CERN levels up with new superconducting karts

(home.cern)

142 points | by fnands 4 hours ago ago

34 comments

  • Akuehne 16 minutes ago

    This got me. Thought it was real, busted out laughing when I read the project leads name. It still didn't click.

    • throw101010 2 minutes ago

      Small clue here too, maybe more subtle:

      > explained school director, Rosalina Pfirsich, looking up from her storybook

      Pfirsich in German means Peach, as in Princess Peach :D

  • rippeltippel 4 minutes ago

    Right on time! "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" released today.

  • PunchyHamster an hour ago

    We need followup post exactly 365 days later describing first karting accident inside CERN

  • cern an hour ago

    CERN Research Facility, Geneva. Subject: Gordon Freeman, Male, Age 27

  • gnarlouse 3 hours ago

    Happy April Fools Day!

    • pjmlp 2 hours ago

      As Alumni, the tables outside R1 are prime for getting ideas, with some help from fermented barley, especially after work during Summertime.

    • fnands 3 hours ago

      I always look forward to CERN's April fools jokes!

    • lloydatkinson 2 hours ago

      I can't believe people are still doing this

      • hidroto 35 minutes ago

        This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four.

        -- Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar"

      • junon an hour ago

        How dare people have fun.

  • thomasgeelens an hour ago

    oh my, I should really visit one day, I'm not even that far from CERN

    • fnands 5 minutes ago

      They do some good tours. They are first come/first serve, so show up in the morning for the best chance to get a place.

  • groundzeros2015 25 minutes ago

    Please bro. Just one more particle collider. This one will solve science. The last one wasn’t big enough. Please keep it in desirable real estate though.

    • taneq 23 minutes ago

      Each bigger one has in fact solved more of physics, after being built precisely because there was a good theoretical case for a higher energy collider being helpful.

      • groundzeros2015 14 minutes ago

        I’m ignorant. It’s a meme about their optics being terrible after steam ran out for 90s science optimism.

  • rbanffy 2 hours ago

    I really miss Think Geek :-(

    • taneq 21 minutes ago

      I still had a Timmy the Monkey sticker on the lid of my kitchen bin up until a couple of years ago.

    • jansan an hour ago

      When they later actually sold the t-shirt they had previously presented as an April Fools joke? That was pretty cool.

  • Noe2097 3 hours ago

    > Each kart is turbo-boosted by 64 superconducting engines,” explains project leader Mario Idraulico

    I guess we can now call you Mario 'Kart' Idraulico.

    Oh wait.

    Thank you CERN, that was a smart one.

  • koolala 2 hours ago

    high temperature super conductors my beloved

  • rvnx 2 hours ago

    Meh joke considering this was paid on public money.

    Same as choosing to spend xxx,xxx USD to have .cern when using subdomains would have worked too (and caused less validation / compatibility issues).

    • kryptiskt 14 minutes ago

      The Web is a side project of CERN, they should have gotten a comped top-level domain by rights.

    • fnands 2 hours ago

      They got the intern to write a funny post. Probably took them an hour and it drums up a bit of good press for the Hi-Lumi LHC.

      Money well spent if you ask me.

    • steve1977 an hour ago

      As a tax payer in one of the member states, I approve of this joke.

  • voidUpdate 3 hours ago

    Is this an april fools joke? The title image looks so over-the-top that I really can't tell if it's a joke or not

    • kakacik 3 hours ago

      No of course not, they have Mario guys running around in karts doing maintenance of hyper complex system with wrenches. No physics can resist Mario's wrench, thats how we move humanity forward

      • gostsamo 3 hours ago

        There is a Luigi on the team as well. How it can't be true?

        • hawkjo an hour ago

          And Yoshi. And Pfirsich, which is Peach in German

        • edwcross 2 hours ago

          Fratello. Must be a bro.

    • tgsovlerkhgsel 3 hours ago

      CTRL+F "safety and health"