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Short Wave

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NEW Season 1 Oct 26, 2026 · 11 min

The battle between matter and antimatter

At the beginning of our universe, in addition to matter, there was also an equal amount of antimatter, matter's opposite. But today, there's lots more matter than antimatter. So how did that happen? Well, the answer might have to do with neutrinos, a very mysterious, elusive particle. They're incredibly difficult to catch and study because they don't really interact with anything. But a group of scientists is now betting that one specific, hypothetical type of neutrino might have played a very important role in getting matter to win the war against antimatter. Today, we go galaxy brain and delight in getting to spend a little time pondering this hypothetical, long ignored particle. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

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