Number 178 (Story #3), May 10, 1994 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein NEUTRAL ATOMS HAVE BEEN TRAPPED WITH MICROWAVES , paving the way for new attempts to achieve Bose-Einstein condensation, a hypothesized state of matter in which cold atoms are so densely packed together that they all collapse into a single quantum state. A Harvard-NIST team (contact Isaac Silvera, 617-495-9075) has trapped cesium atoms with microwaves, and is ready to move on to atomic hydrogen, a highly promising candidate for Bose-Einstein condensation. In their design, the magnetic component of a microwave field traps atoms in their lowest-energy spin state. In earlier magnetic traps for atomic hydrogen, the atoms were confined in a high-energy spin state but could escape easily by dropping into their lower-energy state, depleting the large concentration of atoms needed for Bose-Einstein condensation to occur. (R.J.C. Spreeuw et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 16 May.)