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In his first presentation to personnel, CERN Director-General Mark Thomson emphasised his commitment to simplifying processes, freeing up our time to focus on core tasks. Putting those words into action is the task of CERN’s new Continuous Improvement (CI) team.
Building on input from the whole CERN community, the CI team will work to make daily processes simpler, smarter and more efficient. Whether it is a small tweak or a big transformation, the team wants to hear your insights into where and how CERN could improve. The new CERNidée portal is where you can contribute:
Click on the logo above to submit an idea. (Image: CERN)All submitted ideas will be reviewed by the team to identify opportunities for possible pilot improvement projects, before they work with the departments concerned to test them. It is important to manage expectations: the CI team is small, so they will have to carefully choose where to expend their resources. These submissions, however, will help them focus their efforts for best effect.
Sitting within the new Organisational Support and Improvement (OSI) Department, the CI team forms part of the Improvement, Continuity and Sustainability (ICS) Group. All three parts of the Group will work collaboratively with departments across the Organization to support them in these CERN-wide endeavours.
Each new year, many of us set resolutions, choosing aspects of our lives and work we want to improve. At CERN, the new CI team wants to help you achieve some of these aspirations for far longer than just January. Look out for future Bulletin updates communicating their project selections and where they have been able to help make improvements.
ehatters Wed, 01/14/2026 - 16:00 Publication Date Fri, 01/16/2026 - 08:53Nuclear medicine uses radionuclides for imaging and therapeutic purposes. These unstable nuclei decay by emitting radiation, which will damage or destroy the cancer cells. Over the past decade, the “theranostic” approach has emerged, combining imaging and therapy to tailor treatment to the individual patient.
Two products have already received marketing authorisations in many countries for the treatment of neuroendocrine and prostate cancer. However, many other radiopharmaceuticals are in development, although having access to the proper radionuclides during the early stages of biomedical research remains challenging.
The main objective of PRISMAP – the European medical radionuclides programme, coordinated by CERN – was therefore to provide access to novel, high-purity radionuclides, facilitating the research phase for targeted medical treatments.
“By connecting eight radionuclide production facilities and five biomedical research centres across Europe, the project has undoubtedly stimulated research into cancer treatment,” explained Thierry Stora, Head of the CERN-MEDICIS facility and PRISMAP coordinator.
Over the past five years, PRISMAP has supported 47 medical research projects in 19 countries. A total of 159 batches of 23 different radionuclides were delivered to biomedical laboratories, as shown in the chart below. Beyond supplying radionuclides, PRISMAP also offered the possibility to conduct research projects at its five biomedical facilities for research teams requiring specialised equipment or authorisations.
CERN-MEDICIS has supplied numerous alpha-emitting radionuclides, one of the most promising avenues for curing cancer. Alpha particles (helium ions made up of two protons and two neutrons) target cancer cells with more precision, sparing healthy tissue, and are more efficient at destroying micro-metastases, one of oncology’s greatest challenges.
CERN-MEDICIS is the only facility in the world dedicated to producing radionuclides by mass separation for biomedical research, resulting in the production of highly pure nuclides. By integrating radionuclides produced in traditional cyclotrons and nuclear reactors with CERN-MEDICIS’s mass separation, the programme delivered innovative radionuclides.
One notable example is the combination of two isotopes of lead – one (Pb-203) from the ARRONAX nuclear reactor in Nantes (France) and the other (Pb-212) from CERN-MEDICIS – delivered to Dresden Hospital for research on diagnostics and treatment for prostate cancer. “The PRISMAP project was instrumental in developing this highly innovative theranostic approach,” said Thierry Stora. “The initial results recently published are very encouraging.”
The PRISMAP project ended on 31 December 2025. Based on its encouraging results, a funding request for a three-year follow-up project, PRISMAP+, has been submitted in order to continue and further strengthen the network.
This chart shows all the radionuclides delivered to research projects under the PRISMAP programme. For projects carried out on the user’s premises, the transport of radionuclides to the user is indicated, while for projects carried out at PRISMAP’s biomedical facilities, the transport of radionuclides and the user’s travel to the biomedical facilities are shown. mearnold Tue, 01/13/2026 - 14:27 Publication Date Tue, 01/13/2026 - 16:35ALICE enters the new year with a new management team, ready to steer the collaboration through a key period of detector operation, data analysis and major upgrades. From 1 January 2026 onward, Kai Schweda, senior scientist at the GSI Helmholtz Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, has assumed the role of ALICE spokesperson, succeeding Marco van Leeuwen. Elected by the ALICE Collaboration Board, Kai will lead the collaboration for the next three years. Kai comes to the position after serving as ALICE deputy spokesperson for the last three years. The new management team also includes deputy spokespersons Andrea Dainese, research director at INFN Padova, Italy, and Anthony Robert Timmins, professor at the University of Houston, Texas, USA.
The team will have new challenges ahead of them in terms of efficient Run 3 data taking in 2026, Run 3 data analysis, publication of new results, LS3 activities and, most crucially, upgrading ALICE to the next level: the next-generation ALICE 3 experiment for LHC Run 5.
Read the full article on the ALICE collaboration website.
anschaef Mon, 01/12/2026 - 12:44 Byline ALICE collaboration Publication Date Mon, 01/12/2026 - 12:43Superconductive technologies have long been central to particle physics, but they have also repeatedly moved beyond the laboratory, most notably with the emergence of magnetic resonance imaging scanners (MRI), demonstrating how breakthroughs in fundamental research can benefit society.
Today, as global energy, climate and healthcare pressures grow, the conversation is shifting from “What can science give to society?” to “How can science and industry jointly develop technologies that benefit society while advancing research?”
The event “Catalysing Impact – Superconductivity for Global Challenges” held at CERN in December was aimed precisely at answering this question. The workshop brought together leading researchers, industry representatives, investors and policymakers to explore how collaboration on superconducting technologies can advance particle physics while addressing some of the world’s most pressing societal challenges.
The event sought to bridge fundamental research with real-world deployment and to accelerate collaborative pathways. Across keynotes, panels and round tables, participants examined both the current technological landscape and the opportunities ahead.
Introducing the discussions, Frédérick Bordry, Chief Technology Officer of the Gauss Fusion company and former CERN Director for Accelerator and Technology, noted that “Superconductivity has become the silent engine of discovery science.”
While the research community needs more capable and more resilient superconductors for the next generation of experiments, they also have significant potential for societal applications. Beyond their role in collider magnets, high-temperature superconductors (HTS) now promise lossless power transmission, compact fusion magnets, efficient renewable systems and new capabilities in healthcare, transport, computing and quantum technologies - all aligned with SDG-17’s emphasis on partnership-driven innovation.
Participants also stressed that major hurdles remain. Global competition is accelerating, and Europe must act quickly to secure technological and economic leadership. Doing so will require coordinated investment and supportive policies, including stronger risk capital investment and mechanisms to bridge the gap between laboratory innovation and industrial deployment.
The summit set in motion several concrete follow-up priorities, including aligning R&D roadmaps with societal goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals; making it easier for public–private consortia to build demonstrators that serve both industry and research needs; and advancing investment pathways that better connect research institutions, governments and the private sector.
A series of interviews of key participants is available here:
roryalex Thu, 01/08/2026 - 14:11 Byline Amedeo Habsburg Publication Date Thu, 01/08/2026 - 14:09
The past two years have brought a lot of new computer-security deployments at CERN. Spurred on by the 2023 cybersecurity audit, the Computer Security Office in collaboration with the IT department have deployed silver-bullet 2-factor authentication (2FA) to CERN’s Single Sign-On; new and enhanced spam filtering, email quarantining, and anti-spoofing protection; and subsequently 2FA protection for LXPLUS and the CERN Windows Terminal Servers, among many others. In 2026, the implementation of the recommendations of that audit should come to an end with the last batch of work packages to be finalised. Last but not least. So here’s a short roadmap of what to expect for 2026, starting with mandatory requirements for folks developing or running IT services. In two future Bulletin articles we’ll cover upcoming changes for accounts, passwords and two-factor protection as well as new deployments linked to network filtering and the CERN Wi-Fi.
Right in time for the MERIT period, and in order to close recommendation R-15.3 of the cybersecurity audit, the HR training team in collaboration with the Computer Security Office has put in place dedicated training sessions on security. The SecureFlag platform provides a plethora of security courses for programmers (C, C++, Java, Python, etc.) as well as for service managers and system administrators (Docker, Kubernetes, React, Terraform, etc.). Given that security courses are mandatory as per CERN’s Operational Circular No. 5 (the CERN Computing Rules), please talk to your line manager now and Just. Sign. Up. And if none of those options are suitable for you, talk to your supervisor, your departmental training officer or the Computer Security Office for better suited alternatives.
Furthermore, and in order to fulfil recommendation R-5.1 of the audit, the Computer Security Office with the approval of the Computer Security Board has published a series of additional Subsidiary Rules and Security Principles. These Rules on data protection and privacy, endpoints, identities, authentication and authorisation, operating IT services, network use, and software development and configuration, as well as the Principles on how to deploy containers, maintain operating systems and servers as well as web applications, and how to do software development, are supposed to complement the mandatory but general rules outlined in OC5 (“The user shall take the necessary precautions to protect the user’s personal computer or work station against unauthorised access.”), bearing in mind that OC5’s nomenclature dates back to the year 2000. Hence, these Subsidiary Rules and Security Principles, while not introducing anything new, set out more practical requirements with much more detail for better comprehension of what is expected (the Rules) and how this can be fulfilled (the Principles). Please have a look and ensure that your IT services are aligned with these Rules and Principles in the course of 2026.
Moreover, but by far not least, 2026 should see a tightening of CERN’s “modsecurity” and “Falco”-based web application firewalls (WAF) as well as the more granular deployment of (distributed) denial-of-service protections. If you run an OpenShift-hosted website, WAF tightening might imply more filtering of unwanted visitors to your site, but perhaps also some work for you to adapt your page as some legitimate traffic might also be blocked.
Finally, a much harder nut to crack is still on the wish list of some LHC experiments and the Computer Security Office: a “Software Bill of Materials” (or “SBOM” in short). Such an SBOM should give a better overview of which software runs where at CERN, control from where packages, libraries, etc. can be downloaded in order to avoid malicious code being automatically introduced into the CERN software stack, and avoid any liability with regards to copyrights or non-proliferation constraints. While the BE department has already succeeded in deploying an in-depth software inventory, a central SBOM service is still out of reach. The best offers today are the Dependency List, Secret Detection and Static Application Security Testing (SAST) for any code hosted in CERN’s GitLab instance as well as the vulnerability scoring in CERN’s Harbor registry for containers and virtual machines. Hopefully, 2026 will see the dawn of an SBOM service, no matter how sophisticated.
Overall, thanks a lot for helping secure CERN by staying ahead of the curve, being well trained and keeping your services and developments to the highest security standard. And check out the next two articles for other races – next up are passwords and two-factor authentication as well as networking.
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Do you want to learn more about computer security incidents and issues at CERN? Follow our Monthly Report. For further information, questions or help, check our website or contact us at Computer.Security@cern.ch.
anschaef Thu, 01/08/2026 - 12:57 Byline Computer Security Office Publication Date Thu, 01/15/2026 - 08:55
This video is available on YouTube.
2026 promises to be an exciting year for CERN, starting with new leadership. British physicist Mark Thomson became Director-General of the Laboratory on 1 January 2026. His new management team is now in place to ensure CERN's continued excellence in fundamental science and innovative technologies, while charting a promising future for the Laboratory and for particle physics.
Experimental collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will continue to examine data generated by the accelerator to publish a multitude of new results. In 2025, the accelerator produced a record number of proton–proton and lead ion collisions, while also achieving collisions with oxygen and neon ions for the first time. Experiments at the entire accelerator complex will contribute to broadening our understanding of the infinitely small.
In 2026, the accelerators will begin their final data-taking run before the third long shutdown (LS3). Starting this summer, an intensive period of technical work will begin to transform the LHC into the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), a major accelerator upgrade to deliver about five times more particle collisions to the experiments. Sections of the accelerator will be completely replaced, not to mention a host of improvements throughout the LHC ring. The ATLAS and CMS experiments will also transform their detectors, replacing a large part of their sub-detectors to adapt to the increase in luminosity, while the two other large experiments, ALICE and LHCb, will undergo partial renovations.
This long technical shutdown is an opportunity to renovate entire sections of CERN facilities. In the workshops and laboratories, as well as technical and IT facilities, scientists, engineers and technicians will continue their efforts to improve existing technologies and develop new ones, serving fundamental science and society.
Meanwhile, planning for a possible flagship collider to succeed the HL-LHC will reach a critical milestone with the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics by the CERN Council.
In 2026, the quest for knowledge will continue beyond the horizon.
Follow our progress on home.cern and via social media.
From performing detailed studies of the Higgs boson to demonstrating the first antimatter quantum bit and converting lead nuclei into gold nuclei, this year CERN further expanded our knowledge of the world of particles.
In 2025, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) delivered a record amount of data and collided oxygen and neon ions for the first time. Preparation for future accelerators also reached crucial milestones.
Beyond fundamental research, CERN strengthened its impact by sharing more innovations with society and welcoming new countries into its community of Member and Associate Member States.
As the year draws to a close, we look forward to 2026, when we will continue to explore beyond the horizon of knowledge. For now, why not take a look back at some of CERN’s highlights in 2025?
ehatters Fri, 12/19/2025 - 10:09 Publication Date Fri, 12/19/2025 - 15:00
In November 2025, CERN hosted the Quantum Business Community (QBC) Summit, the annual gathering of the European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC), of which CERN is an associate member. The event brought together more than 100 participants and featured nine panels as well as keynote speeches from industry leaders, providing a space to guide Europe’s next strategic steps in the emerging field of quantum technology.
“CERN has consistently served as a learning ground for new technologies that are later disseminated broadly for applications,” said Thierry Botter, QuIC Executive Director. “There is no better place than CERN to strike up delicate yet honest quantum conversations.”
As quantum technologies steadily move from the labs to real-world applications, CERN is increasingly contributing to this transition by providing relevant expertise and potential applications through collaboration with industry in its Member and Associate Member States.
“Today, through its Quantum Technology Initiative (QTI), CERN offers a platform for innovation,” said Sofia Vallecorsa, QTI coordinator, “where co-development opportunities can flourish, advancing quantum technologies for CERN and beyond.”
Quantum technology has become a “top priority for the European Commission”, noted the European Innovation Council’s Gustav Kalbe. It is on track to become “the biggest technology that is used in our everyday life” and must be “pushed to the user industry for its wide adoption”. This underscores the need to accelerate Europe’s move into the quantum era by advancing research, boosting development and delivering marketable products. Potential applications span climate modelling, cybersecurity, materials development, communication and healthcare. As highlighted during the Summit’s Quantum for Good panel, moderated by the Open Quantum Institute, which is hosted at CERN, many quantum tools could, in the future, help solve societal challenges.
Speakers stressed the importance of bridging the gap between research and applications to identify end users early and drive targeted development. CERN was cited as a good example of both a testbed and later an end user. “Through the QTI, CERN is seeking, for example, to provide potential applications for quantum computers and make its technology and expertise available to quantum technology companies,” said Amanda Diez Fernández, who coordinates partnerships for the QTI.
CERN is contributing directly to building strong quantum startups through CERN Venture Connect, a programme supporting deep-tech startups by providing access to CERN technologies and a global network of investors and partners. “In this way, CERN could spark new startups and become a consumer for their quantum technologies,” said Tomek Schulz, co-founder and COO of Kiutra, a German startup providing scalable cryogenic cooling solutions. Schulz also noted CERN’s “crucial role in the creation and education of talent in regard to quantum and beyond”.
Experts on the panels spoke about key European initiatives for quantum communications, such as the Quantum Internet Alliance and the EuroQCI, as well as recent local initiatives, such as Geneva’s first six-node quantum network. These advances, ranging from secure communication to the longer-term vision of a quantum internet, illustrate how rapidly the field is evolving.
Quantum technology is still in its early stages but shows great promise. As the International Year of Quantum draws to a close, Benjamin Frisch, leader of Business Development at CERN, reflected on the momentum generated throughout the year, concluding that “progress in the quantum field depends on strong collaboration across research, industry and policy, with each entity playing a crucial role in ensuring that quantum technologies develop responsibly and deliver real value to society”.
Find out more about the CERN Quantum Technology Initiative.
cmenard Fri, 12/19/2025 - 07:33 Byline Feza Tankut Publication Date Fri, 12/19/2025 - 11:51Behind every particle collision generated at the Large Hadron Collider is a multitude of technical feats. One of these is refrigeration on an industrial scale. To guide the particles, the thousands of superconducting magnets in the accelerator must be cooled to a temperature of close to absolute zero. This makes the LHC the largest cryogenic installation in the world: 23 of its 27 kilometres are maintained at 1.9 kelvin (-271 °C) using refrigerators in which superfluid helium circulates.
This unique cooling system needs to be further strengthened in preparation for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), a major upgrade to the LHC that is scheduled to begin operation in 2030. On both sides of the two large experiments, ATLAS and CMS, more powerful focusing magnets and new types of cavities will considerably increase the number of collisions at each beam crossing or, in other words, the luminosity. This ultra-sophisticated equipment requires increased cooling power. Two new refrigerators are therefore being installed, in addition to the eight that are already needed for the existing accelerator.
The LHC’s refrigerators work on the same principle as the one in your kitchen, except that they are gigantic installations that occupy several buildings. Located on the surface, they include large compressors and an enormous cold box that contains the heat exchangers and the expansion turbines. These installations lower the helium temperature to 4.5 kelvins (-268.6 °C). Six compression units were installed in October. Last week, the work continued with the installation of two large cold boxes on the ATLAS and CMS sites. Cylindrical in shape, they measure 16 metres in length and 3.5 metres in diameter and were manufactured in Germany by the company Linde; they travelled by barge along the Danube, the Main and the Rhine before being transported by road, via Basel, to CERN.
Work to connect all the elements and install the control systems will continue throughout next year. At the same time, the teams will install the cryogenic lines that will deliver helium from the surface to the underground installations. Next February, two smaller cold boxes will be installed underground, lowering the temperature by the last few degrees needed to reach 1.9 kelvin (-271 °C).
By the end of 2026, the new cryogenic installations will be ready for testing with heating systems that simulate the thermal load on the magnets, the cavities, the cold powering system and the other equipment that requires cooling.
Delivery of a coldbox for cooling the High-Luminosity LHC. (Video: CERN)cmenard Wed, 12/17/2025 - 10:06 Byline Corinne Pralavorio Publication Date Wed, 12/17/2025 - 09:53
One exabyte of experimental data has now been gathered from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), marking a major milestone for CERN’s storage system.
The LHC smashes billions of protons together every second. By collecting information about the ensuing particle showers, physicists can test the Standard Model and look for signs of new physics beyond it.
The challenge for analysts is the sheer quantity of data generated. A highly selective filter system, known as a trigger, is therefore used to remove all but a tiny fraction of the data collected by the detectors. This remaining data goes on to the CERN storage system and can then be analysed by the scientists.
Now, after running the LHC for over 15 years, CERN has collected and stored one exabyte of experimental data from the superlative machine. To put this into perspective, a standard single-layer DVD holds 4.7 gigabytes of data, or around 2 hours of video, so, to watch an exabyte of film would take nearly 50 000 years.
Graph of the LHC experimental data growth over time, which has now reached one exabyte in 2025.Storing and preserving all this data is crucial as the analysis may be done long after the data has been collected, sometimes even decades later. Most of the data is stored using magnetic tape, which is a very cost-effective, secure and stable means of archiving digital data. This magnetic tape technology has developed significantly over the years since its more well-known use in the 8-track cassesttes of the 1980s and can now be used to store much more data.
“We’ve reached one exabyte, which is an impressive milestone, but it doesn’t end here”, said Jakub Mościcki, leader of CERN’s Storage and Data Management group. “This is only 10% of what we will have to store and process in the next 10 years, so we have a huge challenge ahead.”
CERN is currently preparing for the High-Luminosity LHC, which is expected to come online in the mid-2030s and will generate 10 times more data than the LHC. The CERN Data Centre must work hard to ensure it is ready for the upcoming deluge of data. But past experience shows that it should be able to meet the challenge.
“When I first came to CERN, the entire Data Centre was dedicated to storing and processing the data from the Large Electron–Positron Collider, the LHC’s predecessor,” said Mościcki. “Now all that data can fit onto just a handful of tapes. So, who knows, maybe in 50 years we will be able to store the exabyte of LHC data that currently takes up 60 thousand tapes on a very small piece of future storage hardware.”
roryalex Wed, 12/17/2025 - 09:33 Byline Rory Harris Publication Date Wed, 12/17/2025 - 09:27Imagine a planetary computer capable of storing and processing hundreds of petabytes of data for the research needs of a worldwide community of scientists. This is the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
Originally conceived to handle the unprecedented data volumes of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the WLCG has evolved into a global network connecting hundreds of computing centres across more than 40 countries. It enables thousands of scientists worldwide to store, process and analyse massive amounts of data in quasi-real time, supporting discoveries in particle physics.
On 8 December, a special event at the CERN Science Gateway brought together the international community that has turned this ambitious project into one of the largest distributed computing collaborations in the world. Key figures from the project highlighted its history, challenges and future prospects. Les Robertson, whose efforts and leadership were instrumental during the early days of the Grid, reflected on how the idea was born and the challenges of building something that had never been done before. It was an ambitious idea for its time, one that required both technological innovation and unprecedented cooperation across countries. Yet this early confidence proved justified: the Grid rapidly moved from concept to reality, paving the way for a new model of large-scale scientific computing.
Key figures from the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid took part in an event on 8 December to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the project. (Image: CERN)For the Academia Sinica Grid Centre in Taipei, for example, joining the WLCG collaboration had a profound impact. After becoming the first WLCG Tier 1 centre, the institute quickly grew into a hub for knowledge sharing across Asia and Europe. It helped build expertise in distributed computing and networking while supporting other regional institutions in joining the global effort. According to Simon Lin, former Director of the Academia Sinica Grid Centre, the true achievement was not technological but human: by bringing together scientists from across Asia and Europe, the project fostered a community united by shared knowledge and a common purpose.
Its collaborative model is the core of the WLCG’s success. The WLCG infrastructure manages vast volumes of LHC data, while also being used beyond the LHC and even beyond the high-energy physics context. It is, for example, a key tool in data-intensive fields such as astronomy, astroparticle physics and gravitational-wave research. By sharing a common ecosystem for data storage, distribution and analysis, the WLCG enables scientists across disciplines to collaborate efficiently without duplicating resources.
This same flexibility and collaborative approach has also allowed the WLCG to deliver tangible benefits to society: during the COVID-19 pandemic, part of its computing resources was rapidly repurposed to support protein-folding studies. “The WLCG was invented 20 years ago as a technical means to make sure that scientists could do their job. It evolved into something that is more than that – it is a global collaboration that maps onto the collaborative nature of high-energy physics and science in general,” summarised Simone Campana, WLCG Project Lead.
The WLCG was a landmark project in the development of distributed computing grids, leveraging efforts from European (EGI) and North American (OSG) e-infrastructures.
Looking ahead, key technologies such as artificial intelligence, and in the longer term quantum computing, have the potential to significantly shape the evolution of the WLCG infrastructure, driving it towards more heterogeneous architectures. “Now we are at the stage where artificial intelligence can really bring us to further improvements and new scientific results,” shared Sofia Vallecorsa, coordinator of the CERN Quantum Technology Initiative.
This is particularly important as the scientific community prepares for the data challenges of the High-Luminosity LHC era and beyond.
cmenard Mon, 12/15/2025 - 14:52 Byline Anastasiia Lazuka Publication Date Mon, 12/15/2025 - 16:202025 was another busy and exciting year at CERN. See how well you’ve been paying attention to what’s happened by taking part in the CERN 2025 end-of-year crossword! You could have the chance to win two CAGI tickets to the Vitam water park, a CERN lunch bag made from upcycled banners, or a CERN-branded Toblerone.
Interested? Here’s how to enter:
Please note: you must have a CERN email address to enter the prize draw.
Good luck!
Across
1. Who will complete their ten-year term as Director-General at the end of 2025? [7, 8]
5. CMS observed the production of which quark with W and Z bosons for the first time this year? [3]
6. Fill in the blank: In March, CERN released a report on a study to assess the ____ of a possible Future Circular Collider. [11]
9. Fill in the blank: In October, TIME Magazine named the LHC as one of the 25 best ____ of all time. [10]
13. Fill in the blank: The Inner Triplet (IT) ___ test stand was strung together this year in preparation for the Long Shutdown starting next year. [6]
14. Charge-parity (CP) violation could help explain why matter and antimatter are not found in equal amounts in the Universe. The LHCb experiment observed CP violation in which particles for the first time in 2025? [7]
17. Fill in the blank: In February, ATLAS announced they had observed the production of a Z boson alongside two other ____ bosons for the first time. [6]
18. Fill in the blank: Generation ____, CERN’s 2025/2026 cultural season, was launched with the screening of a CERN documentary by Cédric Klapisch. [5]
20. Arts at CERN collaborated with the Nobel Prize Museum and Copenhagen Contemporary for which residency programme? [7]
21. Where did more than 600 scientists meet this year to discuss the future of particle physics at the Open Symposium of the European Strategy for Particle Physics? [6]
22. The first high-energy collisions between neon nuclei at the LHC revealed that a neon nucleus resembles which object? [7, 3]
23. Which fluffy CERN-born technology is being tested for its possible application to quantum communication? [5, 6]
Down2. Fill in the blank: The ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb collaborations received the prestigious ____ Prize in Fundamental Physics on 5 April. [12]
3. Fill in the blank: From 29 June to 9 July this year, LHC facilitated proton– ____ ion collisions and ____-____ collisions for the first time. [6]
4. How many days did CERN engineer and ESA astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski spend in space? [6]
5. Which rare “quasi-bound-state”, formed from the temporary pairing of top and anti-top particles, may have been observed by ATLAS and CMS? [8]
7. Which country became CERN’s 25th Member State in June this year? [7]
8. Which collaboration has demonstrated the first antimatter quantum bit? [4]
10. Fill in the blank: This year, the NA61/SHINE collaboration announced that the ____ between up and down quarks is more broken than expected. [8]
11. Fill in the blank: In May this year, agreements were signed to admit Chile and Ireland as ___ Member States of CERN. [9]
12. Which event explored a hypothetical city built using the principles of quantum mechanics? [6]
15. At which event, held at CERN Science Gateway, could members of the public meet astronauts? [7]
16. What is the name of the new arts residency opportunity for Geneva-based artists? [9]
19. ALICE detected the conversion of lead into which element loved by medieval alchemists? [4]
ehatters Mon, 12/15/2025 - 13:50 Byline Internal Communication Publication Date Mon, 12/15/2025 - 13:37
As 2025 draws to a close, so too does the CERN 25 by ’25 initiative, launched in 2021 to improve the gender and nationality diversity of the Organization. The initiative outlined two aspirational objectives that CERN would aim to meet by the end of 2025: to address “nationality clusters”, where one nationality exceeds 25% in a department or departmental group, and to increase the percentage of women among the staff and graduates/fellows population to 25%.
Over the past five years CERN has seen an overall increase in nationality diversity and a reduction in the number and size of nationality clusters at departmental group level. The nationality objective also led to the creation of the Conscious Hiring policy, which aims to ensure that a Member State’s financial contribution is reflected in a more balanced representation among the personnel. For gender, at just 0.03% away from the target, the aspirational goal exceeded expectations. Women currently make up 24.7% of the staff and graduates/fellows population, compared with 21% at the start of the initiative.
“Aspirational targets have proven effective in attracting the attention and engagement of the CERN community,” explains Louise Carvalho, Diversity & Inclusion Programme Leader. “Even more important, however, is fostering a conscious reflection during our recruitment process: considering not only a diverse candidate’s individual potential, but also their potential for excellence within a diverse team.”
The targets set in 2021 felt ambitious at first, given the historical slow progress and challenges such as low staff turnover. Fully supported by CERN’s leadership, each department adopted a selection of the suggested actions that they felt would help improve their own nationality and gender diversity. The initiatives that were most widely adopted included the appointment of departmental Diversity & Inclusion Officers (10% of an officer’s working time was allocated to this role), the introduction of offboarding surveys to understand any diversity or inclusion-related retention issues and the creation of recruitment dashboards to track nationality and gender diversity in the recruitment process.
As of November 2025, the overall percentage of women across the employed Members of Personnel (staff, fellows, grads) is 24.7%, just 0.3% from the 25 by ’25 target. (Image: CERN)Thinking ahead to 2026 and beyond, Carvalho emphasises that “a key priority for CERN is to retain the diversity we have attracted”. To sustain and build on the progress of 25 by ’25, it is vital that the women and colleagues from under-represented nationalities who have been recruited over the past four years retain a strong sense of belonging during their CERN careers.
Carvalho looks forward to building on the 25 by ’25 momentum to further enhance the diversity of CERN’s personnel. “As a publicly funded international organisation, we have a moral imperative to reflect the diversity of the Member States who support us,” she stated, adding, “CERN was founded on the idea that science advances through diverse collaboration, and that remains a cornerstone of our success.”
ehatters Fri, 12/12/2025 - 14:41 Byline Emma Hattersley Publication Date Fri, 12/12/2025 - 14:27
Prominently placed in the Main Building, the Room C (61/1-009) meeting room is used for everything from strategic discussions to protocol visits. Now that the previous photo exhibition has run its course, a new display of photographs has been installed to highlight the positive societal impact of CERN technologies and their applications, alongside the expertise of the CERN community.
Photographs are displayed above and below a cable developed for the superconducting quadrupole magnets of the High-Luminosity LHC. The cable consists of numerous fragile niobium-tin (Nb3Sn) filaments, each approximately 0.05 mm in diameter, embedded in a copper matrix. To prepare these cables for the accelerator magnets, they must be wound into coils and heated to about 650°C for several days in a complex process of reaction and diffusion.
katebrad Fri, 12/12/2025 - 09:42 Publication Date Mon, 12/15/2025 - 15:49The members of the CERN alumni network, who now number more than 10 000, had the opportunity to give feedback in the 2025 CERN alumni survey. With just under 1000 responses, the results highlighted the values and expectations of this global community.
A key result was an increase in recommendations, with the network's Net Promoter Score (NPS) increasing from 12 in 2020 to 22 in 2025. Qualitative findings showed that an individual's relationship with the network often reflects their CERN experience. For many, CERN was a formative and positive part of their lives, and the alumni network helps maintain that sense of belonging. Others feel more distant, highlighting the need for multiple pathways into the network and tailored engagement at different career stages.
Staying connected remains the primary motivationAlumni continue to join the network to stay in touch with CERN, follow scientific developments and hear about events. Early-career members are also looking for mentoring, career guidance and professional growth. Events remain central, including much appreciated career events such as Moving out of Academia and Virtual Company Showrooms, as well as scientific and technological updates through the News from the Lab series. Regional groups help maintain connections, and awareness of them has risen from 47% in 2020 to 67% in 2025.
Visibility and awareness remain ongoing challengesThe Weekly Digest and targeted emails continue to be highly valued, but raising awareness in an information-saturated world is difficult. Many respondents were unaware that several frequently requested services already exist on alumni.cern, such as tools to network with other members, video recordings of past events, career resources and mentoring opportunities. Improving visibility of these features is a clear opportunity for the network.
Complete profiles strengthen the entire communityA simple, high-impact action is for members to complete and update their profiles. Information on professional experience, industry sector and current location improves alumni-to-alumni connection and helps to identify speakers, panellists and interviewees. Crucially, anonymised data also supports ’CERN's Member States by providing evidence of the societal impact of CERN alumni. Furthermore, several survey results are also feeding into the CERN-wide socio-economic impact study, underlying the broad contribution of CERN's alumni community.
Created in 2017, the network enables people to remain connected with CERN and its community when they leave, supports the Organization's mission in fundamental research, demonstrates the societal impact of professional experience at CERN and helps those transitioning from CERN to industry or other sectors. Not a member yet? Join today and discover what the network has to offer – and why not share what you are doing at CERN with the alumni community in one of our News from the Lab events: (contact alumni.relations@cern.ch for more details).
katebrad Thu, 12/11/2025 - 16:14 Byline CERN Alumni programme Publication Date Thu, 12/11/2025 - 17:11The past two years have brought a lot of new computer-security deployments at CERN. Spurred on by the 2023 cybersecurity audit, the Computer Security Office in collaboration with the IT department deployed silver-bullet 2-factor authentication to CERN’s Single Sign-On; new and enhanced SPAM filtering, email quarantining, and anti-spoofing protection; and subsequently 2FA protection for LXPLUS and the CERN Windows Terminal Servers, among many others. 2026 will bring improved and more granular network filtering to the Technical Network and, later, between the Campus and data centre networks. As with many security measures, some of these were not the most user-friendly for the CERN community, as this is not in the inherent nature of “security”, which usually introduces inconvenience (as does locking your door, going through security scans at airports, using a PIN at the ATM, signing for an Amazon delivery, etc.). Still, we tried our best.
And this “our best” was usually constrained by existing and non-existing technologies, incompatibilities between them, or the risk of vendor lock-in; by CERN IT’s current software stack and service provisioning, resources and budget, as well as by the cacophonic usage and the plethora of different use cases of our heterogeneous user community; by legacy usage, non-compliant usage, extremely creative usage, and very many special cases. Starting with a clean slate would have made many of our deployments better, more user-friendly and more convenient. Actually, we would have loved to! But there is no such thing as a “clean slate” in a 70-year-old organisation with many established IT services (provided by the IT department but also by many other CERN departments) in place, and operating 24/7 with very few occasions to have a calm moment for roll-out. So, we had to fit every deployment as best we could into the current environment at CERN. And we strive to do even better!
For this, however, we need your input. Data. Numbers. In order to see how frequent the problem is, to prioritise, to find quick mitigations and workarounds. Rumours and gossip in the corridors don't help. Neither do rants at coffee, in the cafeterias or in CERN’s restaurants. We need facts and details on what works and what doesn’t in order to further improve. But rumours, gossip and rants don’t provide that. They don’t answer our calls. They just stick around silently without any hope of getting improved or even fixed. And that is a pity.
Instead, we call out to you for feedback. What works? What doesn’t? In particular for the latter, the more details on the particular use case, operating system and other technical details of the problem the better*. Ideally, such details should be provided via the CERN Service Now ticketing system. The CERN Mattermost “Security” channel is also available for quick tips and tricks or for an early triage about whether there really is a problem. This does not apply only to CERN computer-security-related issues, but to any technical problem you might face. IT. Lifts. Toilets. Send us your ticket for improvement. Please.
*Here’s an interesting case in point: typing the six-digit number failed for one of our esteemed users, again and again. Despite everything looking good – QR code, timing, everything. Until we realised that the person’s native language writes right-to-left, and reads right-to-left, and types right-to-left. So, the six-digit code was entered in reverse. And, hence, deemed by the SSO to be invalid.
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Do you want to learn more about computer security incidents and issues at CERN? Follow our Monthly Report. For further information, questions or help, check our website or contact us at Computer.Security@cern.ch.
anschaef Thu, 12/11/2025 - 11:09 Byline Computer Security Office Publication Date Thu, 12/11/2025 - 11:07The early morning of 8 December offered a reminder that, in accelerator operations, not everything always goes according to plan. During the final weekend of the 2025 LHC run, the machine had been running almost like a Swiss clock, with short turnaround times (i.e. the interval between dumping one fill and declaring stable beams for the next) and with most fills being dumped by the LHC Engineer in Charge.
At 2.50 a.m. on 6 December, ALICE was the last of the four experiments to reach its integrated luminosity goal for 2025. With more than 50 hours remaining before the scheduled end of the run, it looked like there was ample time to exceed the year’s targets. The LHC continued to perform well, but early on 8 December, some end-of-run equipment tiredness seemed to creep in. The final two fills of 2025 were dumped by the machine protection system due to faults in one of the radiofrequency power transmission lines. The first at 1.33 a.m. on 8 December, and the second at 4.34 a.m., which turned out to be the last beam dump of 2025. Only 1.5 hours remained until the planned end of the run.
Once again, this end-of-run episode highlights a familiar truth: we can plan meticulously, but reality always has the final say.
The solid lines (red, magenta and green) are the integrated luminosity forecasts for LHCb, ALICE, and ATLAS and CMS, respectively. The dotted horizontal lines of the same colours are the 2025 target figures. The dots indicate the integrated luminosity values achieved for LHCb (red), ALICE (magenta), CMS (black) and ATLAS (blue). The insert shows the target and achieved integrated luminosities for the lead-ion run. (Image: CERN)While the LHC run had come to an end, the injectors continued to deliver beams to the fixed-target experiments until the very last moment. At 6.00 a.m. on 8 December, the operators in the injector chain stopped all beam production, inserted the beam stoppers and began powering down the machines. This precise shutdown time may seem surprisingly early. What could possibly happen so soon in the day other than beam operation? The answer is straightforward: access to the accelerator tunnels begins around 8.00 a.m. The two-hour window is needed for radiation cooldown, ensuring that the teams eager to start their tightly scheduled work in the tunnels can do so safely.
The LHC equipment was also powered down immediately after the final beam dump. Because the LHC is a superconducting machine, one additional critical step must be completed before CERN’s annual closure: securing the helium inventory at the surface. During operation, the helium circulating in the magnets is liquid at 1.9 K (-271 °C). During the year-end technical stop (YETS), however, this liquid helium is extracted from the machine and the magnets are warmed up to around 20 K (-250 °C), leaving only gaseous helium in the system. This procedure greatly reduces the risk of losing a substantial amount of helium in the event of an unexpected leak in the underground cryogenic circuits. It also significantly lowers the power consumption of the cryogenic system, resulting in both energy and cost savings.
With the entire accelerator complex now stopped and many people working on machine equipment, preparations for the 2026 run are already under way. For the first injectors in the chain, most of the work will need to be completed before the two-week annual closure, because the Linac4 source is scheduled to restart on 5 January. The remaining machines will follow during the four weeks after the source restart. This timing is 3.5 weeks earlier than the 2025 start. Activities planned during the YETS have been reduced to what is strictly necessary in order to make the most of the available time until the start of Long Shutdown 3 (LS3), planned for 29 June for the LHC and 31 August for the injector complex.
On 19 December 2025, all tools will be set down, or at least most of them, for a well-deserved break during the festive period. Nevertheless, a small team will remain on site. Among them, the Technical Infrastructure (TI) operators in the CERN Control Centre (CCC) will continue to monitor CERN’s technical infrastructure and coordinate interventions in case issues arise. For everyone else, a two-week period of “battery charging” begins, in preparation for what promises to be another busy year leading up to LS3.
This is my final Accelerator Report, not only for 2025, but also as leader of the Operations group (BE-OP). As of January, Bettina Mikulec will take the helm, while I move on to the Technology (TE) department for new adventures.
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to share news about the running of the accelerator complex with you over these past years. I am confident that Bettina and her team will continue to keep you well informed about the LHC and its injector complex throughout 2026 and beyond.
In the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas break and a happy, healthy and successful 2026.
anschaef Thu, 12/11/2025 - 10:29 Byline Rende Steerenberg Publication Date Fri, 12/12/2025 - 08:24
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