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Muons: Emblems of discovery

01/13/26

Diana Kwon

Once a surprise to physicists, these particles are useful tools inside and outside the realm of particle physics.

09/01/08

Powerlifting physicist pulls 11-ton truck

Jennifer Gimmell's coworkers didn't believe she competitively pumped iron. But as the evidence piled up—including a photo of her pulling a 23,000 pound truck—her fellow physicists had to concede: The strong force had nothing on Gimmell.

09/01/08

David Kirkby: It's a snail shell! It's a Koosh ball! It's physics!

Blackboards filled with mathematical equations and scientific machines as large as cathedrals can awe, and sometimes overwhelm. But Koosh balls are another matter.

09/01/08

Weird new hazard: snoopy, itchy cows

In the control room in Argentina, the detector screen went blank. “We've been cowed again,” announced an exasperated scientist.

08/22/08

The Paul Revere of pulses

08/14/08

On course for a convincing supernova

08/01/08

Z boson

In May 1983, physicists on the UA1 detector for the Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator at CERN made the first definitive observations of the Z boson.

08/01/08

All aboard

Jason Steffen waited to board a plane in the Seattle airport. He waited to get his boarding pass scanned. Then he walked a few steps down the jet way, and waited some more. His frustration grew.

08/01/08

Bonnie and the ArgoNeuTs

Inspired by heroes of Greek mythology, physicists are on a quest to find a cheaper, more efficient way to capture neutrinosone of the strangest and most fascinating particles in the universe.

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