Tag: Particle physics

Why scientists are so excited about the highest-energy ‘ghost particle’ ever seen

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Earlier this year, an underwater detector in the Mediterranean Sea found the most energetic neutrino to date. And scientists are still talking about it because, well, this discovery could be a really big deal. Not only could this neutrino, also known as a “ghost particle,” have been fleeing a gamma-ray burst or a supermassive black hole, but it could also have been produced by an ultra-powerful cosmic ray interacting with the cosmic microwave background (CMB). That latter bit which we’ll get to soon, could be huge. Moreover, the detector that…

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China is building the world’s largest underwater telescope to hunt for elusive ‘ghost particles’

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Scientists in China are building the world’s largest “ghost particle” detector 11,500 feet (3,500 meters) beneath the surface of the ocean.  The Tropical Deep-sea Neutrino Telescope (TRIDENT) — called Hai ling or “Ocean Bell” in Chinese — will be anchored to the seabed of the Western Pacific Ocean. Upon completion in 2030, it will scan for rare flashes of light made by elusive particles as they briefly become tangible in the ocean depths. Every second, about 100 billion ghost particles, called neutrinos, pass through each square centimeter of your body.…

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Scientists propose ‘missing’ law for the evolution of everything in the universe

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Researchers have proposed a “missing” scientific law for the evolution of life, minerals, planets, stars and pretty much everything else in the universe. This new law identifies “universal concepts of selection” that drive systems to evolve, whether they’re living or not. It addresses the tendency for natural systems in the universe to become more complex over time. The research team behind the law, which included philosophers, astrobiologists, a theoretical physicist, a mineralogist and a data scientist, have called it “the law of increasing functional information.” “This was a true collaboration…

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