Qian Liu

Crocheting, but instead of yarn you have individual molecules, and instead of a hook, a gold surface. Until now, attempts to knit such molecules into a smooth fabric ended in a tangle: the threads hooked where they shouldn't, and the pattern went awry. A team of scientists has found a way to fix this.

A huge pool of clear liquid is hidden deep underground. Inside, there is nothing but a pristine 'broth' that flashes with faint light when an invisible particle flies through. This is the JUNO detector—20,000 tons of liquid scintillator built to hunt for neutrinos. The main enemy of such a hunt is not darkness but its own noise.