The PIP-II project at Fermilab includes the construction of a 215-meter-long particle accelerator that will accelerate particles to 84% of the speed of light. Research institutions in France, India, Italy, Poland, the UK and the United States are building major components of the new machine. The new particle accelerator will enable Fermilab to generate an unprecedented stream of neutrinos — subtle, subatomic particles that could hold the key to understanding the universe’s evolution.

Of all of the particles and forces of the Standard Model, neutrinos remain the mysterious. Researchers have not even been able to measure their mass. In episode 12 of Subatomic Stories, Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln tells us what we know about the neutrino’s mass.

In this 5-minute video, Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia explains why mysterious particles called neutrinos could be the key to understanding the nature of the universe. He talks about the search for a fourth type of neutrino and why the universe would not exist without neutrinos. He describes how scientists aim to unveil the secrets of the neutrino with the ICARUS and DUNE neutrino experiments, hosted by Fermilab. He recalls why early in his career he chose liquid argon as his material of choice to collect information about neutrino interactions with matter.

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is one of the counterintuitive ideas that arises from early twentieth century quantum mechanics. In episode 11 of Subatomic Stories, Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln explains what the principle is, how many people get it wrong and how to understand it properly.

One of the hottest research topics in particle physics is the study of neutrinos, especially a strange behavior called neutrino oscillation. In episode 10 of Subatomic Stories, Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln explains some fascinating features of neutrinos that are very weird, including the fact that the known neutrinos don’t have a single and unique mass.

One of the most bizarre predictions of modern physics is that at the quantum level, subatomic particles are constantly flickering in and out of existence. In episode 9 of Subatomic Stories, Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln explains the key idea and briefly describes some compelling experiments that show that this weird phenomenon is really happening.

The Standard Model of particle physics was devised in the 1960s and 1970s and tested extensively over the decades. One unanswered question was on the origin of the mass of subatomic particles. A theory proposed in 1964 by Peter Higgs and others proposed an energy field called the Higgs field and a particle called the Higgs boson. It took nearly 50 years, but in 2012, the Higgs boson was discovered. In episode 8 of Subatomic Stories, Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln sheds some light on this last discovered feature of the Standard Model.

One of the amazing claims in physics is that for every kind of known matter, there is a cousin version called antimatter. Antimatter is the opposite of ordinary matter and will annihilate into pure energy when it encounters matter. In episode 7 of Subatomic Stories, Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln gives you the low-down on this amazing substance.

To understand the universe, you need to understand the different forces that govern it. In this 11-minute video, episode 6 of Subatomic Stories, Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln explains the nature of the forces that govern the microcosm.

Subatomic forces at the quantum level are best understood as a cloud of force-carrying particles jumping from one object to another. In Episode 5 of Subatomic Stories, Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln gives a brief explanation of this phenomenon, including two analogies for how this complicated mathematics can be understood.