External beam radiation involves zapping a patient with high-dose X rays generated by a machine called a linear accelerator.

FORBES: Men, Cancer & Hope

The new machine will be attached to a linear accelerator, a device used for radiation therapy, to allow simultaneous imaging and treatment, according to Sha Chang, who will lead the team that tests it.

ECONOMIST: Modern X-ray technology

The old linear accelerator at Stanford was repurposed, turning it from the machine that co-discovered a particle known as the charm quark (thus winning its operators a Nobel prize) into a factory for making particles called B mesons.

ECONOMIST: The arrow of time