💥 Stat of the Day: European research org CERN this week completed a feasibility assessment of its planned “Future Circular Collider”—a $17 billion particle accelerator that would be ~11x larger than CERN’s current Large Hadron Collider (LHC), aka the world’s largest machine.

Big fella, big questions: The Future Circular Collider would have a 56.5-mile circumference, and aim to smash subatomic particles together at a maximum energy ~7.5x higher than the LHC.

• CERN says the increased energy will help scientists figure out some of the key unanswered questions about our universe.
• These include whether our reality contains hidden extra dimensions, and what makes up dark matter and/or dark energy (mysterious substances comprising ~95% of the universe).

Looking ahead…Under CERN’s current timeline, the first phase of its Future Circular Collider will come online in the mid-2040s, followed by the second and final phase in the 2070s.

🤔 Did You Know? John Carpenter, the first top prize winner on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, never cashed in any of his lifelines until the last question. That’s when Carpenter used the "Phone a Friend" to call his father—not to ask for help, but to tell him he was about to win $1 million.

📰 Worth a Read: America the secular? What a changing religious landscape means for US politics