Re: In today's news...
Well, let's see how many of you know your Heisenberg uncertainty principles^^
XSI, nah, they're not really trying to open up new dimensions, although some are saying that might be a side-effect. (And by "some" I can't seem to find anyone other than reporters and chemists...)
The thing is, that there is a principle in physics called Heisenbergs uncertainty principle, which basically states that one cannot know the exact position and energy of something. It sounds retarded, I know, but it has been "proven" many a time to be true. The term "Zero- point energy" often quoted in science fiction is an example of this.
If you for example, take helium, which is a gas. And cool it down to absolute zero, (Or as close as you can get.) The helium will always stay in a liquid form even if it shouldn't have the energy to do so.
Similarly, the lowest energy one can think off for an area of space, is empty space. And one would assume that nothing has 0 energy. But because we know the exact location of this empty point, there has to be energy there, in order for the principle to be fulfilled.
In modern physics this has been explained by the presence of "ghost" particles, particles with positive or negative energies, appearing out of nowhere, and meeting their own twin and disappearing in almost the same instant they come into existence.
What this laser project is talking about, is separating some of these pairs of particles from their annihilation twin, so as to be able to detect them.
Personally, I think the world has just gotten too much of a hardon for the large hadron collider, and it's massive proportions, and now they want a new fix.
TLDR:
Nononono! They're not trying to open up new dimensions by shooting lasers at nothing, that would be ridiculous. They're going to try finding new particles by shooting lasers at the particles they're trying to find, and that they hope exist.
Blowing a hole in the fabric of space, opening up new dimensions, or teleporting in some of them headcrabs... Now that's just a potential bonus!