"CERN's $17 Billion Proposal: Building a Particle Smasher 3 Times Larger Than the Large Hadron Collider"

CERN has proposed the construction of a $17 billion Future Circular Collider (FCC), which would be 3 times larger than the Large Hadron Collider and aims to probe the fringes of the Standard Model of particle physics. Physicists hope to use the increased size and power of the FCC to discover unknown particles and forces, understand the nature of dark matter and dark energy, and investigate why matter outweighs antimatter. Despite high hopes, some scientists are skeptical about the project's potential return on investment. The feasibility study is set to be finished next year, and member states will meet in 2028 to decide whether to greenlight the project, with the first phase expected to come online in 2045.