This article was taken from the April 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
This antineutrino detector is 300 metres underground in Daya Bay, China. When it and seven others are turned on this summer they will help answer two of the most perplexing questions in physics: what makes up neutrinos, and what do they indicate about the behaviour of the universe after the Big Bang?
Neutrinos are uncharged particles produced during nuclear reactions. The detectors will trap their counterparts -- antineutrinos -- emitted from a reactor nearby. The trapped antineutrinos emit weak flashes of light, which are amplified by the tubes dotting the inner walls. Physicist Dan Dwyer of the California Institute of Technology says: "Eventually, we expect to be detecting 3,000 antineutrinos every day."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
