If this so-called antimatter had come into contact with actual matter, even for a fraction of an instant, it would have been annihilated in a quick flash of energy. So experts at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN,<\/a> had to be extra careful when they took 92 antiprotons on the road for a short ride on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The antiprotons were suspended in a vacuum inside a specially designed box and held in place by supercooled magnets.<\/p>\n In methodical exercise over about three hours, the nearly 2,200-pound cryogenic box was craned up slowly and moved through a cavernous lab the onto the truck.<\/p>\n The drive on CERN\u2019s campus itself lasted only about a half-hour to test how \u2014 if at all \u2014 the infinitesimal particles could be transported by road without seeping out.<\/p>\n The antiprotons were then placed back in their usual lab area, and the operation was concluded with applause, claims of success, and a bottle of Champagne.<\/p>\n \u201cTransporting antimatter is a pioneering and ambitious project,\u201d said Gautier Hamel de Monchenault, CERN\u2019s director for research and computing. \u201cWe are at the beginning of an exciting scientific journey that will allow us to further deepen our understanding of antimatter.\u201d<\/p>\n A truck carries the transportable antimatter trap during a road test at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), in Meyrin near Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Salvatore Di Nolfi\/Keystone via AP)\n<\/p>\n This image, taken from video, shows a truck transporting antiprotons in a first-ever test drive to study antimatter at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, in Meyrin, near Geneva, Switzerland, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jamey Keaten)\n<\/p>\n FILE \u2013 The globe of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, is illuminated outside Geneva, Switzerland, March 30, 2010. (AP Photo\/Anja Niedringhaus, File)\n<\/p>\n Technicians move the transportable antimatter trap into the Antimatter Factory at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) for a road test in Meyrin near Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Salvatore Di Nolfi\/Keystone via AP)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 4<\/p>\n A truck carries the transportable antimatter trap during a road test at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), in Meyrin near Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Salvatore Di Nolfi\/Keystone via AP)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a> Manipulating antimatter, like antiprotons, can be tricky business. As scientists understand the universe today, for every type of particle that exists, there is a corresponding antiparticle, exactly matching the particle but with an opposite charge.<\/p>\n If those opposites come into contact, they \u201cannihilate\u201d each other, setting off lots of energy, depending on the masses involved. Any bumps in the road on the test journey that aren\u2019t compensated for by the specially-designed box could spoil the whole exercise.<\/p>\n \u201cThe motivation behind these experiments is to compare matter and antimatter with extremely high accuracy and watch for differences which we might have not seen yet,\u201d said Stefan Ulmer, the leader and spokesperson for Tuesday\u2019s test run.<\/p>\n The exercise was a first step toward making good on hopes, one day, to deliver CERN antiprotons to researchers abroad \u2014 such as at Heinrich Heine University in D\u00fcsseldorf, Germany, which is about eight hours away in normal driving conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are scientists. We want to understand something about the fundamental symmetries of nature, and we know that if we do these experiments outside of this accelerator facility, we can measure 100 to 1,000 times better,\u201d Ulmer said.<\/p>\n The antiprotons were encased in a \u201ctransportable antiproton trap\u201d box that is compact enough to fit through ordinary laboratory doors and fit on a truck. It used superconducting magnets cooled to -452 Fahrenheit that allowed the antiprotons to be remain suspended in a vacuum \u2014 not touching the inner walls, which are made of \u2026 matter.<\/p>\n The mass in Tuesday\u2019s test \u2014 slightly less than that of about 100 hydrogen atoms \u2014 is so little, experts say, that the worst possible outcome was the loss of the antiprotons. Even if they did touch matter, any release of energy would be unnoticeable, only an oscilloscope, which picks up electrical signals, would be able to detect it.<\/p>\n The trap, said CERN press officer Sophie Tesauri, \u201cis supposed to contain these antiprotons no matter what: If the truck stops, if it starts again, if it has to slam on the brakes \u2014 all that.\u201d Work remains: The trap can contain the antiprotons on its own for only about four hours, and the drive to D\u00fcsseldorf is twice that.<\/p>\n CERN known for other successes<\/p>\n The Geneva-based center is best known for its Large Hadron Collider<\/a>, a network of magnets that accelerates particles through a 17-mile underground tunnel and slams them together at velocities<\/a> approaching the speed of light. Scientists then study the results of those collisions.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Switzerland_CERN_18254.jpg\"\/)
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\nTaking the first step in a journey to Germany<\/p>\n