The battle between matter and antimatter

OK, Scott.

All right.

I think it's only fitting that we start at the beginning of time.

Natural.

So let's get into it.

You have set me up with a high bar of making relatable conversation about particle physics.

I tried so hard.

It's hard for me, too.

I'm a physicist, but like particle physics has always been hard.

The particle at the heart of this story is a hypothetical particle, one that might have affected all of matter in the universe at the very beginning of existence.

It's a kind of neutrino.

Let's just say, theoretically, I don't remember what a neutrino is.

Yeah.

Well, theoretically, I have an answer.

Neutrinos are extremely small, mysterious particles that don't really interact with anything.

So they're incredibly difficult to catch and study.

But we do know that they come in three flavors, and there are roughly 100 trillion of them passing through each of us every second.

Wait, what?

Yeah.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

What do they have to do with the early universe?

So when the universe was created over 13 billion years ago, matter and matter's opposite, called antimatter, were thought to exist in equal amounts.

But when matter and antimatter interact, they annihilate each other.

So how did we get to the place where we are now, where you and I and the microphone and everything else are made of matter?

OK, Scott.

All right.

I think it's only fitting that we start at the beginning of time.

Natural.

So let's get into it.

You have set me up with a high bar of making relatable conversation about particle physics.

I tried so hard.

It's hard for me, too.

I'm a physicist, but like particle physics has always been hard.

The particle at the heart of this story is a hypothetical particle, one that might have affected all of matter in the universe at the very beginning of existence.

It's a kind of neutrino.

Let's just say, theoretically, I don't remember what a neutrino is.

Yeah.

Well, theoretically, I have an answer.

Neutrinos are extremely small, mysterious particles that don't really interact with anything.

So they're incredibly difficult to catch and study.

But we do know that they come in three flavors, and there are roughly 100 trillion of them passing through each of us every second.

Wait, what?

Yeah.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

What do they have to do with the early universe?

So when the universe was created over 13 billion years ago, matter and matter's opposite, called antimatter, were thought to exist in equal amounts.

But when matter and antimatter interact, they annihilate each other.

So how did we get to the place where we are now, where you and I and the microphone and everything else are made of matter?