Science News Roundup: Saturn's halo may be relatively recent trait; Mega tube under Geneva enters race to succeed CERN collider

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Lord of the rings: Saturn's halo may be relatively recent trait

Saturn's rings are one of our solar system's magnificent sights, but may be a relatively recent addition, according to data obtained from NASA's Cassini spacecraft before the robotic explorer's 2017 death plunge into the giant gas planet. Scientists said on Thursday a calculation of the mass of the rings based on gravitational measurements of the planet collected by Cassini indicated they formed between 100 million and 10 million years ago in roughly the final 2 percent of Saturn's current age.

Mega tube under Geneva enters race to succeed CERN collider

A proposed 100-km particle accelerator under Geneva has joined an international quest to develop the successor to the Large Hadron Collider to help unlock humankind's knowledge of matter. The existing collider (LHC), which started up in 2008, smashes protons together in a 27-km circuit beneath the Swiss-French border. It helped scientists discover the long-sought Higgs boson -- a particle that supplied the missing piece of the standard model of physics by explaining why objects have mass.

(With inputs from agencies.)