Re-start for ‘Big Bang’ machine

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment has been re-started after a hiatus of 14 months.

Engineers working on the machine achieved a stable, circulating proton beam just after 2100 GMT on Friday.

The LHC is housed in a 27km-long circular tunnel about 100m beneath the French-Swiss border.

The experiment is designed to smash together beams of protons in a bid to shed light on the nature of the Universe.

The LHC has been shut down for repairs since an accident in September 2008.

Operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern), the LHC will create similar conditions to those which were present moments after the Big Bang.

"It's great to see beam circulating in the LHC again," said Cern's director-general Rolf Heuer.