[QUOTE=NPR]
The Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile superconducting machine designed to smash protons together at close to the speed of light, went offline overnight. Engineers investigating the mishap found the charred remains of a furry creature near a gnawed-through power cable.
“We had electrical problems, and we are pretty sure this was caused by a small animal,” says Arnaud Marsollier, head of press for CERN, the organization that runs the $7 billion particle collider in Switzerland. Although they had not conducted a thorough analysis of the remains, Marsollier says they believe the creature was “a weasel, probably.”
[/QUOTE]
Could have been worse. I don’t think we’re equipped to deal with a vengeful Dr. Manhattan weasel. Looks like the LHC will be down for a few weeks. Definitely not ideal, but I’m glad the damage wasn’t more severe. I hope the little critter went down quickly.
Weasels are mustelids. They are predatory, carnivorous little creatures. They aren’t gnawers, though. That whole destructive “what can I chew that will cost somebody the most possible amount of money” thing is a strategy of rodents. The small furry creature that had its intrinsic field removed was much more likely some species of rat than it was a weasel.
Weasels are well known for their Luddite inclinations. Second only to gremlins. You usually don’t encounter them in the field (well, yes, in the field, but no, not in a field of endeavor - a career as it were) because their plans are so cunning - hence the phrase…
Blackadder: I have come up with a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel.
The question is what did the Kepler-186F agent do before he tossed a weasel onto the power grid to cover his actions?
Remember the Iranian centrifuges and Stuxnet? :dubious:
Is a weasel (or rodent, whatever) so out-of-place in the LHC? According to the definitions as I understand them, a weasel (or rodent) is just a very large hadron, right?