Why hasn't the Hadron Collider (LHC) received worldwide publicity?

Question

The latest news on the grape vine is that the LHC is ramping up to full capacity on the 10th September. It will begin smashing atoms and discovering the God particle in due course.

So the question I pose is; Why isn't the biggest most single important piece of news since, well sliced bread being pumped out to the major news channels?

Answer 1

Because what it it supposed to do and what the actual conclusions are from evidence produced are two very different animals.  Reader

has put spot of light on first.  What a dear lad you are.  Suggest not getting too excited until we clearly illuminate what walks out second.

Answer 2

Because it burst into flames on a test run last month!

Answer 3

I guess it is because people have this weird belief that the micro black holes and the stranglets that might be created might spell doom for life on earth by causing the formation of a black hole that will gobble the earth.

Some crazy guy even sued the project:

link is over here:

http://ochsenhirt.org/2008/03/28/former-...

Since there are so many of them out there who think this project will kill them, i guess it is better people who have no idea of science don't hear about it.

Answer 4

it wont run on max power until 09.

and im extremely happy that its receiving no coverage. the only coverage the LHC gets is negative, its ridiculous.

Answer 5

It's been getting a decent amount of news coverage. But the main problem seems to be people simply don't understand what it is or why it's important at all.

That and they focus on the words "black hole" and are instantly frightened.

Answer 6

Mainstream media is only going to publish and broadcast  things that will get advertisers do dish out millions of dollars for advertising.  If the CEO of Company A wants a network or publisher to focus their reporting on x and y, there is not enough time or print available for z.  This CEO is also not an idiot, in the sense that, if people aren't going to read about it or watch it, he won't invest his money advertising someplace where nobody is going to see his ad.

So, as interesting as the LHC is to the scientific community, your average newspaper reader or news broadcast watcher is much more interested in what pop celebrity got arrested today, and ratings are what truly drive the entertainment industry, no matter how much journalism and investigative reporting goes into it, face it, the news truly is in direct competition with entertainment, and therefore, needs to cut out interesting topics to keep a competetive share of the audience.

Answer 7

What do you mean no publicity? The end of the world crowd is filing lawsuits to prevent it from becoming operational!

Answer 8

It has. There has been several people on Yahoo Answers who went all over the place, asking if the LHC will destroy the planet (or the whole universe) and some even demanding that it should be stopped (can't help but pass along this nifty reference: < http://doc.cern.ch/yellowrep/2003/2003-0... > in case any one comes around crying wolf again, please quote this, the physics will give them a headache, but that will keep them quiet.

Anyway, back to your question: the point is that 95% of the people do not really care for that. Who will win on American Idol, now that is big news.  If if the general public is not interested (by lack of motivation or of general knowledge) nobody will feel that it will sell copy and it will not be heavily publicized.

Sad, but it seems some people are just impervious to knowledge and will not care for it.

Answer 9

it has got media attention and if you are serching for it on the internet you can get loads of information so its no secret  but people dont want to hear about it and many get scared about the idea so why should the goverment scare people for no reason by putting it in the news when if you wanted to find out about it just google it?

Answer 10

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2...

Answer 11

I live in a cave, and i've heard about it.

But i'm mostly interested in the peer reviewed results, rather than what it might accomplish.  At that point, it'll be the biggest news since the wheel.

Answer 12

I has received worldwide publicity.

Answer 13

It's received a considerable amount of publicity. The reason you might deem that it hasn't reached the ears of everyone is that it hasn't actually found anything yet.

If it finds the Higgs Boson I'm sure the news teams will be shouting about it from the rooftops.  

Answer 14

I watched this video, and I agree it seems pretty important- http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/brian...

but please, 'Higgs particle'. and Suitti is quite right, the spokespeople for the LHC can say whatever they like, but it needs to be validated by peer reviews. Until it has actually found the stuff, verifiably, it's just another bunch of scientists. After all, it may not achieve its goal.

Answer 15

all the world cares about is flash...

see my question about the bigbang below...

this thing freaks me out

Answer 16

With the LHC comes the New World Order *** well. They will keep this quiet along with the FEMA coffins and FEMA camps up until it is go time right before the 7 year anniversary of 9/11/01.

Answer 17

It will be used to pretend that it opened up a spacetime rip or "doorway" for what some will believe are "aliens". Do not fall for it. Warn your friends.