Undiscovered particles could boost or suppress a newly observed process—but LHC scientists see no such effect. After a quarter of a century of searching, physicists have discovered a rare particle decay that gives them an indirect way to test m... Continue reading →

Theorist Sean Carroll thinks it’s time you learned the truth: All of the particles you know—including the Higgs—are actually fields. When scientists talk to non-scientists about particle physics, they talk about the smallest buildin... Continue reading →

Scientists on the GERDA experiment have placed new limits on a process that could reveal the true character of the neutrino. Deep under the Abruzzo mountains in Italy, researchers have been looking for a very, very rare event. If they find what they Continue reading →

Particles communicate with one another through force carriers. Force carriers are particles that act like messages exchanged between other particles. Scientists have discovered force carriers for three of the four known forces: electromagnetism, the ... Continue reading →

Scientists in the US LHC Accelerator Research Program have successfully tested superconducting magnets needed to increase LHC collisions tenfold. In the past four years, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider have accomplished unprecedented feats of... Continue reading →

Gunnar Maehlum is a businessman who retains the innovative and critical thinking he learned in particle physics.  Sixteen years ago, then-particle physicist Gunnar Maehlum returned to his native Norway to join a particle physics spinoff company ... Continue reading →

Carnegie Mellon University alumni trace the origin of the smiley to a group of computer scientists discussing a physics puzzle in 1982. The use of the smiley face may be frowned upon in professional communications, but it’s an essential part of the... Continue reading →

Planck, the space telescope that this year revealed unprecedentedly detailed information about the early universe, is just getting started. If you had eyes that could see all photons, not just the ones in the visible part of the spectrum, you would b... Continue reading →