A New Anomaly in Particle Physics!

Recently, physicists at CERN announced that they’d re-discovered an anomaly in the way that certain particles (called B mesons) decay. The anomaly has been noted in multiple other analyses over the years, though most recently it had disappeared. It could indicate that there are particles that we still have yet to discover, or that we need to revise the standard model of physics. Or it could mean nothing. Let’s take a look.

Scientists Prove That Virtual Particles Are Actually Real

Virtual particles, depending on who you ask, are either a yet-unsolved quirk of the mathematics that we use to calculate physics, or a type of real particle that’s constantly popping into existence before quickly disappearing. In a recent paper, physicists claim that they’ve done an experiment that proves that virtual particles are, indeed, real things. Let’s take a look.

Nuclear Fusion Reactors Could Produce Dark Matter, Physicists Show

Fusion reactors, according to a recently published paper, could produce theoretical particles that might make up dark matter. More specifically, physicists predict that they might produce large quantities of axions, low-mass elementary particles that some physicists believe might explain dark matter. Let’s take a look.

Why does light exist?

Why does light exist? It's a consequence of what physicists call a "gauge symmetry" and in today's video I do my best to try and explain how that works.

It’s The End Of An Era For Physics.

It’s a new year, and according to a new paper, physics is headed into a new era. Over the past few years, the field of physics has seen a major shift in research priorities – let’s take a look at that shift, why it’s happened, and where physics is headed next.

Physicists Just Invented a New Particle Accelerator!

Particle accelerator technology has just gotten bigger and bigger over the years, making physics more and more expensive. Luckily, researchers are looking into alternatives to the CERN’s multi-kilometer accelerators. Today we’re taking a look at the so-called micronozzle, a new concept in the world of particle accelerator tech — and a promising one.

Physicists Have No Idea What They Have Measured

In 2006 and 2014, the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) detected two mysterious bursts of particles rushing upwards into space from Earth’s surface. Physicists initially brushed this off with a plausible but boring explanation, but that reasoning has now been thrown out the window. So it’s back to the drawing board, and we might be looking at new physics. Let’s take a look at how this happened and what it means for physics.

How I Became Particle Physicists’ Enemy #1

When I started my career in physics, I didn’t plan on becoming particle physicists’ enemy number one, but somehow I have. Here’s how it all happened.

Why CERN’s New Collider Plans are Dead on Arrival

CERN wants to build a new particle collider which will smash protons together at roughly 6 times the energies seen at the Large Hadron Collider. This project is likely to cost more than $40 billion and wouldn’t be operational until the 2070s. Let’s take a look at why a growing number of physicists are saying we’d be better off without it.

No, Matt, this is no crisis

This is a comment on a recent video by Matt O'Dowd.

I find it extremely distressing that we are still discussing this even though it's abundantly clear that naturalness arguments have historically worked extremely badly. It's a pseudo-scientific method that physicists need to stop using.

Atomic Anomaly Confirmed! Evidence for a “dark force”?

In 2020, a group of MIT researchers detected an anomaly in the nuclei of ytterbium atoms. They said that the nuclei’s strange behavior might be indicative of a “dark force” caused by a currently-undiscovered mystery particle that might make up dark matter. In 2020, the anomaly only had a significance of 3 sigma. But now, another group has confirmed it at a whopping 23 sigma! What does that mean for physics? Let’s find out.

Lonely Magnetic Northpoles Could Actually Exist, Physicists Find

Magnets always have two poles. Meaning, if you break a magnet in half, both of those halves will also have two poles. But some physicists think that particles with just one magnetic pole might exist – these theoretical particles are called monopoles. However, up until now, theories have shown that the existence of monopoles would cause a paradox by breaking up indivisible particles. Now, a group of physicists have published a new paper explaining that paradox, and monopoles might be back on the menu. Let’s take a look.

AI at CERN can reveal how Universe Will End, New Director Says

According to the incoming director of CERN, Mark Thomson, the large hadron collider (LHC) can tell us whether or not the universe will fall apart into pure energy What is he even talking about? I have a brief summary.



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There’s a Third Type of Particle and We Never Knew

Up until last week, physicists believed that matter is made up of only two types of particles: those whose spin has full-integer values (bosons) and those whose spin comes has half-integer values (fermions). But in a new paper, a group of researchers turned the world of physics upside down by mathematically proving that a third type of particles – the “paraparticles” are possible.

Physicists Claim This $2 Billion Experiment Can Tell Us Why We Exist

Fermilab has spent almost $2 billion on its Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). Physicists have claimed that the experiment is worthwhile because learning more about neutrinos will tell us why we exist, why the universe hasn’t disappeared, and why the universe is full of something rather than nothing. None of that is true.

String Theory Can Be Proven Wrong, String Theorists Say

String theory is one of the leading theories of everything, but it’s been criticized for being impossible to prove wrong – if it can’t be falsified, there’s no way to test it against empirical evidence. Now, though, a group of scientists claim they’ve found a way to prove the theory wrong, making it more legitimate. I am not convinced.

Huge Physics Anomaly Finally Put to Test, But That Just Makes it More Confusing

Ten years ago, physicists discovered an anomaly that was dubbed the “ATOMKI anomaly”. The decays of certain atomic nuclei disagreed with our current understanding of physics. Particle physicists assigned the anomaly to a new particle, X17, often described as a fifth force. The anomaly was now tested by a follow-up experiment, but this is only the latest twist in a rather confusing story.

Chances for CERN’s Mega-Collider are Sinking

CERN is turning 70 this month. A good occasion to look at their plans for building a particle collider even bigger than the Large Hadron Colider, the "Future Circular Collider" (FCC). It's not going all that well, but at least we now have a budget estimate for the first phase.

Whistleblower Report Reveals Fermilab's Troubles

One of the United States' most famous national labs, Fermilab in Chicago, has been in trouble for several years. Now a group of whistleblowers has written a report that details their misgivings. Ive had a look and picked out the most interesting bits for you.

Crazy New Physics Anomaly: Anti-Matter Helium Detected

A small experiment aboard the International Space Station, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, found a crazy new physics anomaly: They have now detected 10 nuclei of anti-matter helium -- way more than expected. What could explain that? Most of the explanations that physicists have come up so far say it might be a relic of dark matter.