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Following the cancellation of its $11 billion Superconducting Supercollider,
the US may help to foot the bill for the SSC’s one-time rival. John Gibbons,
President Clinton’s science adviser, says he will consider increasing US
contributions to the Large Hadron Collider being planned at CERN, the European
centre for particle physics near Geneva.

‘I think it is something we should consider,’ he says. ‘Very clearly,
this needs to be an international effort in which we pool our expertise.’

Gibbons is looking at ways of avoiding the need for funds for big science
projects to be approved by Congress every year. He says, ‘We need a framework
in which long-term commitments can be made.’