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Researchers are gearing up for one of science’s most extraordinary endeavors: transporting a container of antimatter in a truck across Europe.

Antimatter is the most expensive substance on Earth; the cost of just one gram is estimated at several trillion dollars. It can only be produced in specialized particle physics laboratories, such as the Cern research center near Geneva.

It is extremely difficult to deal with antimatter. When it comes into contact with regular matter, both are destroyed by a violent release of electromagnetic radiation. To store it safely, powerful electric and magnetic fields must be carefully controlled in special devices.

“Transporting it is extremely difficult, but we are about to make our maiden voyage,” says Professor Stefan Ulmer, a scientist from Cern. “Antimatter has a lot to teach us, and that’s why we’re doing this.”

This transport marks a scientific milestone, although it has a fictional parallel. In Dan Brown’s thriller Angels & Demons, later adapted into a 2009 film starring Tom Hanks, terrorists steal a canister of antimatter from Cern and attempt to destroy the Vatican.

However, scientists emphasize that the possibility of such an explosion in real life is negligible: there won’t be enough antimatter to cause a significant explosion.

The main purpose behind moving the antimatter is to investigate it, as scientists believe it could help solve a profound mystery. “We believe that the Big Bang produced an equal amount of matter and antimatter,” says Ulmer. “These would have destroyed each other, and the universe would have been filled only with electromagnetic radiation and little else.”

Yet the universe is made of matter – galaxies, stars, planets, and life itself – implying that there must have been an imbalance that favored matter over antimatter so that the universe didn’t end up as barren, empty space.

Physicists are trying to understand the difference between matter and antimatter particles to explain why matter dominated. As Cern scientist Barbara Maria Latacz said Nature“We try to understand why we exist.”

Matter consists of particles such as protons and electrons, while antimatter contains antiprotons and positrons, which are essentially the antimatter equivalent of electrons.

Cern is home to the Antiproton Decelerator which produces, accumulates and examines antiprotons – a primary source of such particles.

The aim is to measure the properties of antiprotons with high precision and compare them with those of protons. The Base experiment could discover small variations that could explain why matter wins over antimatter.

Magnetic fields near the device currently limit the accuracy of these measurements, causing scientists to transport antimatter samples to other labs. “By transporting them we can make 100 times more accurate measurements and gain a deeper understanding of antiprotons,” said Ulmer.

To achieve this, Cern has developed transportable devices that include superconducting magnets, cryogenic cooling systems and vacuum chambers where antiprotons can be safely stored and transported in seven-ton trucks.

First, antiprotons will be transported within Cern itself. In the coming year they will be moved to a precision laboratory at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.

“In the long term, we want to transport antimatter to laboratories across Europe,” says Christian Smorra, the project leader. Hopefully this will help scientists figure out why antimatter almost disappeared from the universe. “This could be a game-changer,” Ulmer said.