Is the top quark a threat to the universe? | with Kate Shaw

Could a tiny quantum fluctuation one day destroy the universe as we know it? Physicist Kate Shaw takes us inside CERN's Large Hadron Collider (home to the ATLAS experiment) to explain how the heaviest known fundamental particle, the top quark, and the Higgs boson together hold the answer to whether we live in a stable universe... or a fragile one. From the first periodic table to Rutherford's gold foil experiment, from the discovery of quarks to the hunt for the Higgs, Kate traces how physicists built the Standard Model of particle physics, and why measuring the mass of the top quark as precisely as possible could tell us whether the universe is sitting safely at the bottom of its "energy valley," or perched on the edge of a much deeper one. This talk was filmed at the Royal Institution on Saturday 20 June 2026. __________________________ Become a channel member to support more science videos and access the exclusive Q&A session every week:   / @theroyalinstitution   Watch the Q&A with Kate Shaw here:    • Q&A | Is the top quark a threat to the uni...   Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe _________________________ Kate Shaw is an experimental particle physicist with nearly 20 years on the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider, leading precision studies of the top quark alongside research on Higgs physics and luminosity calibration. She founded the ATLAS Open Data project and co-directs the ICTP Physics Without Frontiers programme, and her outreach work has earned the European Physical Society Outreach Prize and the Royal Society Research Culture Award. ________________________ Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:18 Inside the ATLAS Experiment at CERN 02:44 Why Smash Protons Together? 05:31 From Atoms to Quarks: Building the Standard Model 15:10 Quarks, Gluons and the Strong Force 20:17 Colliding Protons and Hadronic Jets 25:05 Discovering the Top Quark 29:53 What Is the Higgs Field? 31:13 Is the Universe Stable, Metastable, or Unstable? 41:07 The Future Circular Collider ________________________ Subscribe for regular science videos: https://bit.ly/RiSubscribe #Physics #ParticlePhysics #CERN #HiggsBoson #Quarks #Cosmology #ATLAS #LHC #Science ________________________ The Ri is on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ri_science Listen to the Ri podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ri... Donate to the RI and help us bring you more lectures: https://www.rigb.org/support-us/donate-ri Our editorial policy: https://www.rigb.org/editing-ri-talks-and-... Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter Product links on this page may be affiliate links which means it won't cost you any extra but we may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase through the link.