NC State Creates Most Powerful Positron Beam Ever

eldavojohn writes "A fairly large breakthrough took place earlier this month with the most powerful man-made antimatter electron beam ever being created at North Carolina State University. Professor Hawari who worked on the project explains its benefits: 'The idea here is that if we create this intense beam of antimatter electrons — the complete opposite of the electron, basically — we can then use them in investigating and understanding the new types of materials being used in many applications.'"

Comments

Little useful info in TFA

[burtosis]

Do the news reporters talk to the scientists anymore? Or does the average joe just not care?

Apparently outdoing some undisclosed reactor in Munich is about all they say.

Apparently in 1985 you couldn't walk into a store and buy plutonium but perhaps in 2015 you can buy antimatter.

Jesus Christ in a Chicken Basket

[Sneakernets]

Currently, there are approximately 25 universities across the United States with active nuclear reactors on campus


You know, when you've read as many science fiction books as I have, this shit is a liiiitle creepy.

Re:Jesus Christ in a Chicken Basket

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we've proven ourselves much better at working around the physical issues than the human ones.

How is the beam manipulated?

[master_p]

How is the beam manipulated? doesn't it cause an explosion if it touches normal particles? can it be used as a weapon? as fuel? how is the beam created?

Re:most newsmen

[zifferent]

Approximately? Who the heck couldn't count to 25?

Most newsmen (judging by their use of the term "many" in place of actual integers - even very small ones - in most of their stories.

Either that or they think their audience can't understand numbers greater than three or so.

Really! In "most" of their stories they use the term "many" in place of apparently uncounted small numbers. Wonders never cease.