My son visited CERN recently due to being in the STEM stream and due to largesse by his mum. As suspected, it was just fun (eyes roll).

This is a Swiss/EU thing. I expect, it is possible that they just may go down the Lysenko : ) path from here on hehe. I also expect, RF/China will blow them out of the water in the next few years on the science front. I'll eat my hat if that version doesn't materialise ..