Except they have done research on the black hole possibility, there work centres on the beams colliding not what happens if it hits a certain combination of atoms that make up a human hand.
I guess it's kind of like someone saying to a programmer, hey can you fix my computer, you work in computer right?
I guess it struck me as more like someone saying to a C programmer, "Hey, can you help me find the bug in this Java routine?" The C programmer might not know Java intimately but at least he's not going to stroke his beard and act like it's something he's never considered before.
I certainly wouldn't expect two or three competent C programmers to offer wildly divergent opinions if asked a question that fell slightly outside their everyday practice.
I guess it's kind of like someone saying to a programmer, hey can you fix my computer, you work in computer right?