About Large Hadron Collider (LHC):

• The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. 
• It started on 10 September 2008 and remains the latest addition to CERN’s accelerator complex. 
• The LHC consists of a 27-kilometer ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way.
• Inside the accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel at close to the speed of light before they are made to collide. 
• The beams travel in opposite directions in separate beam pipes – two tubes kept at ultrahigh vacuum. 
• They are guided around the accelerator ring by a strong magnetic field maintained by superconducting electromagnets. 
• The electromagnets are built from coils of special electric cables that operate in a superconducting state, efficiently conducting electricity without resistance or loss of energy. 
• This requires chilling the magnets to ‑271.3°C – a temperature colder than outer space. 
• For this reason, much of the accelerator is connected to a distribution system of liquid helium, which cools the magnets, and to other supply services.

What is dark energy and dark matter:

• Dark energy accounts for around 68% of the universe's energy and matter, while dark matter accounts for around 27% of these continents. 
• But neither can be seen because they don't interact with light, and no one has been able to pin them down through other forms of direct detection, either. 
• Dark matter can't be "standard matter" like the atoms that make up the stuff we see around us on an everyday basis, like stars, planets and our bodies. 
• Currently, the only way scientists can infer the presence of dark matter is via its interaction with gravity and the effect this has on baryonic matter and, in turn, light. 
• Dark energy is even more problematic. It's the force that scientists see driving the acceleration of the universe's expansion.

About CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (in French)):

• CERN has 23 member states that pay into the budget in proportion to their GDP, with Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy being the biggest contributors.
• At CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, physicists and engineers are probing the universe's fundamental structure. 
• They use the world's largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter – the fundamental particles. 
• The particles are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. The process gives the physicists clues about how the particles interact and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature.