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How do scientists get lead into the LHC?

01/28/25

Sarah Charley

Once a year, the Large Hadron Collider smashes lead ions. But how do scientists get a heavy metal into a particle accelerator?

Illustration of people accessing a conference individually on floating conference badges

09/21/21

How COVID made physics more accessible

Accommodations necessitated by the global pandemic made participation in academic conferences easier for physicists with and without disabilities.

Illustration showing the many facets of a scientist

09/14/21

Bringing the whole self to science

The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science helps students and professionals find community.

Illustration: a kid is stuck on the top of a teeter-totter with a mysterious object holding the other side

09/07/21

Curious physics results could shed light on dark matter

Even experiments that aren’t looking for dark matter directly could give us hints about the mysterious substance that permeates our universe.

Photographer Samuel Hertzog, in an orange construction-site uniform, stands among heavy equipment in the tunnel

08/31/21

Photographing the HL-LHC

A CERN photographer and videographer writes about his experiences documenting the ongoing upgrade that will turn the Large Hadron Collider into the High-Luminosity LHC.

Diagram of the progress of a muon through the CMS detector

08/26/21

Teaching a particle detector new tricks

Scientists hoping to find new, long-lived particles at the Large Hadron Collider recently realized they may already have the detector to do it.

Still from a video showing a simulation of the formation of quark-gluon plasma

08/24/21

Can light melt atoms into goo?

The ATLAS experiment at CERN sees possible evidence of quark-gluon plasma production during collisions between photons and heavy nuclei inside the Large Hadron Collider.

Illustration: Neutrinos revealed in particle physics advent calendar with scientists eyeing another possibility

08/17/21

The search for the sterile neutrino

Back when it was theorized, scientists weren’t sure they would ever detect the neutrino; now they’re searching for a version of the particle that could be even more elusive.

Illustration of the African continent surrounded by equations

08/10/21

A collective strategy for physics in Africa

For the first time, African physicists and other researchers are creating a grassroots strategy for the future of physics research and education.

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