Construction of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment involves assembling four five-storey steel detectors inside deep underground caverns. The installation process will require roughly three years, followed by another year to fill the modules with 70,000 tonnes of liquid argon chilled to -200C. Once completed, the detectors will measure electric pulses and light produced when natural and lab-generated neutrinos strike argon atoms. The United States is heading the initiative alongside the United Kingdom, which serves as the leading international contributor.
Key points
Scientists aim to discover why the universe is composed mostly of matter rather than anti…: Scientists aim to discover why the universe is composed mostly of matter rather than antimatter by studying how neutrinos behave.
Rare collisions between neutrinos and argon atoms will generate electric pulses and light…: Rare collisions between neutrinos and argon atoms will generate electric pulses and light for researchers to analyze cosmic phenomena.
The United Kingdom is serving as the primary international partner by creating detector c…: The United Kingdom is serving as the primary international partner by creating detector components, software, and beam targets.
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For more than a century, the mining town of Lead, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, attracted workers with a taste for gold. Now, a flagship experiment being built in the old mine is drawing scientists in search of more intriguing riches: answers to the deepest mysteries of the universe.
Construction of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (Dune) in the former Homestake mine is due to start on Monday. Engineers will begin assembling four giant detectors inside caverns blasted from rock a mile underground.
Once switched on, the detectors will quietly spark and flicker as ghostly particles called neutrinos hurtle through them. Some will arrive from the sun and distant supernovae, others in an intense beam sent through 800 miles (1,300km) of rock from a government laboratory near Chicago, Illinois.
Observing the neutrinos could uncover entirely new science and shed light on cosmic spectacles, such as the death of stars and the birth of black holes. Scientists are particularly hopeful of solving one of the most enduring puzzles in nature: why everything around us is made from matter and…
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Excavations at an ancient London religious complex have provided unprecedented physical evidence of Roman personal grooming practices. Scientific analysis revealed the sophisticated cosmetic formula relied on animal fats and tin oxide rather than toxic lead. The remarkably preserved vessel offers modern historians tangible proof of personal beauty rituals from the second century.
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