A facility at CERN is dedicated to creating and analyzing anti-hydrogen

How the Antimatter Factory works, and why antimatter transport is so difficult

At CERN, protons are accelerated to 99.93% the speed of light and collide with iridium to create antiprotons. These particles are then slowed and sent to various research experiments. Moving the antimatter to other locations for study requires trapping it in electromagnetic fields to prevent contact with normal matter, which would cause annihilation.

Antimatter is the oppositely charged version of normal matter

When a particle and its antiparticle collide, they annihilate each other, creating a burst of energy. This makes creating large amounts of antimatter challenging because it must be isolated from any surrounding normal matter or be destroyed.

The discovery of antimatter came from addressing a prediction of negative energy

Combining the mathematics of quantum mechanics and special relativity, Paul Dirac came up with an equation that suggested a matter particle, such as an electron, could exist in four quantum states—two of which possessed negative energy. The solution came from realizing that the states referred to positive-energy antiparticles, whose charge is the opposite of that of their normal-matter equivalent.

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

It may be possible to create dark matter in particle accelerators

In high-energy collisions, exotic forms of matter can be produced by directly converting energy into mass according to *E = mc*². Even though a dark matter particle would not be directly observable, its creation would result in unaccounted-for mass, which can be compared to potential dark matter candidates for indirect detection.

As of 2025, CERN is the world's largest particle physics laboratory

Founded in 1954, the European Organization for Nuclear Research's laboratory is located near Geneva, Switzerland, and more than 10,000 scientists from more than 100 countries visit its facilities each year. Its largest tool is the Large Hadron Collider, a 27-kilometer-long tunnel that accelerates protons to near the speed of light.

Fermilab's ICARUS experiment is searching for hypothetical sterile neutrinos

Neutrinos are a group of three chargeless, lightweight particles that can transform into one another via a quantum mechanical phenomenon called neutrino oscillations. The rate of these oscillations can be determined by measuring the amount of each type at different distances, where data inconsistencies would suggest the existence of new physics.

Take a 360-degree tour of the particle detector at the Large Hadron Collider

The ATLAS experiment integrates concentric layers of sensors to analyze the properties of particles that emerge from the collisions of accelerated matter. More than 3 petabytes of data—equivalent to 600 years of music—can be expected to be collected from this experiment yearly (VR device-compatible).

Axions, a hypothetical subatomic particle, are a leading dark matter candidate

Among the possibilities for what makes up dark matter, some physicists champion axions, which could clump into galaxy-scale quantum states. These states would act as massive, unified superparticles that could explain the observational evidence for the universe's missing matter.

Particle accelerators allow physicists to create controlled nuclear experiments

Before the 1930s, scientists relied on naturally radioactive substances to learn about atomic nuclei. The first atom was split in 1932 when John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton fired a beam of accelerated protons at a lithium atom, producing alpha radiation.

Particle accelerators have been used to reveal detailed ant anatomy

Using a synchrotron facility at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, a pair of X-ray beams swept across about 2,200 ant specimens to create over 200 terabytes of projection images from multiple angles. The images were compiled into micrometer-resolution 3D reconstructions of 792 species, which are freely accessible on the Antscan platform.

As of 2025, LUX-ZEPLIN is the world's most sensitive dark matter experiment

The experiment is designed to indirectly detect WIMPs—weakly interacting massive particles and a candidate for what dark matter is made of—by looking for light produced when they collide with xenon atoms. Such collisions would also release electrons, which are then manipulated to produce a secondary light signal that helps rule out background effects.

View a step-by-step breakdown of how helium is forged in stars alongside antimatter

During the proton-proton chain, four hydrogen nuclei—protons—are fused together to create an alpha particle—a helium nucleus—and produce the energy that supports a star's own weight. Through radioactive decay, two of these protons become neutrons, with each releasing an antielectron, or positron, and an electron neutrino.

One study suggests that dark matter may have originated from a dark Big Bang

A student-faculty team at Colgate University modeled the event as occurring months after the conventional Big Bang and determined the potential gravitational wave signal that would have been left behind. Future gravitational wave detectors are expected to be sensitive enough to observe this signal, if it exists.

Efforts to find Majorana particles may finally lead to reliable quantum computers

Though the particle—which is its own antiparticle—remains theoretical, scientists from Microsoft to Google continue developing systems to mimic this property towards building error-resistant quantum computers. Scientists at UCSB have been attempting to get the particle using just pencil lead and Scotch tape.

Scientists turn alchemists, transforming transform lead into gold

Fulfilling alchemists' dreams, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) transmute lead into gold. While the 86 billion gold nuclei produced were short-lived, the experiment sheds light on how electromagnetic fields can play a critical role in nuclear transmutation.

Explore the components of the linear particle accelerator at Los Alamos

Located at the site of bomb design and development for the Manhattan Project, LANSCE features an injector system for hydrogen ions, a series of tanks with alternating electric fields for proton acceleration, and an isotope production facility that creates radioisotopes for medical treatments.

Simulate the impact of an antimatter bomb around the world

Using "Total Annihilator," users can click on a location on the map, select the antimatter mass, and the observation altitude before detonating the bomb. Scrolling through the left sidebar reveals the impacts of the detonation, including the sizes of the resulting fireball and thermal pulse, the spread of ionizing radiation, and the atmospheric effects.

Explore all the particles that make up the Standard Model

This interactive organizes all the particles of matter and force in the Standard Model alongside the Higgs boson. Clicking on any particle will display a brief description and several properties, such as discovery year, mass, and charge.

A guide to building your own cloud chamber to observe cosmic rays

Using felt, alcohol, dry ice, and a clear container—such as a fish tank—you can create a region of supersaturated air that will cling to passing particles, forming trails of cloud-like droplets. Muons will create straight paths, alpha particles will leave thicker ones, and electrons or positrons will zigzag.

View the most expensive materials on Earth, led by those forged in particle accelerators

Californium-252—valued at $27.8M per gram, as of 2025—is far rarer and more valuable than gold, silver, or diamonds due to production and transportation costs. The most expensive substance ever found or created is antimatter, costing approximately $62.5T per gram.

The Louvre in Paris has its own particle accelerator for art analysis

The Accélérateur Grand Louvre d'analyse élémentaire serves as a noninvasive tool for identifying and quantifying trace elements present in artworks by analyzing how particles backscatter off targets. This information can help detect forgeries and determine a piece's provenance. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Cloud 9 is a dark-matter-dominated failed galaxy

Identified in 2023, the starless, gas-rich object is the first of its kind seen by astronomers and provides a window into the early stages of galactic formation without observations relying on visible matter as a proxy. The existence of such REHLICs, or Reionization-Limited-H I Clouds, was predicted by cold dark matter cosmological models.

Mixed reality technology helped make repairs to a quantum physics facility in space

In 2021, astronaut Megan McArthur used a HoloLens to work alongside Earth-based engineers and make hardware replacements to the International Space Station's Cold Atom Lab, the first quantum science facility in Earth orbit. The facility cools atoms to near absolute zero to perform quantum chemistry experiments in a microgravity environment.

How atomic clocks have been used to measure the universe's fundamental constants

Atoms behave according to a set of parameters that scientists have determined give reality its properties. For example, the fine-structure constant, α, quantifies the strength of interactions between charged particles. Since the light emitted by atoms as they move between energy levels is affected by α, analyzing these emissions—the basis of atomic clocks—using different atoms helps calculate α.

Unusually stable, undiscovered elements may exist near atomic number 126

While heavier elements like uranium and plutonium are unstable and decay quickly, simulations suggest a pocket of stability exists for elements with approximately 126 protons and 184 neutrons. Such elements may have practical applications, such as americium, a synthetic element used in smoke detectors.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

Planeterrellas create artificial auroras that mimic the atmospheric displays of light by setting up an electric field between two metal balls in a jar filled with a small amount of air.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

Explore what it's like inside a patient isolation unit, used in situations such as treating a patient or suspected patient with Ebola.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

In recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.