The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) is a study for a future accelerator that will reach unprecedented energies for electrons and their antimatter twins, positrons.

Fiber optics has made communication faster than ever, but the next step involves a quantum leap—literally. In order to improve the security of the transfer of information, scientists are working on how to translate electrical quantum states to optical quantum states in a way that would enable ultrafast, quantum-encrypted communications.

In connection with its recent acquisition of substantially all the assets of the Salof Companies, GE Oil & Gas announced that it has completed its acquisition of a 50 percent ownership interest in Beijing enCryo Engineering Co., Ltd., a Beijing-based joint venture with Beijing Maison Engineering Co., Ltd. that specializes in engineering for all aspects of the oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical sectors.

After seeing possible hints of surprisingly light dark matter earlier this year, scientists on the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search have found a way to improve their search for such particles.

XCOR Aerospace and United Launch Alliance have announced significant progress in the XCOR/ULA liquid hydrogen (LH2) engine development program.

Dr. Anna Grassellino of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory has been awarded the Particle Accelerator Science and Technology Doctoral Student Award. Sponsored by the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society, it is given to individuals who have performed outstanding thesis research in particle accelerator science and technology.

SuperPower Inc., a subsidiary of Furakawa Electric Company of Japan, has announced that it provided the second-generation high temperature superconducting (2G HTS) wire for the European Union (EU) collaboration program, called Project ECCOFLOW, that will demonstrate a new Superconducting Fault Current Limiter (SFCL) device capable of strengthening and protecting the utility grid.

The Government Services Administration announced some good news for federal employees: As of October, when government workers travel, their per diem rates will increase slightly—a positive sign for the beleaguered Association and for federal travel as an industry.

The 2013 Cryogenic Engineering Conference/International Cryogenic Materials Conference (CEC/ICMC) was held June 17-21 at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center, Anchorage, Alaska. Among the almost 600 attendees, the published list included 240 from North America, 177 from Europe, 59 from Japan, 50 from China and 22 from South Korea.

The Council on Superconductivity of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) awards for 2013 were presented at the 23rd International Conference on Magnet Technology (MT-23) in Boston and at the 2013 International Superconductor Electronics Conference (ISEC 2013) in Cambridge MA.

In the 21st century, NASA and the world have started looking into deep space astrophysics. Acquiring deep space images requires a space telescope with a large optical mirror, such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Planck telescope, the Herschel telescope, etc. To carry out various space missions at the beginning of the century, NASA needed to be able to do large diameter space telescope testing at ground level in a large diameter thermal vacuum chamber (THVC) that required 20K helium shroud cooling and a vibration-free clean high vacuum of 1 x 10^-6 torr suited to space simulation.

Cold Facts surveyed several companies about their food freezing equipment and the technological advances made in the last few years.

We regret to report that Professor Joseph LeConte Smith Jr., the Samuel C. Collins Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, died on May 7 at the age of 83. Following are tributes from his friends and colleagues.

Dr. Frederick J. Edeskuty, 89, longtime CSA member, Cold Facts columnist and expert on cryogenic safety, passed away on Friday, May 10. The following tributes were sent to CSA by friends and colleagues of Edeskuty.

Cold Facts was privileged to spend a morning with Dr. Shannon Hackett, the Richard and Jill Chaifetz Associate Curator, Head, Bird Division, Zoology Department, at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History. We wanted to learn more about the museum’s cryogenic storage facility and its role in the collections and research done by scientists at this world-famous institution.

At the hub of New York’s Tech Valley region, business leaders, academia, prominent scientists, engineers and government officials gathered at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) campus in Albany on May 7 for the third New York State Superconductor Technology Summit.

There is no easy way to explain why more women are not encouraged to follow STEM career paths. Whatever the reasons, and no matter how complex they prove to be, they cannot be justified.

A one-day conference on helium supplies was held on June 13 at the Royal Garden Hotel, London. The conference was called the “Global Helium Summit,” and was largely a useful update—via the 11 invited papers—of the ground covered by the March 2009 Cambridge Workshop on the Future of Helium.