New in Science Podcast

Bryan Perrine
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  • Natural Sciences
  • Weekly

New in Science Podcast A short weekly show about the science discoveries you might have missed — and why they matter. Join Alex and Jordan each week as they unpack a single discovery, from antimatter held still in a trap to a lost branch of the human family finally getting a face, and explain what it actually means. Short, clear, and curious — no background in science required. New episodes every Sunday by 8 PM Eastern on Spotify; other platforms follow within a day or two, with short Science Fact specials from Priya between episodes.

Episodes

  1. 2d ago

    Antimatter, Held Still

    Pilot Episode — Physicists at Northwestern University have trapped a single positron — the antimatter twin of the electron — and held it in a controlled quantum state for months. The team, led by Gerald Gabrielse, suspended the particle with electric and magnetic fields in a Penning trap, cooled to about 300 millikelvin, and turned it into a one-positron quantum cyclotron: an artificial atom whose individual quantum jumps can be driven and watched with carefully tuned microwaves. Loading even one positron takes roughly eight to eleven hours — the particles start as fast-moving products of sodium-22 decay and are slowed through a tungsten crystal, keeping only the slowest survivors. The point of all this patience is a measurement: Gabrielse previously measured the electron's magnetic moment to about one part in ten trillion, and the Standard Model says the positron should be its near-perfect mirror image. A comparable positron measurement is the sharpest test yet of that symmetry — and of why the universe is made of matter at all. Published in Physical Review Letters, October 21, 2026. One honest caveat, stated in the episode: the comparison itself has not been reported yet. This is the trap, the cooling, and the control that make it possible.

  • 1 Episode

About

New in Science Podcast A short weekly show about the science discoveries you might have missed — and why they matter. Join Alex and Jordan each week as they unpack a single discovery, from antimatter held still in a trap to a lost branch of the human family finally getting a face, and explain what it actually means. Short, clear, and curious — no background in science required. New episodes every Sunday by 8 PM Eastern on Spotify; other platforms follow within a day or two, with short Science Fact specials from Priya between episodes.

Information

  • Creator
    Bryan Perrine
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    1
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Bryan Perrine
  • Show Website
    New in Science Podcast