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Physicists plan antimatter’s first outing — in a van

Researchers intend to transport the elusive material between labs and use it to study the strange behaviour of rare radioactive nuclei.
  1. Elizabeth Gibney
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Antimatter is notoriously volatile, but physicists have learned to control it so well that they are now starting to harness it as a tool for the first time. In a project that began last month, researchers will transport antimatter by truck and then use it to study the strange behaviour of rare radioactive nuclei. The work aims to provide a better understanding of fundamental processes inside atomic nuclei and to help astrophysicists learn about the interiors of neutron stars, which contain the densest form of matter in the Universe.

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Nature 554, 412-413 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-02221-9

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 20 February 2018: In saying that everyday atomic hearts have equal protons and neutrons, the original version of this article didn’t take account of the fact that some elements, such as hydrogen and lithium, have uneven numbers of protons in their most abundant form. The text has been updated to clarify this.

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