In lead collisions at the LHC, some of the strongest electromagnetic fields in the universe bombard the inside of the beam pipe with radioactive gold. By following the collision fragments, John Jowett ...

Subatomic physics has shaped both the conduct of war and the treatment of cancer. Joseph Rotblat, who left the Manhattan Project on moral grounds and later advanced radiotherapy, embodies this dual ...

The briefing book of the 2026 update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics was published in October. Paris Sphicas highlights key takeaways from each of its 10 themes in fundamental science ...

Mature design The CEPC Study Group has published a technical design report for its reference detector. Credit: CEPC Study Group 2025 arXiv:2510.05260 In October, the Circular Electron–Positron ...

With the story of quarkonia entering its final chapter, John Ellis shares personal recollections of five decades of discoveries and debates about the simplest composite object in QCD, whose history is ...

Orthodox quantum mechanics is empirically flawless, but founded on an awkward interface between quantum systems and classical probes. In this feature, Carlo Rovelli – himself the originator of the ...

Nuria Catalan Lasheras and Igor Syratchev explain why klystrons are strategically important to the future of the field – and how CERN plans to boost their efficiency above 90%. Generating power ...

3D map A slice of DESI’s first three years of data. Each dot represents a galaxy, with colour indicating redshift. Credit: DESI Collaboration and KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF ...

Vivian Poulin asks if the tension between a direct measurement of the Hubble constant and constraints from the early universe could be resolved by new physics. On large scales the dominant motion of ...

With a new measurement imminent, the Courier explores the experimental results and theoretical calculations used to predict ‘muon g-2’ – one of particle physics’ most precisely known quantities and ...

Patrick Koppenburg and Marco Pappagallo survey the 23 exotic hadrons discovered at the LHC so far. Twenty-three exotic states Five pentaquarks and 18 tetraquarks have been discovered so far at the LHC ...

Marek Karliner and Jonathan Rosner ask what makes tetraquarks and pentaquarks tick, revealing them to be at times exotic compact states, at times hadronic molecules and at times both – with much still ...