BBC Inside Science

CERN’s Supercollider Plan

9 snips
Aug 22, 2024
Andrew Pontzen, a physicist from University College London, and Harry Cliff, a CERN physicist, debate the necessity of CERN's ambitious new particle collider project, weighing its hefty price against potential scientific returns. Meanwhile, science reporter Ella Hubber showcases innovative motion capture technology at the University of Bath, revolutionizing how athletes analyze their movements for performance enhancement. They also touch on chimps' unexpected communication skills, highlighting parallels with human language evolution.
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INSIGHT

FCC: Bigger and Cleaner Collider

  • The future circular collider (FCC) will be about 90 km in circumference, much larger than the LHC's 27 km.
  • It will collide electrons and their antiparticles, providing a cleaner environment for precise measurements than proton collisions.
INSIGHT

FCC Advances Higgs Understanding

  • The LHC discovered the Higgs boson but can't fully unravel its properties.
  • The FCC will enable detailed study of the Higgs boson, which influences particle properties and forces in the universe.
INSIGHT

Societal Benefits of Colliders

  • Particle collider projects generate important spinoff technologies benefiting society.
  • Examples include MRI magnets and the World Wide Web, plus unpredictable future applications.
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