NeutrinoDetector
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NOvA neutrino detector captures cosmic rays in 3D, aims to unlock the mysteries of the universe
All apologies accepted if you mistook that image above as cover art for Daft Punk's new album -- it's not (although the duo should consider it.). That Tron-ish, equalizer-like graphic is actually a 3D representation of particle activity left behind by cosmic rays interacting within NOvA, the Department of Energy's under construction neutrino detector. It's the first such visual record made possible by the University of Minnesota-operated facility that, when completed, will extend for more than 200 feet underground in an area near the Canadian border and endure regular bombardment by a controlled stream of neutrinos. Beyond its obvious visual appeal, data like this should give physicists at the DOE's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory insight into the nature of neutrinos (some of which are said to have been issued from the Big Bang) and, by extension, the origins of our ever-expanding universe. For now, though, the project's still in the baby steps phase -- only 12 feet of the detector (the currently operational portion) has been successfully built out -- so the reality-shattering, scientific epiphanies will have to wait. Until then, it's all still life as we safely know it.
IceCube neutrino detector set to image Earth's core
Following the Dr. Dre Medical Clinic and Eazy E Public "[censored]" Library, the final founding member of pioneering gangsta rap group NWA has at last been given his due, with scientists at the South Pole currently putting the finishing touches on an ambitious project known as the IceCube neutrino detector. Consisting of thousands of sensors that will occupy a cubic kilometer of ice upon completion, the machine is being built well below the Pole's surface, and will be used to detect neutrinos from outer space which have been trapped below the Earth's crust. The image that these scattered neutrinos produce over the course of a decade should result in a very accurate silhouette of the core, which will appear as a dark object within the lighter outline of the planet as a whole. Unfortunately, when contacted for comment, team member Maria Gonzalez-Garcia of Barcelona University refused to opine on the merits of the detector, instead cryptically suggesting that we check ourselves before we wreck ourselves. [Image courtesy of UC Berkeley]
