The Atom Smasher Revisted

In recent weeks, I have blogged about self-identifying police guns and robot soldiers, both new technologies that could trigger doomsday phobias or automatonophobia. To help ward off panic, however, it may be beneficial to look back at last year's biggest technological threat -- the atom smasher.

As I explained in a June post last year, the atom smasher brings high hopes for answering many of science's greatest mysteries. Opponents brought a lawsuit to prevent its operation, however, as many feared that it could cause black holes, create micro-particles known as strangelets, or otherwise destroy the entire planet. Technophobia reached a fever pitch in the hours before the machine was started.

Despite the hype and fear, the atom smasher worked brilliantly...for nine days, until a simple bad splice in wiring brought it to a halt. According to Discovery, however, it will be back in action this September, bearing even more safety features. Perhaps it isn't the end of the world as we know it.