Last night Martin and I attended a talk at the London Science Museum about the Large Hadron Collider, by Professor Brian Cox of Manchester University; today, mightily weary from the late night, my head spins with spin-direction, pulses with pulsars and buzzes with the quirks of quarks.

It was a good night out, for a science geek, but one that almost didn't happen -- Martin, running late AND holding the tickets, rushed up the street with moments to spare with wild eyes, wild hair and his benignly-peaceful grin. We were ushered into the museum by an array of attendants, near-ran the length of the building and bundled into an elevator under the expert guidance of a lovely young woman and her colleague, a young man with the most magnificent mustache. We found our seats in the packed auditorium just as Professor Cox was explaining how and when the LHC was likely to destroy the Earth (a week on Tuesday, if you're morbidly curious).

No, not really -- instead he spoke briefly about how the LHC is not going to destroy our fragile planet (we can do that on our own, with no help from uppity science, thankyouverymuch!). If it were, after all, we would already be dust: the cosmic rays are effectively performing great LHC-style experiments on each and every one of us all day, every day. Not that those pesky scientists fill us with plebian confidence, of course -- was it the (in)famous Carl Sagan who pointed out that "... the LHC hasn't destroyed us yet"?

Whatever the case, Martin and I spent the next hour undestroyed and listening to all-things LHC: the cost of CERN and the experiments (infinitesimal); the spin-off benefits to humankind (far-reaching and varied); what it might tell us about reality (how mass "works"). We covered a little physics, and it made a lot more sense coming from the Professor than it had trying to read Wikipedia articles!

Brian was an engaging speaker, and his passion for the topic was clear. A fun evening!