Ancient Roman shipwreck aids in neutrino search

Lead ingots carried by a Roman ship sunk in 50 BC will be used to study the decay of neutrinos. Neutrino experiments are very delicate and need to be shielded from radioactive contamination, including possible contamination from the shielding itself.

This vast stretch of time means that the tiny amount of the radioactive isotope lead-210 originally present in the ingots, just as it exists in any normal lead object, has by now almost completely disappeared.

(via history blog)

• archaeology
• neutrinos
• physics
• science

An Antarctic project has detected the first

An Antarctic project has detected the first neutrinos observed outside of a laboratory setting.

• neutrinos
• physics
• science

How to turn a block of Antarctic

How to turn a block of Antarctic ice into a giant neutrino detector. “To turn the ice into a telescope, all you have to do is drill an array of 80 holes half a meter across by 2.5km deep using a very powerfull jet of hot water. Then lower a string of 60 optical detectors into each hole before they refreeze, conect them up to some powerful computer analysers and you are good to go.”

• Antarctica
• neutrinos
• physics
• science