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A tasty celebration of the tau neutrino

07/17/25

Madeleine O’Keefe

On July 21, 2000, the DONUT collaboration at Fermilab announced the detection of tau neutrinos for the first time. Here are a few ideas for celebrating 25 years of the most elusive of elusive particles.

Illustration of a giant toddler on a trike.

05/06/25

The freckled universe

There’s a new class of cosmic object in town. And it might just overturn our understanding of black holes and galaxy evolution.

Illustration of a slot machine displaying physics symbols

04/29/25

Spot the difference

LHCb’s discovery of proton-like particles behaving differently than their antimatter counterparts brings scientists one step closer to finding out why antimatter disappeared in the early universe.

Conceptual illustration of a photographic darkroom in which images of the universe are being developed

04/23/25

Sharpening our cosmic focus

NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is gearing up to illuminate the universe’s darkest secrets with groundbreaking new technology.

Conceptual illustration that features a woman looking at a drop of water versus snorkeling in the water

04/15/25

Explain it in 60 seconds: big data

How do you solve a problem like big data?

Conceptual illustration of someone looking at DESI and a tree that has both green and brown leaves

04/08/25

A new side to dark energy steps into the light

The long and continuing quest to understand dark energy has entered exciting new territory.

Illustration of two dogs hula hooping in front of an audience

04/01/25

Don’t call it toponium

A large and unexpected excess of top quark pairs has the physics community excited, but the interpretation is still up for debate.

03/25/25

A new piece in the matter-antimatter puzzle

The LHCb experiment at CERN has revealed a fundamental asymmetry in the behavior of particles called baryons.

DESI’s instrument, a long black cylinder supported by the metal telescope framework, points at the domed ceiling. The dome interior is bathed in blue light.

03/19/25

New DESI results strengthen hints that dark energy may evolve

Combining the DESI data with other experiments shows signs that the impact of dark energy may be weakening over time—and the standard model of how the universe works may need an update.

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