Cool news:

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-367633.html

Also, they have some webcams where you can actually see the live action:

Webcams

So they are back to trying to destroy the world. Maybe they'll be successful in 2012.

Destroy the world?

...

Anyway, this is great news, obviously we wont see results until some time in 2011/2012. But it will be interesting no matter what the results are. If we find the Higgs boson then that's great (which I believe we will find it), and if we don't find it then that makes things a lot more interesting. Hopefully it may also tell us an extra thing or two about string theory... It's all good.

Anyway, I await the first trickles of information to come.

Obviously you don't remember the big hubub about how the world might end when they turn it on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_of_particle_collisions_at_the_Large_Hadron_Collider#Safety_concerns

I do, I remember people saying it would cause black holes, etc... The truth is that it most likely wont.

I also seem to remember most of the problem queries people brought up were quelled back then.

The birds from the future won't take this sitting down.

What will the implications be if we find the Higgs Boson?

I remember about this going down, what like 6 months ago? Super exciting news, can't wait to see the weird ass stuff that will come out of this thing running.

The Higgs boson is the last well-founded, well-understood part of theoretical physics we haven't yet observed evidence for. Once we find it, the standard model of particle physics will be completed.That consists of the unified theories of three of the four fundamental forces (strong, weak, electromagnetic). Then we can focus on bringing the fourth force (gravity) into the model, since we know that at high energies all four forces are aspects of a single force. We have yet to formulate a quantum theory of gravity so we can bring it into the model properly.

If we don't find the Higgs boson, the standard model needs a rethink and we need to find some other reason why particles have mass then find evidence for that. Then we can get on with the quantum theory of gravity like before.

Once we have a complete, single description of the fundamental forces, new practical discoveries will fall out of it like happened with Newton's laws, Einstein's relativity, Maxwell's equations formalising electricity, and quantum mechanics itself. Though none had immediate applications, without them we couldn't have developed modern technology [for example, the transistor]. I am certain a unified theory would provide similar breakthroughs.

This sounds like the potential portal to some science fiction-level stuff.