It's one thing when the guys running the Large Hadron Collider say that it's very very unlikely that they'll accidentally destroy the universe. (I'm OK with run

It's one thing when the guys running the Large Hadron Collider say that it's very very unlikely that they'll accidentally destroy the universe. (I'm OK with running the LHC). It's another when scientists say that widespread concern for nightmare scenarios is based entirely on misunderstanding and scientific illiteracy. For instance, I don't worry about nuclear power plants turning into nuclear bombs -- even in the face of terrorism -- not because it's never happened but because the plants are designed to make that scenario impossible. I don't worry about a meltdown that melts through the power plant and the Earth's crust creating a new volcano because scientists say that's not possible. Yes, there are nightmare scenarios that actually are possible. But when the two sides are "real experts who say the risk is too small to worry about" and "uncomfortable scientifically illiterate public," I put my money on the experts.