AN OWL has managed to knock out part of the massive Hadron atom collider on the Franco-Swiss border by accidentally dropping a piece of bread into the system.

Bits of a French baguette fell into an external power supply linked to the 17 mile-long underground particle collider, causing a short circuit and triggering an emergency shutdown of part of the system.

CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, said normal service was restored after a few hours. It said in a statement that "the bird escaped unharmed but lost its bread".

The Hadron collider has taken almost 20 years to complete, at a cost of about €4bn.

It aims to shed light on the origins of the universe, but has been plagued by operational problems since it was first switched on last year.