Big discoveries need big detectors and Fermilab’s DUNE experiment is one of the biggest. Fermilab plans to shoot beams of neutrinos and antimatter neutrinos through the Earth from Chicago to western South Dakota. The DUNE experiment will study neutrino interactions in great detail, with special attention on (a) comparing the behaviors of neutrinos vs. antineutrinos, (b) looking for proton decay, and (c) searching for the neutrinos emitted by supernovae. The experiment is being built and should start operations in the mid-to-late 2020s. In this video, Fermilab’s Don Lincoln gives us the lowdown on this fascinating project in this 10-minute video.

For his 2018 Physics Slam presentation at Fermilab, Northwestern University scientist André de Gouvêa took on one of the most fascinating particles in physics: the neutrino. In 10 minutes, he explained—with the help of a few props—what neutrinos are and how physicists discovered that these particles can transform into one other, a phenomenon known as neutrino oscillation. At the end of the evening, the audience declared him to be the winner of the 2018 Physics Slam.

In this public lecture, Fermilab physicist Dan Bauer explains what scientists know about dark matter, the mysterious, invisible stuff that accounts for most of the matter in the universe. After presenting evidence for the existence of dark matter, he describes some of the physics experiments that scientists build and operate to look for signals from dark matter particles. From going deep underground to operating equipment at temperatures close to absolute zero to operating the most powerful particle collider in the world, scientists are pushing technological boundaries in their quest to discover the building blocks of dark matter. This lecture was held at Fermilab in October 2018 as part of a worldwide series of events to celebrate Dark Matter Day.

The behavior of matter can constantly amaze people, especially when extreme conditions are involved. In this video, Fermilab’s Don Lincoln describes what happens when a charged particle travels through a transparent material faster than light travels through that same material. When that happens, blue and violet light is emitted. This light is called Cerenkov light. This video tells you everything you need to know.

The idea of time crystals burst across the media, with ludicrous hopes of time travel and ridiculous rumors of time portals at big international labs around the world. The reality of time crystals is a fascinating scientific advance, but doesn’t rise to the level of the hype. Fermilab’s Don Lincoln explains the truth.

A new camera for the South Pole Telescope, called SPT-3G, will aid scientists in creating the deepest, most sensitive map yet of the cosmic microwave background, allowing them to peer more closely into the era of the universe just after the Big Bang.

The ICARUS detector, one of the largest liquid-argon neutrino hunters in the world, makes the last leg of its international journey into its new home at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The detector was shipped to Fermilab in two modules in 2017. One year later, over a week in August 2018, it was carefully lowered into a specially built vessel that scientists will use to cool the detector in preparation for its new role: searching for a theoretical fourth type of neutrino. For more information, please visit icarus.fnal.gov.

One of the most difficult things in learning particle physics for the first time is to understand all of the various names. There are dozens and dozens and sometimes many names can apply to one particle or a single name can apply to many particles. It’s all very confusing. Luckily, Fermilab’s Don Lincoln made this video to help you sort it all out.

The inability of scientists to create a theory of quantum gravity arises from long-standing tensions between general relativity and quantum mechanics. There have been few approaches with any success. Don Lincoln explains one of the few promising ideas, called loop quantum gravity, in this 9-minute video.

Fermilab is upgrading its accelerator complex under the upcoming Proton Improvement Plan II, or PIP-II. The heart of the project is a superconducting linear accelerator, which will help generate intense proton beams for the lab’s experiments. Follow the PIP-II beam as it accelerates to higher energies.