Particle physics news, articles and features | New �Ӱ�ԭ��

Do we owe our existence to weird ‘virtual’ particles?

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000

When considering what makes up a human body, a physicist drills down beyond the atomic level. Columnist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein explores the not-exactly-real particles that allow the stuff we’re made of to hang together

The weirdness of neutrinos could completely rewrite particle physics

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:00:29 +0000

A philosopher has put forward an argument for rethinking how particles are defined within the standard model of particle physics

At CERN’s Antimatter Factory, scientists probe the mysteries of matter

David Stock — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 17:00:28 +0000

Everything around us – from our bodies to the stars – is made of matter. But according to our best theories, none of it should exist. The big bang should have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter, and that should have caused the newborn universe to annihilate itself instantly. So why are we here?

In this video, we go behind the scenes at CERN, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, to explore how scientists create, trap, transport and study antimatter at the appropriately named Antimatter Factory. Is there a tiny, fundamental difference between matter and antimatter? The answer could explain one of the oldest questions in science: Why is there something instead of nothing?

CERN’s new chief on the gamble that could fix our picture of reality

Alex Wilkins — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:00:58 +0000

Mark Thomson has taken the reins at CERN just as particle physics confronts some of its deepest unknowns – and faces hard choices about what comes next

Frank Close: Finding the building blocks of the universe

Emily Bates — Wed, 06 May 2026 17:00:36 +0000

Particle physics dives into the very depths of the universe – the particles that make up atoms. Over the past century, we have peeled back the layers and uncovered more about the make-up of subatomic particles than ever before, culminating in 2012 with the discovery of the Higgs boson, also called the God particle. Frank Close, the author of Infinity Puzzle and Elusive: How Peter Higgs solved the mystery of mass, has had a front-row seat to many of these revelations. He joins New �Ӱ�ԭ�� reporter Alex Wilkins to talk about his career and all things particle physics, including how quarks group together and what it was like sitting on stage with Peter Higgs after the Large Hadron Collider found that elusive particle.

300-year-old experiment could become world’s best dark matter detector

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan — Mon, 04 May 2026 12:00:54 +0000

An update to an experiment run by Henry Cavendish in 1773 could be a cheaper and faster way to spot a potential dark matter particle – and may be 10,000 times more sensitive

Physicists resolve a long-standing puzzle over the size of a proton

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 08:00:07 +0000

Two extremely precise experiments agree with a previously shocking measurement of just how big the proton is, which may help future searches for new particles

Particles seen emerging from empty space for first time

Jacklin Kwan — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:00:39 +0000

By tracing the origins of an unusual, short-lived particle, researchers have gathered some of the strongest evidence yet that mass can emerge from fluctuations in the vacuum

We’re solving the fundamental mystery of how reality is glued together

Michael Brooks — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 15:00:03 +0000

For decades, scientists have tried and failed to explain how the force that binds the heart of atoms together really works. But new mathematical tools are finally prising the problem open

A once-fantastical collider could answer physics’ biggest mysteries

Chen Ly — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:00:50 +0000

The muon collider was once dismissed as impossible, but is now gaining steam as the successor to the Large Hadron Collider. If built, it could offer a new window to reality