This article caught my attention because of the mention of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which figured prominently in the novel Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. In the book, CERN was not only the center for nuclear research, it was also a think tank where the world’s geniuses performed research and developed their ideas. Of course, their head was the evil character out to vanquish the world. But, that’s fiction.
In real life, this article says that Large Hadron Collider (LHC)—the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, has begun testing accelerating proton beams at incredible speeds which will create gazillions of energy but it also means that the tiniest mistake could mean catastrophic disaster. The article outlines steps that CERN has planned to avoid disaster. If you ask me, it sounds like more good stuff for fiction. Don’t you think? 
August 18th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Well, truth is sometimes a lot more interesting than fiction. I really do enjoy fiction with roots in real-life things like this, though - the Bilderberg Group, CERN, the organizations which have inspired Clive Cussler’s works, and so on.
Regarding the LHC, I wonder exactly how close they are to actualization at this point.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
There is a really interesting video you should watch on TED about CERN and the LHC. TED is amazing if you didn’t know. There are a lot of great mind opening videos of the greatest thinkers in the world.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/brian_cox_on_cern_s_supercollider.html