£4 Billion... for a science toy...what a joke!.. how can we as the human race move on when so much poverty cripples our world... who's really moving on?

George, Auckland, New Zealand

can any of those smart humans predicte when our planet
will be finish?

frank, victoria, australia

there may be difficult times for the world economy but it's a golden age for subatomic particle collider constructors.... jobs for the boys-with-elbow-patches i reckon...

mark wong, singapore,

you people just dont get it, its protons al the way down!

Saad, Dubai,

I'm not opposed to this sort of research in the abstract; but, consider these problems: hunger, homelessness, ignorance. The solutions are known and understood; no research required. Can't we fix these problems first (or along the way, at the same time)?

Dan, Portland, United States

Life is never been about equal oppertunity Abul. Spend all your money on the poor and you'll just end up breeding more poor people. The current issues effecting civilization wont be solved using existing technologies. Im certain in a decade or two we will all look back on the LHC as money well spent

Keith, Perth, Australia

The world spends more IN A DAY on weapons purchases from countries such as the US, Russia, EU and others than all the Large Hadron Accelerators or the International Linear Colliders put together. If people were concerned about feeding the starving millions say, stop arms sales, not research.

Neil Fiertel, Spruce Grove, Canada

why is it that the very people who enjoy the benefits of scientific endevour criticize the scientific project?

Dennis Cini, Zebbug, Gozo, Malta

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.

Mark Kenny, Sydney, Australia

Ten Billion? Twenty Billion? some trillions perhaps..... being poured into studies yes, but will it feed the earths starving populace?

Clare, Tasmania, Australia

there are many countries in which childern are dying without food.first resolve the problem of mankind then go to these kind of experimentsc

abul hassan, Lahore, Pakistan

I am not to construct fireworks or refine oil in my flat?
Why?
It "might" be dangerous. My work "may" lead to an explosion. Albeit a "small" explosion.

How is anyone allowed to construct a machine that "may" create a blackhole on earth?

morton, Praha, Czech Rep.

As Nixon demonstrated so expensively with his "war on cancer," throwing money at such practical questions gets you nothing. But give money to smart people to play with, and they save countless lives by discovering X-rays or MRI. Not to mention inventing the WWW. And even some culture as a bonus.

Mike, Nottingham,

To Phil from Loughbrough - to ask "why?" is a silly question. It is the equivlent of asking for the "purpose of a mountain". We can explain the creation of the Mountain with Geological Processes, but asking the "purpose of the mountain" is downright silly and not justified. no harm meant. mike

mike, berlin, germany

Now the LHC is credibly exposed as the foretaste of expense to come. It's a toy. How much other science has been foregone as the UK pays it's contribution to CERN, and scientists work in high energy physics. Meanwhile dementia ravages the elderly, and oil runs low.

John, Edinburgh, UK

Jacob, Doha: I think this IS an ideal way to spend money on further development & progress by proving beyond all doubt that GOD does not exist.

Once we rid ourselves of this superstition, the human race can move on.

David, Romford, UK

I think trying to sell this as understanding the origins of the universe is not useful. Whatever answers are developed using physics and equations can never tell us "why". Better to sell it as exploring sub atomic particles which may have benefits to mankind in the forms of new energy
sources.

Phil, Loughbrough,

u guys are ignorant god mad the world i feel sorry for u sientists all ure gonna do is end the world

isaac, mulberry, united states of america

While there may be no immediate direct benefit to humanity from these experiments, the deeper understanding of our universe will almost assuredly result in beneficial technologies in the future. After all, the technologies allowing us to have this discussion were theoretical and 'impractical' once.

Chris Kennedy, Lawrence, KS, United States

I think everything thats happening is great. This is what we do, our species has 1 objective to survive by any means necessary and this means we have evolve. This is the only 1 thing left that brings nations together. Y knock it. What we find today will echo for centuries and beyond.

Raj, London,

George Scicluna, every scientific conclusion that's ever been derived rests on a theory. There is no absolute truth outside pure mathematics. In fact, as Godel's Incompleteness Theorems tell us, there's no absolute truth in that either! The "just a theory" disclaimer is redundant and misleading.

Rob, London, UK

something tells me now they have the bit between their teeth they're gonna keep at it till they get the Big Bang - start borrowing money.

haralambos, joburg,

It is with great sadness I read these references to god. It will be difficult to reconcile the forthcoming great discoveries of science with the ignorance and unyielding arrogance of religion.

Frank, Victoria, Canada

And Albert said "Let their be photons" (to paraphrase slightly).

My theory is that the universe started when the inhabitants of the previous universe tried to find out how the universe started.

KR, Stockport,

I just have to wonder how much *other* physics £4billion would pay for.

RW, Victoria, BC, Canada

Already some one asked a very simple question .. Lateral thinking which GOD has given ,So far so GOOD .. "FROM WHERE proton COMES"?? ANY ANSWER??

sasanka, noida, india

The cost of these experiments is ridiculously small compared to global wealth . And it is not about technological development but advance of our knowledge. For some people a better understanding the world we live in has a value in itself even if it did not contribute to improving the economy.

iggy, london,

John-The ILC is designed to get these particles interacting at a point smaller than 0.00064mm, in a 12m high several ton detector. Are you saying because they don't propose to fly the detector, hoping to get a cosmic interact at exactly the right point 14,000 times a second, then it's pseudoscience?

Jeff, Cardiff,

We need to answer these fundamental urges. As with most experments of this magnitude, there are side effects that benefit mankind beyond our initial expectations. This is the way we must tread to to reduce the suffering of humans on this planet and to survive as a species in the universe.

Peter R, Victoria, BC, Canada

Let us spend money on further development & progress, povery eradication, prevention of life threatening diseases, eradication of nukes,WMD, education for all underprevileged etc rather than figuring out how UNIVERSE CAME INTO EXISTENCE?

Jacob, DOHA, QATAR

"The results could open up some of the hottest topics in physics, such as the existence of extra dimensions, the origins of gravity and even how the big bang – the event that created the universe – happened"

Hang on, isn't the LHC supposed to do this?

jon b, derby, uk

Two things I must add to this discussion:
-To those who say we should only do things if there is direct benefit to mankind. How can we know if we have made the discoveries that may(or may not) arise?
-To (send it to space). It's 31 miles long... Sounds like a ridiculous idea to me.

Mathieu, Sherbrooke,

Science is wonderful and necessary.

It's man's attempt at figuring out how God did it.

Keep up the good work! :)

Flossie, London, Canada

At the least, people will come to know the unfathomable power of God, once again prooving that it is the Creation not evolution.
Mamta, India

Mamata, AP, India

May God forgive us for our peering too much into the origins of life.

Howard, Manchester,

can anyone advise how they get the results from the new big bang machine??how do they measure or "see" the results???interesting stuff---beyond my tiny brain!thanks!

roy, anytown, usa

I love the way that you so called scientists and science lovers still portray the Big Bang as a fact. You keep forgetting that it is a theory. Isn't that why we are conducting these experiments in the first place? to find out how life might have happened.!!

George Scicluna, Geraldton, Australia

No, Ryan, you don't get it. Go take a quantum physics class for learning about the theoretical Higgs field and Higgs boson. You will not get this at First Baptist Church, Madison. And, no, if you shoot two bibles together in an accelerator you will not get the Garden of Eden or world peace.

jim P, Sacramento, United States

Conciseness has always yearned to find what is above and beyond ourselves. When these questions couldn't be answered, they created a "god" to satisfy the unstoppable nature of being self aware. Now with our evolution of technology and hence our advanced understanding of conciseness we need to answer

Peter R, Victoria, BC, Canada

Ok so how is this supposed to create the big bang. I get it banging protons together, but in the beginning where did the protons come from then?

Ryan, Kohler WI, USA

Ignorance kills far more effectively than curiosity.
It is a delight to see such a celebration of pure scientific research being watched by so many people around the world. Long live Physics!
Peter Cafferky .Luxembourg

Peter Cafferky, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

I agree the outcome of the experiments being done on EARTH, simulating the conditions of vaccum and close to absolute zero aren't we forgetting zero gravity here? and/or taking earth's gravitational influence?? How close are we to take this up at a satellite orbiting level under zero 'g' conditions?

AKM Raju, Hyderabad, India

Better to spend the energy & capital on experiments than what passes for politics.

jesper, abbey, ca

Johathan Leake misses an even bigger project that is quiertly being built in France. ITER. The world`s first nuclear fusion reactor. It is an international science project and is due to be switched on in 2015.

Stuart Andrews, Nelcon, New Zealand

not only is this science a hoax, because john is right, but can you all not help but wonder what this discovery might mean? mans over reliance on technology is already so ridiculous that this discovery could very well bring about the start of the fall of man

Christiana, hyde park,

There are particle in cosmic ray hitting the earth's atmosphere frequently that are 1000 times more energetic than the ones future ILC can produce, and there has not been any black holes created by them. So this is just Pseudoscience figment of imagination of nonscientists or a publicity stunt.

John, Atlanta, GA

george, science for the past 500 years has been about curiosity, you dont know what your going to discover untill you discover it. the www was created by accident at cern 20 odd years ago. imagine if they discover the secrets of gravity. that could lead to sci fi type technological developments

will, grimsby, uk

i mean, even the process of creating the anti matter to be fired in this ILC could lead to finding a way of creating anti matter on an industrial scale, which could lead to new power sources for enery or travel. and that is only 1 possibility. as a society we have to stay curious

will, grimsby, uk

First let’s see what results they get from CRN new accelerator just put on service. So far no tangible results have been presented, except far fetched speculations about finding Higgs, if it exists. By the way, there are particles1000 times more energetic in cosmic ray naturally coming from heavens.

John, Atlanta, GA

The Rules have changed as far as the scientists are conCerned. When they built the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookehaven they said that NO black holes could be created. The Cern has what they call a 'Potential' for black holes to be formed.

Mark Kenny, Sydney, Australia

Fair doos it's a bit worrying if the chances of ending the world are legit. On the other hand, great for enthusing young kids to being excited about physics!

Simon, York, England

But which country's gonna get it.....?

Martin, St Andrews, Scotland

Sceintists should leave these things well alone since 'curiosity killed the cat'. Unless there is some benefit to mankind, I couldn't care a less about the big bang theory. Now, if we were told that these experiments could lead to say an unlimited supply of energy the huge cost may be worth it.

George, London,