Got any large hadrons you'd like collided?

The Large Hadron Collider works! They've broken out the champagne, according to the BBC Radio 4: Big Bang site:

Continuing a tradition of long standing among accelerator physicists, a delegation from the CMS collaboration drove the 6 miles from their experiment to the control centre to deliver a bottle of bollinger, wrapped in a print out of the first particle detections, to the machine managers of the LHC - gratefully received.

Of course, no major event of cultural significance can pass without some Doctor Who connection, however tenuous. Radio 4 has obliged us with a special radio episode of Torchwood, set at CERN. You can download Torchwood: Lost Souls as an mp3 for the next week.

And, courtesy of wordweaverlynn, a very important Large Hadron Collider status update. (It made me laugh, anyway.)

Quote of the Day

"But you can't just lose your neutrons! They're part of you!"
-Jack Harkness, Torchwood: Lost Souls

There may be actors who can deliver that line with total conviction. John Barrowman gave it a good go, but I think it didn't quite work.