Curated News
By: NewsRamp Editorial Staff
November 07, 2025
CERN's $16B Trigger System Flaw Exposed at Science Conference
TLDR
- The 3D-Flow system offers a cost-effective alternative to CERN's flawed FPGA system, potentially saving billions and providing superior data processing capabilities for scientific research.
- CERN's FPGA Level-1 Trigger system cannot perform the required operations to filter 8 billion events per second without data loss, risking over $12 billion in wasted funding.
- Demanding scientific transparency at CERN could redirect billions toward effective cancer research and medical innovation, potentially saving millions of lives worldwide.
- A 20-trillion-transistor system at CERN faces fundamental performance issues while a proven 1993 alternative offers superior data processing at a fraction of the cost.
Impact - Why it Matters
This revelation matters because it exposes potential massive waste of public funds in one of the world's most prestigious scientific organizations at a time when research budgets are increasingly scrutinized. The $16 billion at stake represents taxpayer money that could otherwise fund thousands of research projects, healthcare initiatives, or educational programs. For the scientific community, this highlights critical issues in peer review and accountability processes within large collaborations. More broadly, failures in high-energy physics research directly impact medical imaging technology development, as many particle physics innovations eventually translate to improved cancer detection and treatment methods. The public deserves transparency about how their tax dollars are spent, especially when such significant amounts are involved and when proven, cost-effective alternatives like the 3D-Flow system exist that could achieve the same scientific goals while saving billions.
Summary
The Crosetto Foundation for the Reduction of Cancer Deaths has issued a dramatic call for scientific transparency and integrity during the IEEE-NSS-MIC-RTSD 2025 Conference in Yokohama, where evidence presented revealed fundamental flaws in CERN's 20-trillion-transistor CMS FPGA-based Level-1 Trigger system. This critical component, built for data selection at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) scheduled to operate from 2026-2036, appears fundamentally incapable of performing the required operations to filter 8 billion events per second without data loss. Despite presentations by CERN's multi-thousand-member CMS and ATLAS collaborations, no speakers could provide verifiable calculations or simulation evidence demonstrating the system's capability to execute basic operations or handle Level-2 trigger algorithms at Level-1 requirements.
The financial implications are staggering, with over $4 billion already wasted and projections indicating more than $12 billion in additional waste over the next decade on a system that fails to meet HL-LHC requirements. This situation echoes previous CERN missteps including the AXIAL-PET project, the faster-than-light neutrino claim, and the impractical 350kg wearable imaging coat, though the current FPGA Level-1 Trigger issue represents a significantly larger scientific and economic concern. The foundation has distributed technical documentation to conference participants and submitted a formal request for a transparent technical workshop to compare the CERN system against the proven 3D-Flow alternative, which offers superior performance at a fraction of the cost.
The foundation is now calling on the European Parliament, national science funding agencies, and media organizations worldwide to freeze additional funding until these scientific questions are resolved. With evidence accessible through published articles and communications, the organization emphasizes that immediate action is needed to prevent further financial waste and ensure scientific integrity in high-energy physics research that ultimately benefits medical imaging and cancer detection technologies. The proven 3D-Flow system, recognized as a breakthrough since 1993, remains unchallenged in cost-effectiveness and performance for Level-1 real-time triggering, offering a viable alternative that could save billions while advancing scientific progress.
Source Statement
This curated news summary relied on content disributed by 24-7 Press Release. Read the original source here, CERN's $16B Trigger System Flaw Exposed at Science Conference
