Scientists working on the European machine have smashed beams of protons together at energies that are 3.5 times higher than previously achieved. Tuesday’s milestone marks the beginning of work that could lead to the discovery of fundamental new physics. There was cheering and applause in the LHC control room as the first collisions were confirmed. These seven-trillion-electronvolt (TeV) collisions have initiated 18-24 months of intensive investigations at the LHC. Scientists hope the studies will bring novel insights into the nature of the cosmos and how it came into being. Many of them have described Tuesday’s event as the beginning of a ‘new era in science’. But researchers caution that the data gathered from the sub-atomic impacts will take time to evaluate, and the public should not expect immediate results. ‘Major discoveries will happen only when we are able to collect billions of events and identify among them the very rare events that could present a new state of matter or new particles,’ said Guido Tonelli, a spokesman for the CMS detector at the LHC. ‘This is not going to happen tomorrow. It will require months and years of patient work,’ he told […]