Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »
Sat 09 Sep 2008Science fact or fiction?
PRESENT TENSEI DON'T KNOW MUCH about physics, but I was sure the world wasn't going to end on Wednesday. It's a good thing, because my ego would have been smashed into leptons by the remarks of Brian Cox, a dashing scientist who appears to have been formed out of a light-speed collision between Blur's Alex James and 1980s TV icon Johnny Ball. "Anyone who thinks the Large Hadron Collider will destroy the world is a twat," he declared.
A great many people, indeed, had called the scientists, seeking reassurance that their children's futures were secure. Others had sent death threats, promising, I presume, pre-emptive action rather than reprisals should scientists actually destroy the Earth.
Choose a Subscription type - required
