Hell Yeah, We Might Get a Biblical Addition to the Large Hadron Collider

The world’s largest particle collider is set to get a brand new toy, named for the oldest guy in the Bible. The toy–a detector, actually—is called MATHUSLA. Researchers submitted a conceptual design report for the detector’s design to the preprint server arXiv on March 26, where it’s now hosted. “MATHUSLA” is a merciful and incredibly forced acronym for the MAssive Timing Hodoscope for Ultra-Stable neutraL pArticles. The acronym is a reference to Methuselah, a biblical figure who lived nearly 1,000 years. Why the name? Because the hodoscope would seek out especially long-lived particles in the Large Hadron Collider, which have so far escaped detection amid the collider’s subatomic fireworks show. The LHC achieved one of its main goals over a decade ago, with the observation of a Higgs boson in 2012. Since then, particle physicists have been pondering how the gigantic, costly collider can yield further insights into the fundamental building blocks and interactions of classical physic ... Read full article.