Hanging in a cavern deep below Sudbury, Canada, this crystal ball could hold answers to the greatest mysteries of the universe.
The stainless steel geodesic sphere, the centerpiece of the new US$49 million Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, is lined with 9,500 light sensors and contains an acrylic globe filled with 1,000 tons of heavy water. It's the extra-neutron water that makes this observatory the most effective neutrino catcher in the world - it reacts with all types of neutrinos, causing a tiny burst of light that's recorded by the sensors. To what end? Neutrinos, which cross interplanetary distances in minutes rather than millennia, are the FedEx of the solar system, delivering information from the core of the sun.
ELECTRIC WORD
Armored Hot Dog
The Science Underground
Reframing the Future
Army of One
Keeping Up with the Simses
