Man-made Black Hole Watch: slightly more relaxed

Both the Large Hadron Collider, which had technical problems on being started, and a Hawaii lawsuit trying to keep it from becoming fully operational- lest it create a back hole that would eat up the world- has been shut down. A federal judge decided the National Environmental Policy Act doesn't apply to such a venture, to which the US government contributed about $531m of the $8b cost.

The plaintiffs, a retired scientist in Hawaii and another in Barcelona, called their effort a success nonetheless:

In an e-mail message, Mr. Sancho said, “The lawsuit was an unbelievable success in that it put the collider issue on the intellectual agenda.” Mr. Sancho also said that the most recent and thorough safety report would not have been done without their pressure. “The study was not perfect, but at least the safety factors on which CERN is relying are not quite as bad,” he said.