Scientists call it Susy, a theory of matter called supersymmetry that may say something deep and profound about the Universe. The first experimental evidence for it may have been obtained by German and American scientists. Their observations at a particle accelerator in Germany suggest we may be on the verge of a new understanding about the way the Universe is made. Unravelling the nature of matter has been one of the great successes of modern science.
Light is made of particles called photons.
Our world is made of these along with a few others. But behind them is a remarkable pattern of other particles. By smashing together sub-atomic particles in giant accelerators, scientists can create minute and fleeting concentrations of energy out of which other families of particles form. Some of them have not been around since the Universe cooled after the Big Bang some 15 billion years ago. From such experiments, it is known that protons and neutrons are made of smaller particles called quarks while the electron is a truly fundamental particle that is not made of anything smaller.