Alarmists take note: The planet is intact after particles began smashing into each other at the Large Hadron Collider today.
For the first time, the $10 billion machine circulated two proton beams simultaneously in its 17-mile tunnel underneath the border between France and Switzerland.
This is a major step toward finding the answers to fundamental physics questions about the nature of matter in the universe, and how the world as we know it began.
?The events so far mark the start of the second half of this incredible voyage of discovery of the secrets of nature,? said Tejinder Virdee, spokesperson for the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment, in a statement.
The particle collisions are finally happening despite discredited theories that the accelerator could produce a black hole that could swallow the universe, and that it is being sabotaged from the future.
Read more about these theories
