The Large Hadron Collider at CERN n Switzerland is currently in the process of restarting for a new series of experiments, creating colisions between particles at twice the energy of its initial runs which confirmed the existence of the Higgs boson, the particle responsible for generating mass. This has involved an extensive reconfiguring and rebuilding of both the colider itself and its detectors, with the hope that these experiments could confirm theoretical predictions such as the existence of ‘dark matter’ and ’dark energy’, the hitherto-undetectable phenomena which are beluved to stop galaxies falling apart and to power the continuing expansion of the Universe; and even the existence of multiple realities.
In a rare chance to put the focus on the engineering behind the LHC rather than its physics goals, the CERN team has agreed to answer questions from our readers on how the LHC was rebuilt, how new particles might be detected and what’s next for the facility. Please send us your questions by Friday 25th April, and we will publish answers in the next edition of The Engineer and online.
UK productivity hindered by digital skills deficit – report
This is a bit of a nebulous subject. There are several sub-disciplines of 'digital skills' which all need different approaches. ...