SMRTR Science & EngineeringAug 31, 2026Interesting Engineering

Oxygen collisions at CERN reveal clues about universe’s earliest moments

SMRTR summary

Scientists at CERN smashed oxygen atoms together in the Large Hadron Collider and detected jet quenching, a sign of quark-gluon plasma, the state of matter that existed microseconds after the Big Bang. This makes oxygen the smallest nuclear system ever recorded showing this effect. Surprisingly, particles behaved like a near-perfect liquid rather than a gas, giving researchers new insight into the universe's earliest moments.

SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Interesting Engineering.

Read the original article
SMRTR Science & Engineering

Get the next batch of curated stories in your inbox.

This archive is built from SMRTR newsletter stories. Subscribe for hand-picked stories without the extra noise.