Physicists believe they can create matter from colliding photons

The timeline:<p><pre><code> 1934: This is predicted 1997: This is done http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;1997&#x2F;09&#x2F;16&#x2F;science&#x2F;scientists-use-light-to-create-particles.html 2014: We will &quot;demonstrate the feat within the next 12 months&quot; 2015: Didn&#x27;t bother</code></pre>

Has anyone ever wondered why the C^2 in E=MC^2 I&#x27;m sure it wasn&#x27;t chosen at random just because a large constant was needed, it must fall out of some other physics equations.<p>But still, what does that mean? What does the transmutation of energy into mass or visa versa have to do with the universal speed limit?<p>I am always struck by the inexplicable power of mathematics to describe the physical laws of the universe, in often simple equations like this. It doesn&#x27;t have to be that way as far as we know.

This article appears to be 1,5 years old. So at least the 1 year deadline was missed.

If we could trap those positrons somehow in large numbers...<p>Antimatter production?

This is exciting. Not sure how they will go from electron-positron creation to protons which needs quarks, but according to <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Matter_creation" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Matter_creation</a><p>Summary: Matter creation is the conversion of massless particles into one or more massive particles. Since all known massless particles are bosons and the most familiar massive particles are fermions, usually what is considered is the process which converts two bosons (e.g. photons) into two fermions (e.g., an electron–positron pair). This process is known as pair production.<p>So technically, it is a matter creation.

Can anyone explain when and where the Higgs enters the reaction? That is the most interesting for me, since we don&#x27;t have anti Higgs.

I imagine &quot;matter&quot; as commonly understood would contain at least electrons and protons, but they would just be making electrons and positrons. Can we make protons&#x2F;neutrons out of light too?

So was light first or matter?<p>Was there early radiation (light != visible light only) which created matter. H -&gt; He -&gt; Stars. Or matter preexisted?

Are we going to be able to materialize dinner soon?

Didn&#x27;t we know that ever since E=mc² ?

If this can be made practical at any scale, I think the most exciting applications will be in long-range space drives. Although it sounds as though immense amounts of energy are needed, not needing to take along matter to eject in order to move is a game changer for space exploration.