Spencer Gessner

In giant particle accelerators, particles fly at nearly the speed of light and smash head-on. But sometimes one beam is slightly denser than the other, like someone stepping onto a packed escalator the wrong way. Then collisions become uneven, and detectors start 'flickering,' throwing off measurements.

An electron beam in an accelerator is like a flock of birds: it flies in a tight group, but over time it spreads out. To keep particles together, heavy magnets are usually used. Here they did without them — the beam squeezed itself.