this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2026
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[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

This is cool. It’s very small amounts.

The key issue is that they are making antimatter at CERN but the magnetic fields at CERN impede studying/analysing it.

Checking in with a nearby physicist, the amount is so small that even in the worse case it would be unlikely to set off a radiation detector.

In return for this sagesse, I was subjected to several witticisms on the detectable rate of decay in the bananas we have awaiting to be turned into banana bread.

I love that "banana for scale" is also applicable to radioactivity.

[–] kieron115@startrek.website 4 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)
[–] knightly@pawb.social 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

From the Memory Alpha wiki:

He did not require sustenance, but occasionally ingested semi-organic nutrient suspension in a silicon-based liquid medium to lubricate his biofunctions. (TNG: "Deja Q") Though capable of consuming more traditional food and drink, Data had no sense of taste and therefore tended not to bother eating. (TNG: "Hero Worship")

So, you could probably derive some of the organic components from bananas, but generally no. He's not really banana-powered.

[–] hallettj@leminal.space 4 points 1 day ago

They're making such progress! It wasn't that long ago that storing antimatter for a few minutes was a big achievement, let alone transporting it