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How to unlock the secrets of the universe

Our podcast on science and technology. We look at what an upgraded Large Hadron Collider might reveal about the fundamental building blocks of the universe

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THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER (LHC) is restarting after a three-year break for maintenance and upgrades. In the first of two episodes, host Alok Jha travels to the Franco-Swiss border to find out what the particle accelerator could reveal about the fundamental building blocks of the universe.

In 2012, the LHC discovered the Higgs boson, the final piece of the Standard Model of particle physics. But physicists know that that theory is incomplete—it does not account for gravity, dark energy or dark matter, and cannot explain why there seems to be more matter than antimatter. In its third run of experiments, we investigate how the LHC might change our understanding of physics at its most fundamental scales. Runtime: 41 min

In part two of our visit to the Large Hadron Collider on the Franco-Swiss border, Alok Jha asks whether the machine’s next iteration can take the field of particle physics beyond the Standard Model. We also investigate the long-term future of particle colliders. Will scientists ever build the instruments required to reveal the true building blocks of the universe? Runtime: 41 min

The Large Hadron Collider returned to life on July 5th, after a three-year upgrade. By recreating conditions as close as possible to the Big Bang, it might provide answers to some of physics’s greatest mysteries. Recent findings have shown chinks in the armour of the Standard Model of particle physics, currently scientists’ best understanding of the universe at its smallest scales. Through the lens of an intriguing anomalous result, host Alok Jha investigates the new theories that might supersede the Standard Model. How could such ideas impact our comprehension of the universe and what it contains? Runtime: 36 min

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