LET THERE BE MATTER:
IN THE BEGINNING, 

(SFX: FANRARE) 

THERE WAS E=MC2.  A NEAT LITTLE EQUATION BY EINSTEIN WHICH SAYS THAT ENERGY AND MASS
ARE EQUIVALENT.  SCIENTISTS REALIZED IN THE 1930'S THAT 

MCDONALD: In principle any kind of mass could be transformed into energy and vice versa.

KIRK MCDONALD IS A PHYSICIST AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY AND HE SAYS THAT MATTER TURNS
INTO LIGHT ALL THE TIME WHEN ATOMS COMBINE OR PULL APART.  BUT TAKING A BIT OF LIGHT
AND TURNING IT INTO A PARTICLE--THAT'S TOUGH.  AND IT CERTAINLY SOUNDS WEIRD TO MOST
OF US--THIS IDEA OF JUST CREATING SOMETHING OUT OF THIN AIR.  OVER 60 YEARS SINCE
SCIENTISTS FIRST THOUGHT IT COULD BE DONE, MCDONALD IS ONE OF A GROUP OF SCIENTISTS
THAT HAS FINALLY SUCCEEDED. 

MCDONALD: "In some sense we are one of the slowest confirmations of an idea in science this
century." 

BUT THAT'S BECAUSE THE EXPERIMENT TOOK VERY MODERN TECHNOLOGY.   IT TAKES A HUGE
AMOUNT OF ENERGY TO MAKE A TEENSY PIECE OF MATTER.  TO MAKE AN ELECTRON,
MCDONALD NEEDED AS MUCH ENERGY AS IS IN ONE MILLION PHOTONS.  AND THEN THE
PHOTONS HAVE TO SOMEHOW BE SQUASHED TOGETHER INTO ONE POINT. 

MCDONALD: "Ordinarily, . . . particles of light. . .don't interact with one another. . . if light
coalesced the sun wouldn't shine, it would never get here it would all clump together into
some other form of matter."

GETTING PHOTONS WITH ENOUGH ENERGY REQUIRES USING PARTICLE ACCELERATORS.  AND
GETTING THE PHOTONS ALTOGETHER INTO A SINGLE POINT REQUIRES CRASHING THE PHOTONS
INTO EACH OTHER WITH SOME PINPOINT LASER TECHNIQUES.  IT'S ALL COMPLICATED AND
EXPENSIVE ENOUGH THAT YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SEE ANYONE CREATING MATTER OUT OF THIN
AIR ON A REGULAR BASIS ANY TIME SOON.