A. Simpson

At the South Pole, where the air is dry and transparent to millimeter waves, stands a telescope that looks not at stars but at the oldest light in the universe. This light is the cosmic microwave background — the radiation left over from the Big Bang, filling the entire sky.

In the frozen desert of Antarctica, the SPT-3G telescope peers deep into the universe. Its target is the ancient microwave radiation left over from the Big Bang. But on its way to us, this radiation passes through giant galaxy clusters filled with scorching gas.

Inside a future fusion reactor, a magnet weighing as much as a small car will float. It holds the superheated plasma like an invisible hand holding a cloud. Previously, such a magnet was considered unsuitable for deuterium-tritium fuel: neutron fluxes would quickly destroy it.