indirect effects of this knowledge will lead to far greater and important things. I strongly suggest doing some background research into the LHC before criticising it.

Andrew, NW, England

It is really scary that so many contributors from the USA have this frightening fear of the scientific world. It is also very very scary that many of them refer back to books of scripture that were supposedly written 2 milleniums ago .. If they are really scared about the LHC and what it will produce - which is going to be incredibly fantastic - many of them should go to their bookstore and buy and try and read The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil .. what Kurzweil is predicting is only around the corner .. and the bible thumpers have a lot more to think about than the LHC. What a fantastic Laboratory is CERN with scientists from all over the world participating .. Russia, China, USA, Pakistan and UK and many many more
Bring on the Linear Collider and keep it in Europe !!!

Noel Greene, Dublin, Ireland

Just because it's called the "god particle" does not make it a god particle.

Patrick, Beziers, France

The comments section of online articles never fails to lower my regard for humanity.

David, Albertville,

Point One- The choice of the term "God Particle" is unfortunate and needlessly inflamatory. The discovery of a new particle will neither prove or disprove God, nor will it explain abiogenesis...
Point 2- Basic Science is always worth the effort. There is more to life than just being alive, and humans aspire to more than mere survival. We want to learn, to know, to build, to explore, to discover. If we wait until all other human needs and wants are fulfilled before spending money on research and exploration for their OWN sake, we'll never get anywhere. Research into the fundamental forces at work in the universe will ultimatly tell us just what is actually possible for human-kind, and how far we can actually go as a species. Basic research into the fundamental particles that define the space-time in which we exist IS relevant. We would be no better than monkeys or ameboeas if we were incurious about such basic things. These things make-up everything we are and do in this life.

Ty Harris, Phoenix , Arizona

If only these religious fanatics would actually read some of the articles on particle physics, and other branches of science for that matter, that science does not have to be in conflict with religion. Science is simply finding much more complicated answers to things described in the bible. Maybe the breath of God isn't a literal breath, but an underlying energy that permiates the universe. Particle physics has found that matter can be changed to energy and energy can be converted to matter. Is there anything more godly than that?

Rob Danielson, Edison, USA, New Jersey

Since my first comment regarding Higgs vrs. Lisi seems to have mysteriously dissapeared, I'll ask the question again- is the Higgs bosun model compatible with Garret Lisi's "Eceptionally Simple Theory of Everything"? Supposedly the LHC was supposed to find gravitons that will fill in the remaining points on the E8 Structure that Lisi used to accuratley describe the relationships that exist between all known forces and particles in the universe. Are Higgs Bosuns and Gravitons complimentary, mutually exclusive, or do they describe totally different aspects of the universe? Any enlightenment on that point would interest me. Also, I admit I am just a little worried about what CERN could do. The answer to the fermi paradox may be that advanced civilizations that are on the cusp of reaching the technology threshold required for interstellar travel usually destroy themselves via the unknowable consequences of extreme particle physics research just before that threshold is reached .

Ty Harris, Phoenix , Arizona

But Michael, many people, perhaps not unlike yourself, often speak of wanting to help others and then do nothing -- they do not voluntarily pay more tax to help nations better fund aid programmes, they do not give up nice jobs to go work on farms, they do not give up their entertainment budgets to...well what have you done lately?

And what if the accelerator eventually helps people discover new ways to harness energy and as a result the cost of producing food, meds, and fuel drops to almost nothing...then what will you say?

Dave, Wendover, UK

With sufficient fudge factoring, they will no doubt "find" the Higg's Boson, thus justifying this absurd experiment and all of the well tenured careers of professional physicists. The modern field of theoretical physics is a sick joke, such as the earth-centric theory of astronomy was during the dark ages. With modern computational tools, such as the computer, the time of the point particle theory of the electron and proton should come to an end.

Relativity theory and quantum physics are patches to account for the non-physical point particle, which possess infinite self energy, no spin or angular momentum, inability to radiate, etc... . When a nobel prize winner in Physics, Feynman, states that no one understands quantum physics, maybe that should clue you in. Physics professors only care about there careers, not real physics.

jim, gaithersburg, maryland

This is to all those people that are saying "Research like this is a waste of money. Money that could be spent on feeding/clothing the poor".

Research like this is the reason why we have Satellites, Radio Waves and a host of advanced inventions. If research is not supported, there will be fewer people interested in Science. Already, we are seeing the signs of a dumber populace in the US where the average person is not interested in anything even remotely scientific.

US is spending $10 Billion per month on the war in Iraq. Clearly, all of that money can be much into better use by supporting scientific programs.

Raghu, San Ramon, CA USA

Yes Dr Strome, dreams are an hallucination of the unconcious mind; religion is an hallucination of the concious one!

Chris, Aberdeen, UK

The actual science involved finding the 'Higgs Boson' isn't what interests me - rather I'm absolutely taken by the analogies and metaphors (and maybe even a simile or two) manufactured by the author from information sourced from CERN. I mean, really! - the length of cables and such extending to the sun is perhaps forgivable, but '140,000 fridges full of sausages at temperature a little above absolute zero'...? What in God's name is that about? Why would the Swiss or anyone else need so many sausages? Couldn't they have thrown in a few hundred tins of orange juice concentrate to round out their 'virtual' diets? Now I know I've been blinded by science!

Elisha Moor, London, England

If there was such a thing as a "God Particle" as the so called "wisdom" of intellectual man calls it then why is Earth the only planet around that sustains life???? Why is there not life on all other planets in the universe? Or on maybe a few others around? That is my question. I laugh at articles like this. Turn to your bibles and in the first few versus that "God Particle" that you people are so convinced exists talks to you.

Manny, aurora, colorado

how does this change our lives?
it may not directly change the life of a car salesman but, humanity has sought out to understand our world from the begining of our existence. it is in the core , the fabric of our make-up, to know or try to know why things are the way they are. we need to dispell the darkness of unknowing in our lives, to rid ourselves of superstition and fantasy and say with conviction that, "we know these truths because we have theoretical proof which supports the physical realities" we have become enlightened by new knowledge. to me , this is trully a thing of beauty greater than cathedrals or diamonds or the loyaty of nationalism. it is the truth!

matt, lakewood, united states new jersey

The missing item is the smallest particle of any atom. It is the "sound" or "word" which is the spoken word of God. In the beginning (time) God (the Eternal One) createed the heavens (space) and earth (matter). The matter was void of energy, as the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the deep. Then God said:
let there be light (it is the energy, the full spectrum of the electromagnetic force). The WORD (Rhema) is the MISSING ITEM, the smalles part of any atom. The sound, the word vibrates, it has frequency, an alternating current, which is missed by the evolutionary scientist. The evolution is scientifically impossible, since the Second Law of Theermodynamics precludes it. Also those scientists do not believe in God, therefore, they are like the electric motor wired for 3 phase, but suppliied with only two.

Joseph C. Horvath, Ph.D., Stevensville, MT, USA

"Observable evidence" isn't an end proof, just ask scientists who study Quantum Mechanics. Ever heard of Schrödinger's Cat? Some particles behave a certain way only if they are *not* being observed! If observed, they behave differently.

Pgriff, Dallas, Texas, USA

The true "Big Bang" theory: God said it, and bang, it happened. It's really that simple

Dan, Columbus, OH

The ignorance in these comments is off the scale!

People, please - go to wikipedia. Read the article for 'Physics'. And fan it out from there. It might be more insightful than reading scripture.

While I'm quite sure Newton was raised a Christian (How the heck could he not be at that time in England), I'm pretty damn sure an angel did not cause the apple to fall. Or we would be calling gravity the theory of divine intervention.

Dave, Canterbury, England

It sickens me to think that countries will just gladly fork over large sums of money to fund projects like this, yet don't have enough to feed hungry people, fund education programs, or provide healthcare.

Michael, Savage, USA


Perhaps if someone had funded your education you wouldn't take such a shortsighted view of scientific research grants.

J, London,

At the time, people laughed and scoffed at Marconi and his usless radio experiments...as they laughed at the ridiculous ideas about television being possible. The religious were outraged at both notions, as usual.

Science will go on and will continue to learn and change the world. it has already made a brand new world compared to the world of the early nineteenth century.

God is a primitive, fear driven hypothesis, that no longer fits in with what we know about the real world ; which is all we got.

colin, kelowna BC, Canada

Best bet?

No Higgs Boson will be discovered.

Science spends too much time on what is accepted as a virtual fact and smashes anything offered as an alternative.

No pun intended.

I am not talking about bizarre or religous theories, but discounting observation and replacing it with pure theory and mathematics is leading to a massive amount of not fully explained or understood situations requireing more and more desperate theories to not fully explain.

This will be another.

Tony Lyver, Turks Cove, NL Canada

Just think: if only they had stuck to calling it the Higgs boson instead of the "God particle", then we wouldn't have this great philosophical problem here.

God has naff all to do with this experiment, it's merely someone with a taste for melodrama giving an extravagant nickname to something mundane. We should all leave the metaphysical debate well alone, and stick where we're better acquainted, i.e. self-preservation, in this case hoping we won't all be finding out for real about the reality of heaven and hell and be blown to oblivion.

Jude, Yorks,

And how does this change our lives??!!

AEB, Gibraltar, Gibraltar

I only hope that Professor Higgs will be able to bring some objectivity to his research. It seems that one of the major problems with scientific research these days is that if you do not prove your hypothesis then your funding dries up. When you have spent your entire life trying to prove a theory you must have a vested interest in the results. Anyway, good luck to him. I truly hope his overriding goal will be not to prove what he thinks but to find out what the results of his experiments indicate.

Sue, Rochester, USA

This is the biggest waste of money I have ever heard of- who actually cares about some particle flying fast, what is it really going to tell us - its an absolute joke and an excuse to spend money on keeping people with no communication skills in a job. use the money and brain power to solve real problems like cancer, AIDS, MS, heart failure.

Justin, Melbourne, Australia

As a physicist this is an impressive leap forward in particle physics. I hope the work reveals the god particle and the understanding of fundamental existance. My personal believe is that there is infinite time and infinite universes. In quantum physics the position of particles is statistical. In my time and space at an instantaneous moment a sub-atomic particle was at a given position in space and time. When it was in another position in space and time then I existed in another reality or another universe.

Shaun, Hull,

Somedays, the universe collasping on itself doesn't sound like a bad idea...and for only 2.6 billion pounds? What a bargain!

Bruce, jackson, mi

"In the beginning, God created. . ." If this professor would just read this one verse, he could save himself a lot of time and his sponsors a lot of $$$. How foolish is the so-called 'wisdom' of men.
Lynn Bowman

Yeah, he would have also stayed as ignorant as yourself instead of becoming a professor and making a massive contribution to the understanding of physics. Laughable.

Tom, Birmingham,

what will it find, ....and then what?
what do we do with the information.
what could have been done with the spent money ,
improve water systems all over the world
find an alternative fuel
help to find cure for diseases
you get the idea.

Lyn, st .louis, usa mo

Scott,

Scientists, as a group, have not engaged in putting "countless cultures to the sword". But those who have embraced the philosophy, aggressively promoted by many scientists, of a godless universe governed by evolution, certainly have.

Darwin believed in the idea of racial superiority - which provided Hitler with a basis for his views. The full title of Darwin's famous work was "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". He argued that the white race was superior to the Asian and African races.

Margaret Sanger, a leading abortion rights figure, also believed in racial superiority, and championed the idea of aborting babies from "inferior races", especially blacks.

Ideas have consequences, and bad ideas often have bad consequences.

Robert, Paola, KS

And what exactly does Mr.Henderson intend to do when he finds the "God particle"? Creat life? I honestly believe he will never find it...think of all the things that money could have been used for instead. It sickens me to think that countries will just gladly fork over large sums of money to fund projects like this, yet don't have enough to feed hungry people, fund education programs, or provide healthcare.

Michael, Savage, USA

Poor Bruce of Delton Mi.........I do feel sorry for him...

Phil, Preston,

The Bible tells us that God made the visible from the invisible.

How is it that a 2 thousand year old writing can illuminate scientists to search for what believers in God have already found?

There are some mysteries that need no experiment-- but simply need faith.

Dave Macy, Nashville, TN

I fear some people are forgetting the writings of the great Nostramadus;

"From a circle of fire the daemons unleashed, and end of time beguneth, At forty-five degrees, the sky will burn, And then Arethusa will color a new river red.

Nostramadus 1564

John, Dundee, Scotland

I just wish the circle line would move at a fraction of the speed of sound let alone the speed of light

Fred, London, UK

To answer Sirob and the other people who posted about all the money being spent on science- "I wonder why the utmost best brains in the world do not get involved in the science. The money are as big as in military-industrial complex or the war on terror." the answer is that enormous sums of money are occassionally spent on giant projects and equipment, like Cern. The money is not spent on the scientists! As an award winning scientist with an Oxford University doctorate,I earn less than the manager of a sandwhich shop (I've checked the job advertisements)! Even despite the low pay and endless short-term contracts (try 6 month contracts, with 2 weeks notice of coninuation or otherwise...), careers in science are very popular.....

A Jones (postdoc), London, UK

Research such as this will provide invaluable scientific breakthroughs. These breakthroughs will free mankind from the deadly grip of fossil fuels. If you grieve for the world's starving poor, it is the technology created from these expirements that will save them.

The quest for energy is at the root of most of the worlds evils. 2.6 billion is a small price to pay.

Terry, Detroit, MI

In science, you find the kind of evidence your ideas are looking for!> 'Consciousness' is the fundamental source of what is viewed as 'matter'.

Michael, Birmingham, England

The hubris of man is limitless, or in this case about 17 miles long and £2.6 billion. To find the "God particle" one must pray, not pay.

Gary Baker, Murfreesboro, TN / US

Science itself is open to criticism. Scientists, grant givers, etc., are not. Witness the fervour against those who who argue against the current 'settled' science of global warming with reasoned arguments and studies contradicting the trendy 'its all our fault' mindset that gets researchers jobs and grants. Go against it? No money. Insults by ex-VPs. Despite evidence that the world has warmed and cooled without input from us, these people have their reps trashed. Follow the money and socialist mindset on that one.
As for evolution vs design - if we come from pond scum, there is no accountablitiy for our actions. If we are created, then our Creator has given us standards to live by and we will answer to Him.
As for population and food, in many cases, the reason for hunger is their socialist or dictatorial governments or lack thereof. Look at Zimbabwe - it used to export food. Stalin and Kim Jung Il have starved their own people. Thugs grab food shipped to the starving.

jo ann, Staten Island, NY

Why are all the American's going on about God??? Just leave religion out of it...its a science project...let the peeps that have spent years building this thing have their moment!!!

Tom, London, England

I am glad that Mr. Laurent has once & for all settled the fact that science has zero prejudice & is totally open to criticism whereas religion is not.
Of course, science has yet to tackle questions pertaining to the 'Big Bang' that we would ask of any other bang, such as "Why did it happen?"
Or with relation to evolution, few scientists have ever admitted to the mathematical impossibility of the chain of events that would have to happen for even one protein to spontaneously occur in some primordial ooze.
Or the statement said by others more famous than I that "the only statements about reality that are valid must be scientifically testable." The thing is...I am at a loss on how to scientifically prove that very statement.

JJ, VA, USA

"In the beginning, God created. . ." If this professor would just read this one verse, he could save himself a lot of time and his sponsors a lot of $$$. How foolish is the so-called 'wisdom' of men.
Lynn Bowman

Lynn Bowman, Urich, MO

The reason that some countries don't get the right aid is because they have nothing of interest to Capitalist governments. The scientific community is not a government but a fraternity looking to expand human knowledge, albeit funded by Capitalist profits. Some people seem obsessed by human problems and tragic circumstances which they think can be solved by our money. Perhaps the governments that receive our aid are guilty of corruption? But anyway, if the global human population was 50% smaller there would be enough food to go round & maybe the population could be re-distributed away from areas not suited to food production. We need to stop worrying about preserving every single human life possible because otherwise we are heading for meltdown a few decades from now. I applaud the efforts of these scientists who remind us of issues to do with the "bigger picture" and divert our thoughts away from the empty, money driven society in which we live in.

Mark Hewitt, Wansworth, London, England

Fantastic point Chris Willey, but I can't find anywhere in the history books that 'Big Bang Theorists' put countless cultures to the sword because they weren't agreed with.

Scott, London,

Prove what you will, there are far too many who have made up their minds about science and religion. No amount of observable evidence will cause them to realize the bible was written by man. It is so ingrained in many of us that the very word bible has come to mean truth. Most do not, or cannot, think beyond what they have been taught. Even the idea of questioning some things is blasphemous. There are those who do not believe that man landed on the moon, the earth is flat, the universe is only 6000 years old etc. etc.
I have long learned that people live with their beliefs as a matter of comfort and consolation.
Thinking about most things is far too painful and difficult to deal with. A narrow belief system is comfortable and easy to live with. We all believe
what we want to believe, right or wrong.

Bill Konrad, Laalle, Ont. Canada

I don't know, mention the word "God" at least once in any sentence on any topic and suddenly it's a huge religious debate! The writer isn't challenging the pretext of faith, this is just science! Think he might have used the term "God particle" ironically anyone??? And yes, the faith and science can co-exist. Darwin did not single handedly bring about the end of religion or civilisation as we know it. Our faith survived and the world kept turning. All we're doing is getting a better idea of how God did it. It impresses the hell out of me. Give me more. Meanwhile, chill everyone!

anna, kendal, UK

Billions and billions of pounds and what will change as a result. Can someone tell me the substantive benefit that justifies this incredible expense?

Nyquil Jones, Brooklyn, NY

stop before we are trapped in a cage of discoveries leading to more questions which must be discovered and so on, ad infintum

robin quinn, Edinburgh,

Hey Dino,

If religion does not seem to be a part of science in your view, then why would they call the Higgs boson "the god" particle?

I attended graduate school for chemistry in the late 80's and found quite a large number of grad students and post docs to be Christians. Many of these same students are now PhDs doing the cutting edge research that will form our future.

Religion is not a man made flaw; it's and imperfect interpretation of perfect principles. Kind of like science, wouldn't you say?

Art, Warren, Ohio

Although this is monumentally important, as it is exciting, the theory is far beyond my simple brain's capacity. So, people at Cern, what mere humans like me really want to know, is, what else can the LHC do ? Accelerate food supplies? Help develop better medicines? Maybe get free cable tv?

jack, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Why this war between religion and science ? - religion is a series of unverifiable assertions about an unspeakable supernatural being, science is a series of verifiable assertions about the describable universe we live in. Religion, being unverifiable, allows you to say what you like (thence the thousands of religions), and science allows to to say only what you can objectively prove (thence its aim at singularity). Religion help us just get through this awful existence to fit us for heaven, science helps us cope with, and hopefully improve on, this awful existence to fit us to live as one species among millions of others.

Kevin Straw, Leicester, UK

If discovered, the Higgs boson particle will be another major advance in our understanding of matter and mass but I still don't understand where matter came from in the first instance. At school I was told that matter could neither be 'created' nor destroyed, (and that by a science teacher who was not religious in any sense of the word), but presumably he meant 'by human beings'. Surely it follows that there has to be some super-intelligence or creative power who did, or does create matter, and doesn't that have to be what we call "God".

David, Cheltenham, UK

Maybe what Higgs is, or should be, looking for is the nexus of Divine thought manifesting into ante-matter - the formless shapeless pre-matter before it is given form and shape by specific (in this case human) consciousness. The glance of consciousness initially glimpses only endless waters, but then differentiates (carves) the waters with a bank (a line) of points of indivisible primary detail. The rest of the universe unfolds from here. Mass is the directional vector (maybe momentum) resulting from the transition of formless, shapeless ante-matter into indivisible matter and then its following complexes.

Marijonas Vilkelis, Lismore, Australia

Sirob, Atnalta wrote:

"The bible reads, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

I dont see how that explains anything at all . . . "

It explains the most important question. It tells us to look for a designer. We should therefore expect design. The order and information we find in nature can only come from an intelligent mind.

Sure the Scripture text doesn't tell us about the Higgs boson, but its not supposed to. This is God's revelation to us, telling us the most important and fundamental answers of life.

Higgs boson is certainly fundamental and important to scientific study, but it doesn't change the way you and I live like "In the beginning God...."

Greg Jones, kettering, ohio

it will be discovered, only to raise more questions...

chris l, fort lauderdale, usa, florida

How foolish. Either this shall work as expected or shall shatter a hole we'll be taking a long time to repair, Perhaps the greatest scientific brains do not become involved because of their own belief system. Perhaps this is not a bad idea. Then again, what is scientific progress other than blundering onward.

john smith, valencia, california, usa

Very interesting to see what is discovered in the future. It seems that there is always more to discover and almost always will be, so complex is the world and all it contains.

With regards to belief in God or not, I don't think this is something that can (or is meant to) explicitly be proved. Belief in God requires a leap of faith or an admission based on deductions made from evidence around you. For example if you analyse how massively detailed and complex any particular lifeform can be, and how 'perfectly' every living thing seems to co-exist; this for some people would prove the existence of God, but for others not.

"I am as My servant thinks I am. " al-Bukhari, Vol. 9: #596

Jabran, Oldham, England

The lovely thing about science is that it encourages curiosity and constructive criticism where as religion does not. Years down the line, many religious followers will be taking advantage of this science experiment just like they did of other major scientific discoveries from the past.

Most persons that follow religion do not even bother to fully understand or to learn how their religions were developed/transformed/manipulated throughout history. Not one religion is unique as every religion has EVOLVED through transmutation. Religion is a man made flaw and is only beneficial to fill in the gaps that science has yet to explain.

Dino Laurent, London, UK

I wished I'd realised that it had cost the European particle physics laboratory £2.6bn to build the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). They could have rented the one I've got in my back garden. It cost £835 to build, so they could have rented it for, ooooh, about £25 a week. And I could have told them that the boson particle definitely does exist - I saw it with my own eyes last weekend.

Tom Hanks, Douglas, Isle of Man

It is very nice of the world governments to be concerned enough to spend 2.6bln to prove Mr. Higgs is correct.before he passes away. I'm sure all the starving people in the world will applaud at yet another amazing scientific discovery and sleep a little better at night amidst the sound of their growling stomachs and crying, dying children. Sometime I would like to see a study that finds out why we human beings can be so much more interested in proving a scientific observation, than rescuing a dying child from misery. If the roles were reversed, would we still be as excited about this technology, if it were our kids laying in their own exrement, dying of some disease that costs just $25 to cure? Maybe we just feel "their" kids are a little less human than "ours" and that justifies it.

Bruce, Delton, MI

Does Higgs believe that when he dies (as we all must) that he will eventually just become bosons? Gives a different meaning to "funeral mass."

Bob Smith, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

It will be a bit of a bugger if the universe collapses in on itself as a result, though.

Reminds me of the first nuclear bomb test when the scientists weren't sure whether the earths atmosphere would be consumed in the aftermath.

It really is only a small probability.

Fingers crossed, eh?

Mike Poulsen, Reading, Berkshire

Ron, Milton Keynes, Bucks

Jesus said "I go to prepare the way". So what happened for the thousands of years before that of human existence? And did it happen for Neanderthal man too?

At least the Higgs boson is likely to be verified evidentially. Except if your illogical enough to believe that all scientific evidence is just planted by the sky pixie to test us.

Alex Ritchie, Salisbury, UK

I wonder why the utmost best brains in the world do not get involved in the science. The money are as big as in military-industrial complex or the war on terror. The are possibilities of lendings, borrowings, insuring, bettings, speculations, insurance-reinsurance-and-rereinsurance, hedging, puts and calls, technical analyses, ...corruptions of all kinds... Like in the wars, money will come and go ... Unlike in the wars...nobody gets killed...nobody gets hated...Well! I am wrong with the last one. Somebody will hate all the time.

Sirob, Atnalta,

The bible reads, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

I dont see how that explains anything at all . . . If it read, "In the beginning God created the heaven, the earth, and the Higgs boson", then that would explain things a little better i feel.

Until the bible says that, i think research like this is extremely important and valuable to us and that we should continue its funding in future!

Martin, York, U.K.

Funniest post of the day: "Jesus will put a stop to this ungodly experiment." Thomas Jones, London, UK.

Yes, Jesus will appear in his magical chariot and shoot laser beams at the ungodly offenders. Angels will lob hand grenades and God's voice will boom out to mankind (though unfortunately Charlton Heston is dead now).

J James, London, UK

The so-called "God" particle isn't a particle, as such, but rather it's a finite set of happenstances that mesh together with infinite magnitude and massless energizing. What Higgs is looking for is really just a very elaborate set of gravitations towards the center of a group of wavelets that thus form and fusion-like particular globulence. It's very interesting stuff!

Horst, Boston, MA, USA

God is not sciense, it is a "believe" based on thousands of hypotheses without any results for more than 10.000 years. How can one say haha sciense is doing nothing, it's God who is doing everything. This is the most simple aproach one can imagine. One has not to think, it's all in the Creator. Easy huh? But have a little more respect for scientists. They gave you all your comfort in this world by thinking, not by praying. Millions of you will die in a couple of weeks if there is no electricity to morrow anymore. Right?

Jan, rotterdam, holland

Even if we do find the Higgs boson, it won't mean anything until we can find the last key to the puzzle--the Higgs boson's mate. Sorry, couldn't resist...

But in all seriousness, whatever we find will probably be outdated in a decade or two. Lest we forget, not so long ago we were absolutely sure atoms were the smallest unit of mass--most everything at the subatomic level is theory stacked on theory so it'll keep changing until we can actually physically observe and gather controlled experimental data from something (if it's even possible).

CppThis, San Diego, USA

Dave, Lincoln,

I guess science was never a big subject of yours at school? I suppose you think that the computer you use was just plucked from a tree? That messages you communicate across the globe get there by vast army of carrier pigeons? I could go on...

Today's science is the foundations for tomorrow's technology.
You seem to think if you can't use it and that it won't affect you then it MUST be useless. I'm sure electron guns seemed pretty useless until they used them in CRT televisions.

The discovery of Higgs Boson will link some very elegent pieces of mathematics (concocted by humans) with events that can be seen in the natural world (concocted by God??). This is actually very profound and will offer insights into the physical universe in which you, I and everything else exists. I, for one, am for bettering human knowledge and am not just content with the drudgery of daily life. Call that ego if you like.

Kevin, Salisbury, UK

And the Lord said "Let there be Light!"

And there was Light.

And you could see for bloody miles.

Phil, London,

There seems to be a lot of inane comments from your regular run-of-the mill religiously deranged fools on a comment page for a news that is truly exhilarating, which mentions nothing about God except in a metaphorical sense. Somehow that seemed enough for religious worms to come out of the woodwork spewing their ignorant crap...as they have always done......which prompts me to end my comment with the beautiful words of Douglas Adams..

Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?...

Chandra, Amsterdam,

To add my comment on the religious angle. We were made in God's image. He gave us knowledge, and the freedom to interperate the knowledge and the desire to gain more knowledge. He did not tell us everything because he wants us to grow and develop. His ultimate aim is for us to join him in his realm. Jesus said 'I go to prepare the way' and 'My fathers house has many rooms'. Any 'discovery' we make about our existence is only helpin us understand more about the nature of God and goes towards proving his existence.

Ron, Milton Keynes, Bucks

Great Quote: " If the boson is not found, however, “I should be very, very puzzled. If it’s not there, I no longer understand what I think I understand.”

And that my friend is called "I AM".
Thank you
God

jmthomas, Tustin, CA

Leon in Scottsdale: If you believe the Bible was written as it happened; then you wouldn't believe the science anyway!

David, London,

I find most of these comments absolutely astonishing, in that they have virtually nothing to do with the article, or the scientific issue it is talking about. I suspect that if religious beliefs weren't drummed into the heads of every little child from birth there would be far less of this kind of bickering. And far less need to conjure up supernatural explanations of the universe.

As for what benefit will come from this science, people need only learn a bit about the history of science and invention. Without the knowledge gained through previous efforts to understand the nature of matter, we'd be living in a very different world today. No computers, no cell phones, no modern medical systems, no modern electronics period and none of the things that depend on them, which is just about everything. Back to the 19th century, boys.

Marty, San Francisco, CA, US

An atheist once asked the question! 'If there is a God show me?'
Well, the Religious Leader scratched his head and said; "Sir, do you believe in dreams?" 'Well of course said the atheist, everyone does!' The Rabbi replied, "show me one!"

Dr. Strome, Edmonton,

To those who ask "what is the point of all this and what will we get in return?". The answer is a little more knowledge and the GRID. The grid is the fiber-optic network infrastructure set up to share all this information to other computers around the world in lightning speed. When the grid is commercially available it will make the internet seem as two cups and a string. So all you nutters I mean netters out there should be really happy we can talk to our holographic friends around the world.

Rick, Hamburg, Germany

Everyone has faith and assumptions that pervade their reasoning and thought. Christians have faith that there is a God Creator that existed before time itself and gave rise to the Universe in an orderly and planned manner. Big Bang theorists, on the other hand, have faith that there was a Great big ball of energy that existed before time itself and gave rise to the Universe by random events. Both of these viewpoints require a "religious faith."

Chris Willey, Nashville, TN, USA

I don't agree with these huge atom smashers.. one day they will smash something together that is not meant to be smashed together, and has never happened before, and something is going to happen and the whole universe is going to disappear in one shot. Either that or some huge chain reaction explosion will happen and the earth will be gone.

steve, phila,

The nominee for Surgeon General was forced to disown his religious beliefs (an unconstitutional religious test for holding office) and not reiterate the scientific facts about homosexuality in order to be voted into power.

Richard L.A. Schaefer, Dubuque , Iowa/USA

I think Randy epitomizes the problem with Religious thought, at least Religion as interpreted by some adherants. Once you have the "God Answer" all other forms of inquiry appear to be a "waste of time", or worse even threatening.

That's what happened to Arabic culture. Once at the pinnacle of science and mathematics, they found out that musing about God was the "answer to everything". After that they went to sleep and never found their way out of tribal culture.

Glib, Sacramento, CA

Jesus will put a stop to this ungodly experiment.

Thomas Jones, London, UK

phil, your closing statement caused me to think for a moment... And I feel you are incorrect. Gravity is not an illusion due to expansion. If this were the case, due to boyle's law, the universe would be dead and cold by now, and gravity-based fission could not exist in stars.

Forrest, austin, texas

One would think with the incredible complexity of existence and the fact that it all works together to allow us this sweet little planet in the midst of all the universe would be evidence enough. The more science searches, the more it realizes the perfect order of all existence did not come by happenstance. So now God is a particle? That is so disrespectful.

All they need do is question the origin of the miracle of life and why and how does it exist. They can search all they want, but I know God is real and pray they will come to that very obvious conclusion.

God calls Himself "I AM" because He just is.

Pamela, Vista,

A simpler version of a test would be to ask why, if you eat one pound of chocolate, do you gain a few lbs? Where did the other lbs. come from?

jen anderson, san diego, usa/ca

If we find a particle, we will have found a particle- perhaps some day be able to manipulate a particle... Based on my limited understanding of things, it makes more sense to have something act as some sort of control for how many particles make up a molecule, thus determining the mass. I'm excited about propelling something near speed of light, quantum computing, nanotechnology, etc. but honestly, I feel this contraption should be built away from Earth. Do we really want to risk a black hole? We just discovered that small ones do indeed exist. Maybe a few of those started out as people being overly curious on their home-world? Do we want oto unleash something like that on/in our planet without some sort of escape clause? There's a good chance all that fancy equipment will be destroyed... and so much more. How much gravitational pull would be made? How do you turn a black hole off? Could it be contained or transported? We need more answers... without risking the world.

Chris, Baghdad, Iraq

Ha, Ha..the God partial. I think its the other way around...science is scared of creation...I wish they could just give it up once and for all...and admit creation, design..but still use science to explore Gods wonder!!

Mike, Calgary, Canada

Science is great but it is not able to replace God.
Big Bang or not it solves nothing things are what they are and the Bible written so long ago explains where we came from that no amout of science will be able to rewrite.

John, Oxford, usa ny

what a waste of money.

william keece, los angeles, ca

If not God, how was the "God Particle" created???

Phil, charlotte, nc

The Higgs boson particle will not threathen a belief in God nor does it scare Christians. The Father, Son and the Holy Spriit will be with us all until the end of time.

Steve, Chino Hills, CA

many years ago the bison roamed North America and provided sustenance for the native peoples. the arrival of the Europeans hastened the demise of the bison and the native americans have been relegated to shopping at Wal-Mart and eating frozen foods.
Perhaps the discovery of boson particles in Geneva will help to restore the lost bison culture in the new world and correct a grievous injustice perpetrated upon the first Americans by the Christianity imposing Europeans.

Barry Berlin, Las Vegas, Nevada

How many people have died through lack of funding, whilst the scientist's have their fun and massage their egos ?

Can someone please explain exactly what will be acheived by this folly ? Except gaining someone a nobel prize, because its
nice to see he's already covering his back if it fails, what then ? Click off the switch and use it as cold storage ?

Its Just one huge egostistical folly that has cost people their lives and served a purpose to give Physicists a pay cheque.

Maybe they should concentrate on the day to day reality of life. Not how it was created. But thats no good for Physicists is it ?
Because they have no control over that, and no way to get funding for it.

Dave, Lincoln,

When I was a little kid I remember reading in the Bible the story of how Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection. But He said, "Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father." Thomas happened not to be there, so when he was told about it, dismissed it as collective hysteria on the part of the witnesses. Something on the order of, yeah, we all loved the guy, he was a great man, but he's dead. So when again Jesus appeared, he noticed Thomas standing apart with his eyes bugging out of his head. "Thomas, it's me. Really. Come here. feel my scars." The difference between appearance one and two? In the latter, he was flesh and blood. In the former he was probably something like anti-matter. One touch and ka-boom! Goodbye universe. Whoever wrote this originally did not know from molecular physics or whatever kind of science is involved. It was written as it happened. Now, over fifty years after first reading this, I sure would like to know the science behind it. .

Leon A Davis, Scottsdale, AZ

When the tunnel was dug through very soft sediments that you could virtually bore through with your hands, it was found to extend so far as the beautiful Jura mountains which are made of solid rock. Therefore, the whole ring had to be tilted by one centimeter, which resulted in the machines of the four experiments to be, in turn, tilted by an extremely small height. In order to accomplish that feat, pneumatically driven cylinders were placed underneath the devices, which took days to fulfll their task.

Anyhow, Prof. Higgs, keep well, because Stockholm is looming ! And thank you.

Roberto Ruggiu, Roma, Italy

The phrase "the God Particle" is not used by any professional physicist worth his salt. This terminology was invented by someone with limited intellectual capabilities who, as a result, got a degree in journalism or communications at their local community college. How about dropping the nonsensical hype and sticking to "Higg's boson?"

marvl, Fort Collins, Colorado

Statistical theory says, given the number of detectors and the number of collisions, that at least a half-dozen events per day can be be expected to meet the requirements of a Higgs Bozon event. This is regardless of whether the H exists or not! So the collider will be a success, and Physics will continue into the particle-field hole that it has dug itself into the last 50 years.

There is precedence for theories going awry . After all, the Ptolmaic theory was more accurate than the Copernican theory in predicting the motion of the planets for the first 200 years.

The Standard Model, which required the Higgs Boson in order to work, would be more believable if it included a true, accurate description of the electron. If the simple electron cannot be described, then the rest of the Standard Model is suspect. But an electron is never described by modern Physics. We still don't know what it really and truly is!

Milo Tsukroff, Pleasant Valley, New York, USA

The facts observed by the accelerator (data collected) will make his premise become a theory. A theory is a supposition that is supported by facts. This wouldn't make "God Particles" a fact of science since it isn't observable in itself.
We have observed many mainline theories go by the wayside when we see contradictory information collected because of advances in science. We then make new premises and try to make new theories from them by observable experiments and math equations. I am all for advances that cause new theories and expand knowledge.
A fact would be that true Christianity is based in observable evidence. But there are mystic factions out there as there are with most religions.

Kruser, Casper, Wyoming/USA

Though only a few of the comments thus far touch on the Christianity vs. Science "debate," I thought I'd put in my two cents. I wish that science didn't scare so many Christians. It seems like people feel threatened new discoveries, such as this one, as if these discoveries will disprove the existence of God. If God truly exists then nothing can disprove Him. So stop having an unnecessary fear of scientific discovery. Furthermore, if God created us, then He gave us the ability to analyze, explore and discover that which He created. If this theory is proven true, it will simply shed more light on the creativity and originality of God. It will not disprove His existence. M. Summers, you didn't read the article. This particle is not responsible for initiating the Big Bang or creating anything on its own, it is merely responsible for giving traveling particles their mass. I don't believe that Science and God are opposed. It's simply fundamentalists on both sides that have made it that way.

David, Sacramento, California

God and science are not mutually exclusive. One cannot prove or disprove God through empirical evidence. The spiritual realm is wholly apart from the physical matter and energy universe, which is but a temporary crucible of existence within which we learn who we are. The 5% of extremist fanatics on the opposite ends of the spectrum are unknowing allies. They insist that cosmological, geologic and especially biological evolution and Creation are mutually exclusive; that if evolution is real, God cannot be. Fortunately, the other 95% of us realize, humbly, that we cannot understand it all and that just because we cannot, does not impact truth. A righteous and merciful God made it all....and he DID DO IT through evolutionary processes. He left those who reject His Lordship free to explain Him away if they so choose. So too did he leave it for the self religiously religious dogmatists (dogmatic about human interpretations) to make fools of themselves by speaking out of ignorance.

John, Blue Ridge, GA

God and science are not at odds with each other at all. Instead, true science and pure religion coinside perfectly. The way the Bible has been interpreted may not always be correct, but neither are some of the interpretations of the findings of science.

Most especially, I find the link between quantum physics and the Bible to be astonishing.

Wouldn't it be better for us to look for commonality and agree to disagree on some things, than to judge and condemn the motives of others because they happen to have God-given inquisitive minds?

Michael Ziegler, Granite City, IL

An old teacher of mine said 'now that you have the information, what will you do with it?' So I'm confused - not unusual as I am English after all. So, after spending 2.6 Billion pounds we will hopefully have the answer to the big question, does the Higgs Boson exist......and my big question is ... will it provide a new energy source for us to live on? Will it cure cancer? What exactly will this knowledge/information give us?
I can tell you now exactly what our investment in 2.6 Billion pounds will get us - nothing. However, on the bright side, it did provide a lot of jobs and holidays for all of the Europeans working on the project. Jolly well done and I can tell you now that the answer is 42.
PS. the number of particles in an atom is infinite.The universe appears to be accelerating because it is. Gravity does not exist, we are experiencing acceleration because of expansion. Scientists today have been taught incorrectly and perpetuate the errors of standard theory. Try something new.

Phil Ridge, Toronto, Canada

What surprises me in this list of comments is that no one has somehow connected this to "global warming". Look at the list of stats and think about where all that material comes from and what it takes to process it for this project, the ecological effects of excavating this huge tunnel and its corresponding detecting chambers, and the energy it takes to keep that cooler running, just for starters.

As for this particle, if and when it is discovered, aren't there going to be scientists in the next few generations that will undertake a massive (no pun intended) effort to understand what it consists of and how it even exists in the first place?

Science is a noble enterprise as it continually uncovers the wonders of God's creation, and in turn uses these discoveries for the good of mankind. What is dangerous is when science thinks it can ascend to and surpass God, whether in terms of discovery or "creativity" (in quotes because man ultimately does not create, he synthesizes or divides)

A.H., Newport News, Virginia, USA

I find it rather pathetic that is article has been hijacked by politics and religion. When in fact it should (well in my opinion) focus on praise on the support of ‘pure’ research.

To the religious fanatics. Your motto should be accept everything, question nothing. Go and navel gaze somewhere else

As for the political who always hijack science for there own means. You’re beyond contempt.

paul, Sydney, Australia

I find it interesting that most comment are either pro-science and thus for this dumb project, or pro-religion, and thus against it. Nobody thinks that maybe this project is a kind of religion and that it was funded not through voluntary donations but with stolen money (taxes). In a free market, this project would never see light. Do you know why? Because the benefits do not outweigh the costs. Most people would not give money for this voluntarily. Just another example of socialism, a minority of scientists pushing their idea of what money should be spent on onto the rest of us. What a sad waste of money.

Vic, virginia, united states

What are all you religious fundamentalists talking about? You all come in and assume automatically without any prior research that all these scientists are trying to replace God. They refer to the Higgs Boson as the "God Particle" not because they think it is God, but because it explains how things work. Science answers the How questions of the universe, whereas the philosophy of God explains the Who? question of the universe. They exist in completely separate arenas. One cannot replace the other.

I, as a Christian, am ashamed by your ignorance and your willingness to judge people who just want to find out how things work.

Jacob Henderson, Indianapolis, Indiana

"So to all the God-fearing Americans who have already made their feelings clear - where is your proof that God even exists? Without proof it is just a belief, not a fact.

John Kench, Charlotte, NC, US"

1. Genesis 1:1. This universe and the fact that you are even able to voice your opinion is our proof. Christians know that God created the universe, and that God created humans in His image and likeness. So...

2. It's a matter of faith. Your passive attempt at calling Christians naive, silly, stupid, etc. is a laughing matter for us, on one hand, and on the other is saddening because people like you reject God's love.

Believe it or not, John, to a true believing Christian, you yourself are proof of God.

A.H., Newport News, Virginia, USA

In every science story, the European anti-religious bigots come out of "woodwork." Most Christians are not against science. There are very good science programs in many Christian (Catholic) universities. Does anybody seriously believe that discovery of a "God Particle," will wipe out religion. Most of us realize that scientific advances will never prove, or disprove, God's existence, that human reason has its limits, and that aspects of the Bible are allegorical.

Mike D., Sioux City, Iowa

Carefull for if it creates the famous mega particle they theorize its gravity would be close to a black holes linking us to the other side or dimension. Problem is ,is that it will suck us all through like pulling a sock inside out fast as light; destroying all.
that is the reason we havent found it yet it alternates a balance between the two dimensions.

Buck Wicker, greeley, Colorado USA

I think everything is all ways changing and that there will all ways be the the unknown. Why something...Why nothing ? We will never know. Big egos.... small minds all. Thanks

Erich Kronberger, South Bend, USA

This is all well and good, but can this apparatus cook beans? And if so, whats the possibility of these scientist causing a black hole to suck Switzerland right into entrophy? Will it burn the beans!?

mauricio, Ely, Nevada

To me it is proof that God exists that animals can grow to such an understanding of "science", or nature, you might say. And so far as I can understand, we do not yet make anything from nothing. We start with something, we observe and finally manipulate what we have to work with, like children given toys by our parents. If someone grants the same open mind to the possibility of a creator, as science has granted to other possibilities, I can't see how any scientist could say without some infinitesimal doubt, "there was no creator."

John Butler, Tapahannock, USA/VA

You can be your life that the religious fairy-tale believers will find some 'biblical' explanation for all of this.

Paul Downes, Milton Keynes, Bucks

It's astonishing that somebody might refer to this as a waste of money. Maybe we should spend it on welfare handouts instead.

Dan, Otawara, Japan

the “God particle” ?

I'm sure God is having a good laugh over that one.

Dred F., Atlanta, USA / Georgia

So what's this machine's CARBON FOOTPRINT???? LOL...ya gotta love it.....I guess when it's in the name of science it's ok to pollute.....LOL

Chris, Clark, New Jersey

Still, this does nothing to get closer to the answer: What initiated the Big Bang? Time and space as we know it started after the Big Bang....but something that was timeless and outside this realm of time kick started the Big Bang.

Nick, san antonio,

It sounds "good" until you look into more of the research behind the theories. This project is more dangerous than people think and imho is one of the most under reported stories of the day. Start your crash course at lhcdefense(dot)org.

Chas, Tupelo, MS, USA

CERNs web site states that we have not been destroyed by effects of cosmic rays and micro black holes will evaporate.

However, cosmic rays travel too fast to be captured by Earths gravity, and Hawking Radiation is disputed and contradicts Einsteins highly successful relativity theory. Collider particles can be captured by Earths gravity, and relativity predicts micro black holes will not decay.

The LHC Safety Assessment Group promised to complete a proof of reasonable safety before the end of 2007, but unfortunately such proof may not be possible.

Alleged in the legal action: Chief Scientific Officer, Mr. Engelen passed an internal memorandum to workers at CERN, asking them, regardless of personal opinion, to affirm in all interviews that there were no risks involved in the experiments, changing the previous assertion of minimal risk.

Which would be wiser, conduct a full and independent adversarial safety study first, or just turn it on now and see what happens?

LHCConcerns.com

JTankers, Middleton, WI

"....the thing is that these "ifs" and theories are backed up by very complicated mathematics and physics...." Gee, Randy from Cincinnati, all quantum mechanic theories are very complicated and backed up by very complicated mathematics and physics. This doesn't mean they're correct. In fact most of them are eventually proven Incorrect. What a a silly premise to base your argument on. Oh yes, one more truth to counter your propaganda, there are a huge number of reputable scientist that don't buy into the big bang theory. You're science/religion proselytizing is worse than those than you condemn.

Ann Haag, Mpls, MN

It's (you fill in the word that defines impossible) to make something out of nothing, unless you prematurely define nothing as something, or are God himself. Simply put, when the DNA evidence proved Bill Clinton committed purjury, he played God by trying to redefine "is".

Duane, Sacramento, CA

And from where does the Higgs boson get its mass? I studied Quantum Theory at Imperial College under Abdus Salam who co-won the Nobel prize for the unification of the Weak and Electromagnetic fields...to him, the Higgs boson posed more questions than it answers and I personally will bet my entire wealth on it not being found. Its simply a convenient add-on which predicts NONE of the masses of the fundamental particles.
Cool equipment though!

A Copley, Santiago, Chile

Be interesting to see what the results are. I'm looking forward to see how much farther the LHC will extend the boundaries of our knowledge. Quite exciting in an understated sort of way.

Martyn Jones, Nanaimo BC, Canada

I am tired of Christianity being bashed as being anti-science. The Galileo misunderstanding and the current anti-evolution fundamentalists are examples where science and religion have not agreed with one another. However, I am a Christian who applauds this man for trying to unlock the secrets of the universe. I have no problem with evolution, Copernican astronomy, or even Stephen Hawking's theories. Belief in a personal and transcendent God who became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ does not conflict with the ideas of modern science. One can be a science-minded individual and still have a faith that is not empirically provable. To suggest otherwise implies that the non-existence of God can be proven, which I don't think anyone has yet dared to suggest.

David Young, Houston, Texas

Gee ... I remember that closeness to the "God Particle' ... about 50 years ago.

At that time we understood about 100% of the Univers ... energy and matter.

Now we understand about 10% and label what is unknown "Dark Matter" and "Dark energy".

Perhaps in simpler times they would have said ...

"We only understand about 10% of the Universe...and the rest of the 90% we don't have a clue."

J Gary Fox, Princeton Junction, NJ, USA

"Yes Michael, if were up to people like you the world would still be flat,"

Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)...Christian (Catholic Priest)
Gallileo Galilei (1564-1642)...Christian (devout Catholic)

"the earth would be the center of the solar system"

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)...Christian (Lutheran)

"and you would have no electricity, refrigeration, clean water or medicine."

Too many Christian scientists and inventors to count....
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)..Christian (Angelican)
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)...Christian (Catholic)
Johann Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)..Christian (Catholic monk)
Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)..Christian (Catholic)
Werner Heisenberg (1901-1954)..Christian (Lutheran)
Georges Lemaître (1894-1966)..Christian (Catholic priest)
Henry F. Schaefer III (1944-pres)..Christian
William Phillips (1948-pres)...Christian
Rustum Roy (1924-pres)...Christian
This list is by no means exhaustive...but I've run out of characters

"What a better world!"

Yep..Praise be to Christ

Josh, Portland, OR, USA

Metrication is a Communist plot!

Robert NYC, New York City,

So to all the God-fearing Americans who have already made their feelings clear - where is your proof that God even exists? Without proof it is just a belief, not a fact.

John Kench, Charlotte, NC, US

I think it's so cool that we can freeze sausages near to absolute zero. I want one.

jj, new york, USA/NY

This is not a waste. If they can find these then they can work on manipulating them. After that you can create things that you seem to not understand. Imagine removing pollution by attracting the particles into a big chunk then throwing the chunk into a container. The pollution across all cities would be compacted into a small volume.

John H, Eas Mo, USA

No doubt hadrons are the "dark matter" which is required to explain the structure and cohesion of the universe but which has not yet been observed.

Ronald Stone, New Haven, Connecticut

What an absolute waste of time and money. Another pathetic attempt by finite, simple men to explain away an infinite all powerful God.

Randy, Victoria ,

We have even "dimmer" wits in the US - concerned only with the size of their houses and trucks (manhood).

George K, Pittsburgh, PA

In the U.S., when Republicans took over the Congress in 1995, for the first time since Reagan, non-defense spending was actually reduced. Though there was great pressure to cut funding for the LHC, a machine being built in Europe, Republicans provided funding consistent with what the project required. In fact, the Republicans increased funding for high energy and nuclear physics, ensuring that the nation's user facilities, which cost billions to build, were available to meet demand for experiments. To add funding for basic research, which Republicans considered to be a proper role for government, Republicans had to cut more politically popular programs like payments to political opponents of Yucca Mountain, corporate welfare for manufacturers of wind turbines and conferences on global warming. Republicans fully funded the LHC and should be given credit for supporting this project while taking political hits for cutting less important spending supported by the Democrats.

Don McKinnon, Washington, DC

I can't help but remember how, back in 1945, the nuclear scientists at Los Alamos were all wondering if the Trinity bomb test would set the earth's atmosphere on fire, and thus end the world..........

Dave in Sacramento, Sacramento, California

I just hope this thing doesn't start off a chain reaction which will finish us all off. Playing "God" is something of a risk.

Dr Alan Marsh, Forfar,

So true. We waste so much time and energy on which religion is right and who controls what.instead of just living altogether and putting are interest to solving the secrets of the universe.

Okay what if we follow Muhammad okay then what? So, we all agree on one religion and there are no more wars. What are we going to think about then. The Universe of course and who started all this...Why can't we just get together?

Tom Tuccillo, bayside, usa/ wisconsin

Science seems obsessed with finding evidence that God is a particle, a gas, a myth, anything except what the manual says "he" is. Like a little kid trying to shove his father over in the driver's seat of the car, many scientists seem to believe they could steer the universe better than God. So far, their attempts have done wonders: marvelous treatments for the myriad diseases caused by the degradation of the environment mostly from industrial sources; amazing weapons capable of maiming and killing fellow humans with utmost efficiency; and generations of increasingly alienated and angry young people who feel little reason for any kind of moral lifestyle or regard for life itself in a godless universe where everything can simply be explained as the random head-banging of particles.

B DeWitt, Seatle, USA

It's such a shame to waste such brilliant minds and huge sums of money only to discover the answer was in the very first verse in the bible: " In the beginning,God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1.

Tony Woodard, Jacksonville, Alabama

"We waste so much money because scientists think they can explaiin everything."

Scientists spend their lives learning and discovering. Without scientists, religious people would rule the world and we would be stuck in the 1st century.

Thanks to science, we understand that germs cause illness, not an angry God. We understand that the earth revolves around the sun. We understand our place in the universe.

Science may not have all the answers, but encouraging people to learn and think is not a bad thing that should be vilified. Religions teach us not to question or tr