Inside a mini-refrigerator-sized device on the International Space Station (ISS), NASA is running an experiment that creates a spot colder than any natural environment in the cosmos. This facility, known as the Cold Atom Lab (CAL), chills atoms of elements like rubidium and potassium down to temperatures a fraction of a degree above absolute zero.

Inside a mini-refrigerator-sized device on the International Space Station (ISS), NASA is running an experiment that creates a spot colder than any natural environment in the…

The lab is about the size of a mini fridge, but it’s tackling questions on a cosmic scale.