The Daily Parker

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Must be a full moon

It turns out, the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva gets a little out-of-sorts because of it:

The moon’s own gravitational field was pulling more strongly one side of the Large Hadron Collider, every-so slightly deforming the tunnel through which the proton beams pass.

The deformation also changed as the Moon rose and fell in the night sky. In order to keep the proton beams on track, the operator at the LHC’s control center had to subtly alter the direction of the proton beams to accomodate the Moon’s pull, “every hour or two,” [Indiana University physics professor Dr. Pauline] Gagnon explained in an email to TPM.

The Daily Parker could not confirm reports that some of the near-light-speed protons were later seen running naked through the lab.

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