October 5th, 2008 by
Filed under: Desktops, Misc. Gadgets
Contrary to popular belief, the world as we know it didn’t implode after the Large Hadron Collider was flipped on. Sure — someone, somewhere is growing a ninth arm and trying desperately to land a cameo on Fringe, but the planet at large is still humming along just fine. Now, the world’s most ginormous computing grid (the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, or WLCG) has gone live, and the gurus behind it are celebrating the beginning of its momentous data challenge: to analyze and manage over 15 million gigabytes of data each year. The Grid combines the IT power of over 140 computer centers, 100,000 processors and the collaborative efforts of 33 countries. Unfortunately, there’s no word on when the official WLCG-based Call of Duty 4 server will be green-lit for action, but we hear it’s pretty high on the priorities list.
[Via China View]
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Posted in supercomputer, world record, WorldRecord, science, physics, data, large hadron collider, LargeHadronCollider, lhc, computing grid, ComputingGrid, Grid computing, GridComputing, WLCG, Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, WorldwideLhcComputingGrid | No Comments »
September 12th, 2008 by
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Those already fearful of the Large Hadron Collider’s potential Earth-ending capabilities may want to turn away for this one, as it looks like the situation has managed to get a bit more perilous, with a team of hackers apparently successful in mounting an attack on a system that is “one step away” from the computer system that controls of one of the LHC’s massive detectors. According to The Telegraph newspaper, the group, calling itself the “Greek Security Team,” left behind a half a dozen files on the system and damaged one CERN file, in addition to displaying the page above on the cmsmon.cern.ch website, which still remained inaccessible as of Friday. Somewhat disconcertingly, one of the scientists working at CERN simply described the incident as a “scary experience,” with a CERN spokesperson further adding that they thought it was just someone “making the point that [the system] was hackable.” Um, okaaaay.
[Via CNET News]
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Posted in hack, hacked, hacker, large hadron collider, LargeHadronCollider, lhc | No Comments »
September 10th, 2008 by
var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/CERN_s_Large_Hadron_Collider_started_are_we_still_here’;
Hello? Tap, tap, tap, this thing on?
CERN’s $9 billion, 17-mile long atom smasher was just turned on and we’re awaiting reports on how the tests have gone. The Large Hadron Collider did experience “small electrical problems” overnight. However, these were not expected to delay the first test firing at 9:30am CEST. As such, the clockwise and counter-clockwise firing of particles should already be in progress.
Remember, no smashing will be done today, for that we’ll have to wait until later this month. We’ll update you here as things progress.
09:49 – Confirmed, the first beam of protons has been fired! It took 48-seconds for the pulse to generate and then a tiny flash of light on a computer screen indicated a successful firing around the first 3-km of the 27-km ring — they will methodically extend the range throughout the day.
10:25 – The beam just completed the full ring (in stages) in less than an hour. Things are going much more quickly than expected. They are about to fire the beam around the complete ring, unimpeded.
Read — small electrical issues
Read — webcast — insert, the following string into VLC and watch live: mms://qstream-live.qbrick.com/00862live80910
Read — First beam fired
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Posted in breaking news, BreakingNews, photon, cern, large hadron collider, LargeHadronCollider, lhc | No Comments »
September 10th, 2008 by
var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/CERN_s_Large_Hadron_Collider_started_are_we_still_here’;
Hello? Tap, tap, tap, this thing on?
CERN’s $9 billion, 17-mile long atom smasher was just turned on and we’re awaiting reports on how the tests have gone. The Large Hadron Collider did experience “small electrical problems” overnight. However, these were not expected to delay the first test firing at 9:30am CEST. As such, the clockwise and counter-clockwise firing of particles should already be in progress.
Remember, no smashing will be done today, for that we’ll have to wait until later this month. We’ll update you here as things progress.
09:49 – Confirmed, the first beam of protons has been fired! It took 48-seconds for the pulse to generate and then a tiny flash of light on a computer screen indicated a successful firing around the first 3-km of the 27-km ring — they will methodically extend the range throughout the day.
10:25 – The beam just completed the full ring (in stages) in less than an hour. Things are going much more quickly than expected. Counterclockwise test next.
12:18 — CERN estimates that the LHC will be fully operational for physics work in the next few months. Added NASA-like video of the reaction to the full-loop, first beam success after the break (watch for two flashes on the left-most screen).
Note: Insert, the following string into VLC to watch live: mms://qstream-live.qbrick.com/00862live80910
Read — small electrical issues
Read — webcast (currently down)
Read — First beam fired
Continue reading CERN’s Large Hadron Collider started — are we still here? (updated with video)
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Posted in breaking news, BreakingNews, photon, cern, large hadron collider, LargeHadronCollider, lhc | No Comments »
September 7th, 2008 by
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Well, not really — the actual experiments that could result in potentially disastrous “micro black holes” won’t happen for another month (and probably won’t end anything except the lives of a few protons), but as rumored, CERN’s flipping the switch on the four billion dollar Large Hadron Collider this Wednesday to test the superconducting magnets that control the proton beams. After a clockwise test, they’ll send protons counter-clockwise, and after that — smashy time. Of course, there are still paranoid lawsuits pending to shut all this down, and we wouldn’t mind another rap video or two, but after two decades of work, it’s probably time to boot this thing up, death threats or no. Let’s make it a good last month of humanity, people.
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Posted in cern, large hadron collider, LargeHadronCollider, higgs boson, HiggsBoson, micro black holes, MicroBlackHoles | No Comments »
August 8th, 2008 by
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/general_sciences/CERN_rap_video_about_LHC_creates_black_hole_of_awesomeness’; Been having a tough time figuring out just what CERN’s Large Hadron Collider does? Worried that it will create a Möbius strip (a rip in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop)? Just love to jam? Watch this CERN-sponsored rap after the break, and have your universe totally destroyed. Er, but not for real.
[Via Protein Feed]
Continue reading CERN rap video about the Large Hadron Collider creates a black hole of awesomeness
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Posted in video, science, cern, large hadron collider, LargeHadronCollider, black hole, black holes, BlackHole, BlackHoles, rap | No Comments »
April 7th, 2008 by
Filed under: Networking
Apparently, when CERN isn’t colliding particles (and ripping massive holes in the space-time continuum), it’s busy working on a new “internet” which will be 10,000 times faster than our current version. The project — known as “the grid” — is built atop completely fiber optic networks, and utilizes modern routing centers. By keeping traffic out of our current phone and data systems, the researchers have been able to achieve speeds heretofore unseen on previous networks. The system connects from CERN to 11 centers around the globe, and will be switched on when the Large Hadron Collider is activated, on what the group is calling “Red Button Day.” Project heads believe a network with this speed will lead to all sorts of futuristic innovations — like true cloud computing, holographic video conferencing, and really, really fast pirating of the entire Nightmare on Elm Street series.
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Posted in internet2, fiber optic, FiberOptic, cern, large hadron collider, LargeHadronCollider, internet 2, new internet, NewInternet | No Comments »
March 28th, 2008 by
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/US_lawsuit_calls_Large_Hadron_Collider_a_Doomsday_Machine’; If OJ made one thing perfectly clear, it’s that the word “reason,” at the root of “reasonable doubt” has lost all meaning in the US court system. So what do you think will be the outcome of a new lawsuit claiming that CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is a Doomsday machine? The suit filed in Hawaii’s US District Court by Luis Sancho and a former nuclear safety officer by the name of Walter Wagner, seeks to put the already delayed LHC launch on hold pending a new safety review. It’s worth noting that the same doomsday scenarios of micro black holes and strangelets (think: the Midas Touch of death) have been raised by Wagner previously with the launch of other accelerators — they’ve also been summarily dismissed by the scientific community as “beyond reasonable.” It’s also worth noting that the 27km-long LHC crisscrosses the border between France and Switzerland, not the US. An initial conference on the lawsuit is scheduled for June 16th, a few months before the first collisions are scheduled to begin and well before LHC is capable of its 4 trillion electron-volts maximum power. Peter Higgs, we feel your pain.
[Thanks Aaron, Original Image courtesy of Ute Kraus]
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Posted in cern, collider, large hadron collider, LargeHadronCollider, lhc, particle accelerator, ParticleAccelerator | No Comments »
