latest news

View full archive

Illustration of the author next to a portrait of Rosemary Fowler

Recognizing Rosemary Fowler

11/05/24

Pruthvi Mehta

A physicist reflects on learning about a hidden figure whose research helped inspire her own.

11/15/12

Physics never sleeps

Physicists from all over the world work the night shift to guide the Large Hadron Collider and its particle detectors from sunset to sunrise. Take a peek into two of the five CERN control rooms that are staffed 24 hours a day.

Illustration of neutrinos and other particles moving down tube

11/13/12

How to make a neutrino beam

Neutrinos are elusive particles that are difficult to study, yet they may help explain some of the biggest mysteries of our universe. Using accelerators to make neutrino beams, scientists are unveiling the neutrinos’ secrets.

11/12/12

Passing along LHC know-how to future generations

Preserving expertise about how complicated detectors work is one of the Large Hadron Collider's biggest challenges.

Illustration of Journey to SNOLAB "Picasso" "Mini Clean" "COUPP" DEAP-360"

11/05/12

Voyage to SNOLAB

A growing number of scientists are looking for ways to join a dream team of experiments in a unique laboratory a mile and a half underground in Ontario. There, they seek to solve some of the biggest mysteries in physics today, including the case of missing dark matter.

Photo of woman interviewing another woman in an auditorium, on stage

11/01/12

How to woo an audience, with help from Alan Alda

In late October, 30 scientists spent two days in a communication workshop, learning that successful communication is both simpler and riskier than they realized.

10/30/12

Video: A synchrotron rescues an ancient warship

Ritimukta Sarangi explains how knowledge gained at a light source has helped save wooden artifacts including the Mary Rose, a 500-year-old warship.

10/30/12

What else could the Higgs be?

Scientists might need to go beyond the Standard Model to explain the mass of the Higgs-like boson observed at the Large Hadron Collider.

10/29/12

Dark-matter seekers get help from the DarkSide

Filled with rare, low-radioactivity material, the DarkSide-50 experiment will have some of the lowest background rates of any dark-matter detector. That should help it detect highly sought-after dark-matter candidates called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.

View full archive