Mini Black Holes No Danger

Aloha!

I am a science writer who enjoys writing about physics and astronomy. I especially enjoy browsing through the scientific journals and finding news nuggets that may have escaped attention of the general press.

You see, I used to be the Public Information Officer for the W. M. Keck Observatory, the world's most scientifically productive pair of ground-based telescopes. It turns out more than 90% of the discoveries taking place do not make it into general press releases, either because there are not enough people to write about them all, or because the scientists are too busy (or not interested) to get involved with news media. Meanwhile, 90% of all science news comes about through the press releases that are issued by research institutions. So you can see where there might be an opportunity to report about new published science that has not yet made it into a press release.

However, it takes a little extra time to dig through the research journals and find something interesting. And it is so much easier when interesting news is pushed to your desk.

Like this example, from the AIP's Physics News Update:

"MINI BLACK HOLES NO DANGER.

"The Large Hadron Collider begins operations September 10 when a beam of high-speed protons begins shooting around the machine’s 16 mile (27 -kilometer) circular tunnel beneath Geneva, Switzerland. When the protons collide with each other inside the machine, one thing that scientists are certain won’t happen is the production of miniature black holes that gobble up nearby matter. A new study shows that the continuing existence of old stars in the sky is evidence that small black holes can’t swallow the Earth.

"That is NOT to say that the new collider might not actually create mini-black holes. No one knows for sure what will emerge from the debris of the LHC collisions."

Now, I might point out that in a press conference, scientists with the LHC explained that the odds of the machine creating a mini-black hole were the same as the machine creating a pink elephant. Extremely small, but --- scientifically speaking -- not zero.

You see, there are areas of knowledge which are not fully known, hence the need to build the LHC. And as long as there are gaps in scientific knowledge, then there will be a point at which theorists will not be able to say for certain what will -- or will not -- happen inside the LHC.

What we do know is that we'll find something surprising. And something that will change our understanding of physics forever.

For more, check out, "The End of the World at the LHC?" at: http://physics.aps.org/articles/v1/14

In the meantime, I'll be scouring the Internet for other interesting news that has not yet appeared in the mainstream press.