I confess that I think it's screamingly hilarious that some nutters profess to be seriously worried that the LHC will Destroy the Earth. Or Chemtrails. Or soulsucking reptilian demonoids.

But I suppose we should pity them...

Buried in here is a substory of interest to saner citizens: how the popular media distorts science, with a lotta help (unfortunately) from absurdly over-hyped press releases.

I have been looking for a KSJT (?) post I saw the other day which offered an illustration from coverage of the LHC, but no luck so far. The editorialist cited a progression of press releases which gradually mutated (as in a game of Rumor) from "simulating conditions similar to those which obtained shortly after the Big Bang" (and even this is a wild exaggeration) to, well, headlines like these:

• Recreating the Big Bang (BBC)
• How scientists plan to recreate the Big Bang
• Germans to recreate the Big Bang with a massive particle acclerator
• Nazi scientists plan to destroy the Universe by recreating the Big Bang

(OK, I made that last one up.)

I did find that This KSJT post cites this blog post from someone you all know well.

__________________
Chris Hillman

Read these PF posts. Avoid Wikipedia--- except for these versions. Read this and this suggested sticky. When asked for advice, I always say: never take advice!