On July 21, 2017, a group of dignitaries, scientists and engineers gathered in Lead, South Dakota, to hold a unique groundbreaking ceremony—at a research institution in a former gold mine, about one mile underground. The ceremony marked the beginning of construction for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

DUNE will study neutrinos, fundamental particles of matter that are abundant across the universe but difficult to catch. Over 100 trillion of them flow harmlessly and undetectably through your body each second.

Neutrinos come in three flavors—electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos—and they oscillate between those flavors as they travel. This means that a neutrino first produced as an electron neutrino can become a muon or tau neutrino.

Particle accelerators are hugely useful in scientific research, but – like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – usually take up vast amounts of room. A remarkable new system developed at the University of Texas in Austin could change this.

In experiments, researchers were able to use their particle accelerator to generate an electron beam with an energy of 10 billion electron volts (10 GeV) in a chamber measuring just 10 centimeters (4 inches).

The complete instrument measures 20 meters (66 feet) from end to end. In comparison, other particle accelerators that can generate 10 GeV beams are some 3 kilometers (almost 2 miles) in length – about 150 times as long.

How many fundamental forces are there in our universe? For particle physicists, answering this question can be tricky.

Of course, there’s the force of gravity, which keeps us from floating out of our seats. There’s also the strong nuclear force, which glues the nuclei of our atoms together. Then there’s the electromagnetic force, which is where we get electric currents and magnetic fields. And there’s the weak nuclear force, which mediates radioactive decay.

We’re up to four forces, right?

Scientists have revealed how lattice vibrations and spins talk to each other in a hybrid excitation known as an electromagnon. To achieve this, they used a unique combination of experiments at the X-ray free electron laser SwissFEL. Understanding this fundamental process at the atomic level opens the door to ultrafast control of magnetism with light.

Within the atomic lattice of a solid, particles and their various properties cooperate in wave-like motions known as collective excitations. When atoms in a lattice jiggle together, the collective excitation is known as a phonon. Similarly, when the atomic spins—the magnetization of the atoms-move together, it’s known as a magnon.

The situation gets more complex. Some of these collective excitations talk to each other in so-called hybrid excitations. One such hybrid excitation is an electromagnon. Electromagnons get their name because of the ability to excite the atomic spins using the electric field of light, in contrast to conventional magnons: an exciting prospect for numerous technical applications. Yet their secret life at an atomic level is not well understood.

A small team of chemists from Nankai University, Nanjing Tech University and Shanxi University, all in China, working with a colleague from Universidad San Sebastián, in Chile, has, for the first time, created a fullerene-like molecule made entirely of metal atoms.

In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes how they created the molecule by accident while they were conducting research experiments with antimony, potassium and gold atoms.

A fullerene is a form of carbon where its molecules are connected by single and double bonds which result in the formation of a closed cage-like structure. It was first realized in 1985 and since that time analogous inorganic fullerenes have been created using a variety of compounds. But until now, none of them have been purely metal.