A control panel for the Large Hadron Collider

(via The Guardian)

I like how there's a key involved to turn this thing on. This thing looks more like it's the control panel for a nuclear arsenal than for an atom smasher. Then again, atom smashers probably have a high degree of danger once they're turned on, so precautions are good. I can't even imagine what it must feel like to be the one who gets to fire that sucker up. Of course, the thing is that there's two beams involved, so there's probably a second panel just this for the other one.

It's probably one of those things that seems cooler than it actually is. It's probably about as mundane as flipping on a light switch or pressing a button on a vending machine.