Japan is the likely home of the next big particle collider

Nature : The International Linear Collider (ILC) is a proposed 31-km-long particle accelerator that will collide electrons and positrons. The primary goal will be to gain a clearer picture of the nature of the Higgs particle. CERN’s Large Hadron Collider uses proton collisions that create a massive amount of scattered particles. The ILC’s electronâpositron collisions will result in much cleaner scattering. Japan, which lost its bid for ITER to France, is the leading candidate for hosting the facility. With extra funding available from its post-earthquake and tsunami reconstruction efforts and multiparty political support, Japan is making a concerted effort to win the project. Two sites on the island nation are being considered, both of which would have the collider built into the side of a mountain, not buried under flat ground as with other accelerators. However, with a projected cost between $7 billion and $8 billion, and with the US and Europe still recovering from economic downturns, the biggest roadblock to the project will be getting funding.