🎧 Enjoy listening without watching the screen? You can also find The Sleepy Scientist on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/0340wK7zF0FYrtTZLWIfzC

What is the Universe really made of? Beneath the familiar world of atoms and particles lies an extraordinary description of reality in which invisible quantum fields exist throughout space, and the particles we observe are excitations of those fields. In this gentle exploration of quantum field theory, we uncover why every electron is identical, how particles can be created and destroyed, why even empty space has quantum properties, and how the Higgs field, electromagnetic interactions and the strong and weak nuclear forces help shape everything around us. Along the way, we examine the remarkable experiments that established our modern understanding of matter and the mysteries that remain, including quantum gravity and the possibility of something deeper than the fields themselves. Make yourself comfortable, unwind, and discover the fascinating physics beneath the ordinary appearance of our Universe.

SOURCES:

CERN — The Standard Model of Particle Physics

https://home.cern/science/physics/standard-model/

CERN — The Higgs Boson and the Higgs Field

https://home.cern/science/physics/higgs-boson

CERN — How Scientists Discovered the Higgs Boson

https://home.cern/science/physics/higgs-boson/how

CERN — Antimatter and the Discovery of Antiparticles

https://home.cern/science/physics/antimatter/

CERN — The Z Boson and the Electroweak Interaction

https://home.cern/science/physics/z-boson/

CERN — W Bosons, the Weak Force and Stellar Fusion

https://home.cern/science/physics/w-boson-sunshine-and-stardust/

Nobel Prize — The 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics: Quantum Electrodynamics

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1965/summary/

Nobel Prize — The 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics: Discovering the Structure of Protons

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1990/summary/

Nobel Prize — The 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics: Asymptotic Freedom and the Strong Interaction

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2004/press-release/

Nobel Prize — The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics: The Origin of Elementary Particle Mass

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2013/summary/

Nobel Prize — The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics: Neutrino Oscillations and Neutrino Mass

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2015/press-release/

National Institute of Standards and Technology — Calculating Quantum Vacuum Forces in Nanostructures

https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2013/02/calculating-quantum-vacuum-forces-nanostructures