Chances are you have heard of CERN's LHC experiment, or maybe not. It probably is the most ambitious science experiment ever done ("One of the LHC's detectors - Atlas - weighs as much as 100 Boeing 747s. Looking like a cross between some improbably big communications satellite and the largest electric dynamo you can imagine, Atlas is the work of 1,900 scientists drawn from 164 universities in 35 countries." [source]), and if you want to find out more about its goals etc. this is the place to go. Oh, and it's not going to blow up the planet.
PS: It does say quite a bit about the state of affairs of the US media to see something like this, doesn't it? No serious, self respecting scientist expects the collider to create a doomsday; just like no serious, self respecting scientist denies that global warming is a reality and a gigantic challenge for humanity.
