In this deep-dive episode, we recount the final full year of the LHC's Run 3 (2025), where ATLAS and CMS hit a new milestone with 125 fb^-1 each and the four experiments together surpass 5×10^16 collisions in total. We explain the 150-pileup environment, 90%+ data-taking efficiency across ATLAS, CMS, LHCb, and ALICE (ALICE at 95% during a 21-day lead run), and why the proton–oxygen, oxygen–oxygen, and neon–neon collision program matters. Neon’s non-spherical bowling-pin shape and early signs of quark–gluon plasma in these lighter systems are reshaping our understanding of nuclear matter. We also look ahead to the HL-LHC upgrade (2030+), five times more collisions, and the upgrades to triggers and infrastructure that will carry discovery forward into the next decade.

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