WHAT IS CERN AND WHAT DOES IT DO?
The European Organization for Nuclear Research – known by its French acronym, CERN – is the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Located just outside of Geneva, Switzerland, it was established in 1954, as one of post-war Europe’s first joint ventures, with the express aim of halting the ‘brain drain’ of talented scientists leaving the continent for America. Today, more than 10,000 scientists hailing from more than 100 countries find themselves at CERN each year to use its facilities, which include some of the biggest and most complex scientific instruments ever created. Their goal: figure out what the universe is made of and the laws of physics that dictate its behaviour.
WHAT DISCOVERIES HAVE BEEN MADE THERE?
Highlights include the 1983 discovery of a pair of elementary particles called the W and Z bosons, which was later awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee helped invent the World Wide Web at CERN in 1989 by developing a way for computers to talk to each other, called hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). In 1995, CERN scientists were the first to create atoms of hydrogen’s antimatter counterpart, antihydrogen. In 2000, they discovered a new state of matter: a hot, dense, particle soup called quark-gluon plasma. And the Higgs boson was observed for the first time in 2012 at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), scooping its discoverers a Nobel Prize.
WHAT IS THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
This story is from the September/October 2022 edition of Very Interesting.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September/October 2022 edition of Very Interesting.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
HOW TO MASTER YOUR METABOLISM
Ready to welcome a leaner, healthier you? It's time for a metabolic makeover. With a few simple, research-backed changes, you can supercharge your body's calorie-burning
A BLUEPRINT FOR ANTI AGEING
Science says it's time to rethink - and take control - of our body's age. Here's how to slow, halt and potentially turn back your biological clock
THE BROKEN MIRROR
Body dysmorphia - the all-consuming obsession with perceived flaws in our looks - is sweeping the globe. One in five young people is thought to be affected. What can be done and how is tech changing the way we see ourselves?
SCROLL REVERSAL
Losing days by endlessly scrolling on your smartphone? You're not alone. Perhaps neuroscience can help us beat the urge
Going back to the moon
ARTEMIS AND A NEW DAWN OF LUNAR EXPLORATION
SAD CLOWN PARADOX: WHY TEARS OFTEN LIE BEHIND THE LAUGHS
Mental health issues are common among comedians and performing is just one way they can self-medicate
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION: HOW COOKING CAN DAMAGE YOUR DNA
From roast dinners to scented candles, there are potentially harmful pollutants lurking in every home
FARM OF THE FUTURE
Join the BBC's Planet Earth III film crew and go behind the scenes in the city farm that's transforming fields into towers and running almost everything with robots
COULD ONE BOMB DESTROY THE WORLD?
How big a bang are arms manufacturers capable of creating?
THE THREAT OF DAY ZERO
Queues at public water taps could become normal. What can we do to avoid them?