Everything around us – from our bodies to the stars – is made of matter. But according to our best theories, none of it should exist. The big bang should have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter, and that should have caused the newborn universe to annihilate itself instantly. So why are we here?

In this video, we go behind the scenes at CERN, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, to explore how scientists create, trap, transport and study antimatter at the appropriately named Antimatter Factory. Is there a tiny, fundamental difference between matter and antimatter? The answer could explain one of the oldest questions in science: Why is there something instead of nothing?

Read more: CERN upgrade: Inside the world’s largest scientific experiment

Particle physics dives into the very depths of the universe – the particles that make up atoms. Over the past century, we have peeled back the layers and uncovered more about the make-up of subatomic particles than ever before, culminating in 2012 with the discovery of the Higgs boson, also called the God particle. Frank Close, the author of Infinity Puzzle and Elusive: How Peter Higgs solved the mystery of mass, has had a front-row seat to many of these revelations. He joins Â鶹´«Ã½ reporter Alex Wilkins to talk about his career and all things particle physics, including how quarks group together and what it was like sitting on stage with Peter Higgs after the Large Hadron Collider found that elusive particle.

Read more: Why quantum physics says there’s a multiverse