--- title: Weasel May Have Shut Down Cern Large Hadron Collider description: CERN particle collider shut down after a weasel or marten may have eaten an electrical circuit. canonical: https://time.com/4312818/cern-weasel-marten-small-animal-particle-collider-cern-hadron/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-29T20:01:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:59.694Z og:title: Weasel-Like Animal Shuts Down World's Most Powerful Particle Accelerator og:description: CERN's Large Hadron Collider experienced a "severe electrical perturbation" og:url: https://time.com/4312818/cern-weasel-marten-small-animal-particle-collider-cern-hadron/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe413a876df68f00/69889142428a9ec407cd2700/gettyimages-475181433.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5324 og:image:height: 2995 og:image:alt: Stone Marten or Beech Marten (Martes foina), Normandy, France og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Weasel-Like Animal Shuts Down World's Most Powerful Particle Accelerator twitter:description: CERN's Large Hadron Collider experienced a "severe electrical perturbation" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe413a876df68f00/69889142428a9ec407cd2700/gettyimages-475181433.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Weasel-Like Animal Shuts Down World's Most Powerful Particle Accelerator > Sponsored content. 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Waxman Staff Writer Apr 29, 2016 8:01 PM UTC A weasel-like animal shut down the world’s largest and most powerful [particle accelerator](http://home.cern/about/how-accelerator-works) near Geneva, Switzerland, early Friday after weaseling into a transformer. [CERN’s Large Hadron Collider ](http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2118809,00.html)experienced a “severe electrical perturbation” that “damaged” transformer connections due to a “short circuit caused by fouine,” according to a [briefing](http://indico.cern.ch/event/506407/contributions/1184968/attachments/1265776/1873815/LHC%5F29042016.pdf) that the organization published. The French dictionary _Larousse_ translates “fouine” as both a weasel and a beech marten. A CERN spokesperson Arnaud Marsollier [told NPR](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/29/476154494/weasel-shuts-down-world-s-most-powerful-particle-collider?utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=npr&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fterm=nprnews) that such accidents can happen, given the facility is in the countryside. As the organization’s own briefing joked, [“Not the best week for LHC!”](http://indico.cern.ch/event/506407/contributions/1184968/attachments/1265776/1873815/LHC%5F29042016.pdf) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4312818/cern-weasel-marten-small-animal-particle-collider-cern-hadron/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4312818/cern-weasel-marten-small-animal-particle-collider-cern-hadron/"},"headline":"Weasel-Like Animal Shuts Down World's Most Powerful Particle Accelerator","datePublished":"2016-04-29T20:01:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:59.694Z","description":"CERN's Large Hadron Collider experienced a \"severe electrical perturbation,\" thanks to the animal","url":"https://time.com/4312818/cern-weasel-marten-small-animal-particle-collider-cern-hadron/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","World"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe413a876df68f00/69889142428a9ec407cd2700/gettyimages-475181433.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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