Texans make darn sure we know that everything is bigger and better in their state than anywhere else – except perhaps for Yorkshire and Bavaria – which makes the setback for the $4,000m Super Collider project to create a 53-mile tunnel to house the giant synchrotron, won by the state against fierce competition from around the nation, all the more embarrassing – because the problem is multitudinous but tiny: Texas is infested with venomous fire ants a mere eight of an inch long, but it’s not the threat of their sting that worries the Department of Energy, it’s their preferences when it comes to eating matter – seems your average fire ant is drawn to electrical energy much as other ants are drawn to the picnic sandwiches, and likes nothing so much as to settle down to a lunch of electrical insulation, all of which suggests that the Super Collider may after all have to find its home in a state where environmental manace is confined to prairie dogs or the odd grizzly bear.
