What happens inside an accelerator when very high-energy particles collide? Visitors to the ALEXploratorium, the science centre within the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, can now take a look for themselves (see picture).

An interactive exhibition, 'The Microscopes of Physics', introduces students and the broader public to both the smallest particles at the heart of atoms and the boundaries of the Universe. Successive rooms introduce visitors to the world of atoms and their constituent particles, as revealed by particle accelerators and detectors, and on to the cosmos and its origins in the Big Bang.

The exhibition has been designed and brought about by the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics as part of the Mediterranean Association for Science Communication, in which science communicators from southern Europe and North Africa join forces to spread scientific culture. The exhibition runs until 31 October 2006.