The Reason We Are All Still Alive

Perhaps the panic over the launch of the Large Hadron Collider is not yet mooted. Reported today:

The world's largest particle collider malfunctioned within hours of its launch to great fanfare, but its operator didn't report the problem for a week. 

In a statement Thursday, the European Organization for Nuclear Research reported for the first time that a 30-ton transformer that cools part of the collider broke, forcing physicists to stop using the atom smasher just a day after starting it up last week.

More details from the Associated Press and Yahoo News here.