"Physicists in Europe this week unveiled a €16bn bid to build the world’s costliest instrument dedicated purely to scientific inquiry. They plan a giant particle accelerator in a 91km ring beneath the Swiss-French borderlands, in which subatomic particles will collide almost at the speed of light. The project has crystallised a debate about whether so many billions should be ploughed into fundamental research or spent on more practical issues, such as pandemic readiness and climate change."

https://www.ft.com/content/4b3d1a11-3fb7-4516-9dbf-f6ed2bf79abf