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Covering the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies, Science Friday is the source for entertaining and educational stories about science, technology, and other cool stuff. Language: en-us Genres: Life Sciences, Natural Sciences, Science Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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What a trapped antimatter particle could tell us about reality
Episode 1430
Tuesday, 3 November, 2026
Almost all matter particles have corresponding particles of antimatter: Protons have antiprotons, neutrons have antineutrons, and so on. When matter and antimatter bump into each other they destroy each other and release energy. With carefully manipulated magnetic fields, however, it’s possible to trap particles of antimatter and prevent them from touching regular matter, allowing researchers to study them. A group of antimatter experts recently reported that they had trapped and held a positron (an antielectron) in a vacuum at ultra-cold temperatures for months, creating what they called “a one-positron quantum cyclotron.” That advance allowed them to study the positron’s quantum properties. They hope to learn whether the positron is indeed an exact opposite of an electron, or if there are tiny physical differences between them. Antimatter wrangler Gerald Gabrielse joins Flora to describe the project, and why researchers care about the properties of antimatter.Guest:Dr. Gerald Gabrielse is a Board of Trustees Professor in Physics at Northwestern University.Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow us on socials @ scifri on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Bluesky and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
