New light on the dark side of matter

Mention antimatter in public and it'll be assumed you're either a sci-fi fan or a theoretical boffin. That's because most people see antimatter as an abstract concept with little place in the real world. And yet the truth is a bit different. Antimatter is a commonly used substance with many important applications. PET scans, for example, are a common form of diagnostic imaging used to detect tumours, and it works by releasing antimatter in our bodies. As another example, firing antimatter at the surface of materials is a technique used to characterise those surfaces. Indeed, antimatter plays a number of roles in the real world and its value in materials science, medicine and biology is only set to increase