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Illustration of a W boson among a pattern of masks

Explain it in 60 seconds: W boson

09/10/24

Josh Bendavid and Sarah Charley

Meet the short-lived particle that helps the sun shine.

08/01/07

Number crunching, redefined

Supercomputers can play chess, map DNA, and aid in the study of dark energy. But recently they were unleashed on a bold new frontier: optimizing the production of potato chips.

08/01/07

Yuri Tumanov: A lens on physics and its enthusiasts

His photographs show scientists and experiments, large physics facilities and tiny devices, enthusiastic crowds of conference participants and lone researchers absorbed in thought.

08/01/07

Raising MoNA

In the olden days, farmers would travel for miles through the American countryside to help neighbors raise a barn.

07/01/07

First users’ meeting

In 1967, 400 enthusiastic scientists met at Argonne National Laboratory to discuss plans to build a new 200 GeV accelerator and a national laboratory to house it.

07/01/07

Chalkboard discussions usually arise spontaneously, with one person explaining something to a small group standing nearby. Scratchings on the board tend to represent fragments of a conversation rather than a complete train of thought.

07/01/07

Speed: It’s not just for particles

In pursuit of high velocities, a group of Fermilab physicists has found an unusual outlet: They race a dragon boat.

07/01/07

Pesky invaders

An overgrown zebra mussel population at Fermilab received a rude awaking when operations engineers treated the lab’s water cooling system in early June to remove nearly 4000 pounds of mussels.

07/01/07

Russian quiz champ

What? An intellectual game show. Where? Based in Russia and played all around the world. When? Since 1986.

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