Greg EganMar 14

Antimatter Trucker is finally a job title! But don’t worry, this isn’t going to be “The Wages of Fear, 2026”:

“The device on Cern’s truck will carry about 1,000 antimatter particles, weighing about a billionth of a trillionth of a gram. Should the containment fail, and the antimatter make contact with normal matter, the resulting pulse of energy would be so feeble, the load doesn’t even warrant a radioactive label.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/mar/14/please-drive-carefully-scientists-plan-to-transport-volatile-antimatter-for-first-time

Please drive carefully: scientists plan to transport volatile antimatter for first time

Cern researchers are testing traps capable of moving antimatter, which explodes into energy as soon as it comes into contact with regular matter

The Guardian
Show threadGreg Egan4d ago

They actually did it!

“On 24 March, a team at CERN transported 92 antiprotons in a specially designed bottle that traps the particles using magnetic fields. The bottle travelled on the back of a truck, for a 30-minute journey ... ”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00950-w

Antimatter has been transported for the first time ever — in the back of CERN's truck

Physicists have succeeded for the first time in transporting the most expensive and most volatile substance on Earth — antimatter.

Show threadprof_T
@gregeganSF there is an interesting essay to be written about being sure that there are 92 protons in there. How come its exactly 92? How did they count them?
Mar 25 at 6:02amMastodon for Android
Show threadfmobus4d ago
@prof_T @gregeganSF easy, they used antimatter tweezers, duh
Show threadprof_T4d ago
@fmobus @gregeganSF only if they had antimatter fingers and hands :)
Show threadfmobus4d ago
@prof_T @gregeganSF safety first, must wear antimatter gloves