High energy electrons have been trapped by a laser beam for the first time. Previously only atoms could be trapped by laser light. David Meyerhofer and Jan Chaloupka from Rochester University, New York, US have developed a unique 'ring' laser in which the intensity of the laser beam is less at the centre than at the edges. The intense electromagnetic fields generated by the laser thereby push the electrons to the weakest part of the beam - the centre - trapping them in the process (Phys Rev. Lett. 83 4538).