Physicists have trapped 50 times more antiprotons than ever before at the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) at CERN. Moreover, Yasunori Yamazaki and co-workers from Japan, Hungary and CERN have also been able to extract antiproton beams with lower energies than achieved previously (N Kuroda et al. 2005 Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 023401). The ultraslow antiprotons could be used in a variety of experiments in fundamental physics.

Researchers in Japan have made a nanoscale mechanical switch that could ultimately replace semiconductor switches in the electronic devices of the future (K Terabe et al. 2005 Nature 433 47). The device, which works at room temperature, could be used for both logic and fast memory operations.

Although most astrophysicists are convinced that 95% of the universe is made of dark energy and matter, they sometimes overlook the fact that they have only seen half of the ordinary or baryonic matter that makes up the remaining 5%. Now astrophysicists in the US and Mexico have found these missing baryons in the hot gas clouds that lie between galaxies. While the new results agree with predictions, they also suggest that there might be more baryons in the universe than expected (F Nicastro et al. 2005 Nature 433 495).

Theoretical physicists in the US have proposed a new way to make a single-molecule transistor. David Cardamone, Charles Stafford and Sumit Mazumdar at the University of Arizona say the quantum interference effect transistor could be a realistic way to extend existing transistor technology down to the nanoscale (arXiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0503540). The device modulates the flow of current through a hydrocarbon ring by switching quantum interference "on" and "off".