A little OT but worth mentioning since it's really amazing. I'd say equal to the moon landing or the first communication by satellite, that sort of thing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080910/ap_on_sc/big_bangCERN has the real possibility of helping us discover new particles and components. (why do we care?) Because, it's fundamental stuff like this that changes the world we live in. A good parallel example is could anyone have predicted how life changing for humanity the discovery of the electron was? Absolutely everything on your desk, in your car, in your palm top, anything that's electronic at all (even the basic lightbulb) descends from this one discovery. While I don't think we'll find one personally CERN holds the promise of finding the "GOD Particle" or Higs (probably spelled incorrectly) particle that is the very building block that gives matter mass! It's absolutely amazing that we're starting to crack in to these areas now and try to simulate things like Micro "Big Bang" events and or small blackholes and even more exotic "strange" matter. Not bad when you consider historically speaking it was but a few short years ago that the apes climbed down out of the trees and started playing with fire and spears. Blink and next thing you know we're trying to create the same forces that built our universe. Stuff like this just gives me hope on the most profound level.
