In terms of mind-boggling scientific advancement, a laboratory hundreds of feet underground and a project stationed just a few miles from the moon are two of the ongoing examples of man's enormous achievements and never-ending quest to find answers and ponder new questions.
Far beneath the mountains near Geneva, Switzerland, the Large Hadron Collider is the setting for the high-velocity pursuit to learn more about the nature of our universe. In a circular 17-mile, ultra-high tech racetrack near the Swiss-French border — using an assortment of precision-calculated magnets, vacuum chambers and radio frequency cavities and fields — scientists are choreographing speed-of-light collisions between subatomic particles with the hope of catching a glimpse of the fundamental speck of galactic dust that sparked our existence. Millions and millions of nanosecond images from the collisions will be forwarded to computer banks around the world for frame-by-frame analysis with the ultimate goal of finding solid proof of the Higgs-Boson particle.
It's a long-range operation with thousands of planned experiments in the years to come, but first, operators have to simply learn the capabilities and capacities of the equipment. The collider is currently running at half-power and no full-speed tests are planned until 2014. But each day, the investigation to uncover clues about our origins continues. It is a search for something that, for the believers, must exist to explain everything else. It is a faith-based expedition and, while some scientists hate the term, critics and pundits, for obvious reasons, have labeled the elusive subject of the massive search "The God Particle."
Meanwhile, thousands of miles from Earth, two washing machine-sized spacecraft are positioning themselves in precision orbits to begin a lengthy gravitation and surface content study of the moon.
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory units were launched by NASA nearly three months ago and have been gradually coaxed into the moon's orbit by calculated speed adjustments. They are being tweaked and angled into place exactly 124 miles apart at identical altitudes and, once stabilized, will begin a months-long steady stream of radio signal communications.
The existence of the GRAIL project, designed to probe for facts about the moon's history and its makeup, was virtually unknown outside the space-geek community and is primarily a study of the past and a test of various theories. But a brief news report about the project contained one sentence that spoke volumes about the societal and scientific strides our world has taken: "Once the spacecrafts are in the prescribed orbits, then the science begins," the reporter said, shrugging off the monumental and not-so-long-ago unimaginable achievements we now take for granted.
These real-life accomplishments and undertakings are probably part of the reason the popularity of science fiction has faded. Truth, after all, is stranger and more amazing. But the most valuable life lessons we have to learn may not be infinitesimally small or thousands of miles away. They are right here on Earth, and sometimes, right around the corner.
Each day, Angels and Sparrows, Loaves and Fishes, the Ada Jenkins Center, Our Towns Habitat for Humanity, Hope House, Dove House of Iredell County and the vast assortment of other local service organizations provide a lesson in caring. Each day, groups of young people and adults throughout north Mecklenburg roll up their sleeves and reach out to others.
And during the holiday season, water rescues a world apart provided the planet's residents with even more crystal-clear reminders of exactly what we're made of.
In Afghanistan in early December, Matt Garst of Huntersville and fellow Marines stormed into the rapids of a swollen canal to rescue a family. (See story Page 12)
And in Utah on New Year's Day, after a car carrying a father and three young children veered off the road and plunged into the frigid Logan River, angels passing by quickly formed a rescue party. The strangers raced into the water and, together, pushed the vehicle upright and pulled the passengers to shore. One of the crash victims, a 4-year-old boy, required CPR on site, but as of this week, all are expected to fully recover.
So in the futuristic labyrinth beneath Switzerland, the silent vastness of space, and everywhere else imaginable, man's search for truth and pursuit of knowledge will continue. Seeking is what we do and it's truly amazing how far we've come. But when we get right down to the basics, our best place for discovery is, inevitably, ourselves.
Talk about the God Particle.
