Babbage: How to unlock the secrets of the universe—beyond the Standard Model

<p>This week, the Large Hadron Collider <a href="https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2022/07/04/ten-years-on-from-the-higgs-boson-what-is-next-for-physics?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=babbage&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">returned to life</a> after a three-year upgrade. By recreating conditions as close as possible to the Big Bang, it might provide answers to some of physics’s greatest mysteries. <a href="https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2022/04/16/experiments-contradicting-the-standard-model-are-piling-up?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=babbage&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Recent findings</a> have shown chinks in the armour of the Standard Model of particle physics, currently scientists’ best <a href="https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/physics-seeks-the-future/21803916?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=babbage&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">understanding of the universe</a> at its smallest scales. Through the lens of an intriguing anomalous result, host Alok Jha investigates the new theories that might supersede the Standard Model. How could such ideas impact our comprehension of the universe and what it contains?</p><p><br></p><p>This episode follows our two-part series about the reopening of the Large Hadron Collider. Listen at <a href="http://economist.com/LHC-pod?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=babbage&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">economist.com/LHC-pod</a>.</p><p><br></p><p>For full access to The Econom