For years particle physicists have been trying to figure out how to recreate the moments–no, the micromoments–following the Big Bang. Now the world’s largest particle accelerator is about to go online beneath the Swiss Alps. By crashing atoms into each other, the scientists hope to see how the Universe began to unfold, answering some of the biggest questions in science.
Some fear that the high energy involved will create a massive explosion or worse, a black hole. But scientists are confident that they will only create a massive about of work for themselves in the unprecedented amount of data they will generate.
