On May 20, protons collided in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at a record-breaking energy of 13 TeV for the first time. CERN has released images showing the protons colliding and sending showers of particles through the ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb detectors.

Researchers at Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy are using the world's coldest detector to find an incredibly rare neutrino decay process. To conduct the experiment, the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE), the team will create the single coldest cubic meter in the universe in order to search for a process called neutrinoless double beta decay, which is thought to be so rare it only occurs less than once every trillion, trillion years.

An international research team led by Kosmas Prassides of Tohoku University has reported the discovery of a new state of matter that could lead to higher temperature superconductors. This new state of matter, called the Jahn-Teller metal, was discovered during the study of the superconducting pairing mechanism in a new family of chemically pressurized fullerene materials, which the research team says is strong motivation to search for new molecular superconducting materials.

Two experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN have combined their results and observed a previously unseen subatomic process. This new result precludes or severely limits the parameters of many theories that propose to extend the Standard Model.

BioCision and Brooks Automation recently launched the CryoPod Carrier, a jointly developed liquid nitrogen-based system for the safe, reliable and protected handling and transport of cryogenic biospecimens. The portable data-logging carrier was unveiled on May 6 at the annual meeting of the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories in Phoenix.

A new agreement between the United States and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) signed on May 7 will pave the way for renewed collaboration in particle physics, promising to yield new insights into fundamental particles and the nature of matter and our universe.

In a paper entitled “Lessons and prospects from the pMSSM after LHC Run I” published in Physical Review D, researchers M. Cahill-Rowley, J. L. Hewett, A. Ismail and T. G. Rizzo report that, while the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)’s first run did not provide evidence of natural Supersymmetry (SUSY), SUSY models with light squarks and gluinos remain viable. They believe that the high-luminosity LHC will be powerful in probing SUSY during Run II and will provide a more definitive statement on the existence of natural SUSY.

On May 5, low energy protons met in the hearts of the four Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments at CERN. These test collisions will help the ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb collaborations calibrate their detectors in preparation for the high energy collisions scheduled for early June.

Several years ago, Cold Facts had a cover story on women in cryogenics and superconductivity. We thought it was time to introduce our readers to several more women who are excelling in our fields and find out more about their experiences in areas where they are still pretty much in the minority.

Experts from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou Hangyang Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Jiao Tong University detail the history of the research and development of large-scale cryogenic air separation in China from 1953, in which the production capacity of an ASU was only 20 m³/h O₂, to the present. Over 60 years of development have brought significant changes to China's ASU products and capacity.

Cold Facts asked our members in the field of cryocoolers and cryostats to weigh in on the technology's most important developments, significant contributors and anticipated future advances. Here is a roundup of their replies.

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center's Dr. Mark Kimball explains how to simulate the environment offered by a liquid helium dewar without using a liquid cryogen.

Inside the giant thermal vacuum chamber, called Chamber A, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the James Webb Space Telescope's Pathfinder backplane test model is being prepared for its cryogenic test.

Researchers have made an experimental breakthrough in explaining a rare property of an exotic magnetic material, potentially opening a path to a host of new technologies. The work, led by Brookhaven National Laboratory physicist Ignace Jarrige and University of Connecticut professor Jason Hancock, together with collaborators at the Argonne National Laboratory and in Japan, marks a major advance in the search for practical materials that will enable several types of next-generation technology.