
An animal chewed through a cable at the Large Hadron Collider last night, causing “a severe electrical perturbation” at the particle accelerator.
Although initial media reports indicated that the animal was a weasel, CERN’s official daily summary suggests that it was in fact a marten. The head of press for CERN, Arnaud Marsollier, told NPR that the organization is “pretty sure” the down time was caused by the animal, since remains were found by the site of the incursion. (CERN – the European Organization for Nuclear Research – manages the Large Hadron Collider.)
Read more: Physicists Abuzz About Possible New Particle as CERN Revs Up
In 2009, a bird apparently dropped a piece of bread into the outdoor workings, causing a slight rise in temperature in one of the carefully calibrated segments of the LHC. Panic spiked about what kind of reality-bending science might spur an appearance of time-travelling inconveniences, but CERN said that the appearance of feathers and crumbs at the work site were not sufficient proof of … any of that.
Animals trying to sabotage particle science isn’t nearly as exotic a phenomenon as the short-lived particles observed inside the LHC. The Fermilab particle accelerator also experienced a “coordinated effort” by a group of raccoons – aka a small incursion into an office –in 2006.
It will take a few days to completely repair the cable, followed by a week or two before the LHC can run again. The 17-mile particle smasher is currently being used to gather information about the Higgs Boson, the once only theoretical particle that was discovered using the accelerator in 2012.
Until the first or second week in May, the research on the Higgs Boson and other particles will have to wait – while the cable takes precedence.