We live in a world where we can trap antimatter almost at will, at least if your particle accelerator is big enough and powerful enough (ladies). And there was still hope it wouldn’t be an enormous letdown and invalidate a whole bunch of science fiction by having some amazing destructive properties when it appeared and disappeared in an eyeblink.
But, no, we’ve managed to make antihydrogen stick around for long enough to learn that it’s boring, at least from a Hollywood standpoint.
Antihydrogen is when an anti-electron (i.e. a positively charged particle) orbits an anti-proton (i.e. a negatively charged particle). It’s currently made by flooding anti-protons with anti-electrons and trapping them in a magnetic bottle.
Now it’s a matter of engaging in science. By which we mean blasting anti-matter with lasers. No, seriously, that’s really what they’re doing.
[ via the Black Mesa publicists at PhysOrg ]