Prototype cassettes mark key step toward new CMS high-granularity calorimeter

In beehives on the CERN site, a buzzing team of bees collaborates to build hexagon after hexagon of honeycomb—a shape that allows the most honey for a given amount of beeswax to be stored. Working nearby, a team of similarly committed scientists has recently pieced together some more high-tech hexagons to form the first prototype “cassette” for the new CMS endcap calorimeters.