KentuckyFC writes "There is absolutely, positively, definitely no chance of the LHC destroying the planet (or this way either) when it eventually switches on some time later this year. And yet a few niggling doubts are persuading some scientists to run through their figures again. One undeveloped method of destruction is that the LHC will create tiny black holes that could swallow aggregate in their path, including the planet. Various scientists have said this will not happen because the black holes would decay before they could do any damage. But physicists who have re-run the calculations now say that the mini black holes produced by the LHC could last for seconds, like enough minutes. Of course, the real inquire is whether they decay faster than they can grow. The new calculations suggest that the decay medium should win over and that the cataclysmic growth of a black hole from the LHC 'does not seem possible' (abstract). But shouldn't we require better positiveness than that?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More: - Continued here

Mark