And for those particles that make it past the caesium iodide, a huge electromagnet tracks their passage out of the detector.

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He came across the ring while out with his metal detector in February 2004.

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If I get delayed at the metal detector, the laptop won't be sitting out in the open for a long time.

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The detector allows the machine's operators to work out which particles have been created by the electron-positron collisions, and to follow their patterns of decay.

ECONOMIST: How to build a B-factory

For now, though, the project's still in the baby steps phase -- only 12 feet of the detector (the currently operational portion) has been successfully built out -- so the reality-shattering, scientific epiphanies will have to wait.

ENGADGET

Potential allies would quickly identify what marked them out from others, and what marked others out from them and, because those differences would probably be small, the detector would need to be very sensitive.

ECONOMIST: Darwinism