'Wireless' Message Using A Beam Of Neutrinos

A group of scientists led by researchers from the University of Rochester and North Carolina State University have for the first time sent a message using a beam of neutrinos – nearly massless particles that travel at almost the speed of light. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Rochester)

Researchers Send 'Wireless' Message Using A Beam Of Neutrinos -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Mar. 14, 2012) — A group of scientists led by researchers from the University of Rochester and North Carolina State University have for the first time sent a message using a beam of neutrinos -- nearly massless particles that travel at almost the speed of light. The message was sent through 240 meters of stone and said simply, "Neutrino."

"Using neutrinos, it would be possible to communicate between any two points on Earth without using satellites or cables," said Dan Stancil, professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research. "Neutrino communication systems would be much more complicated than today's systems, but may have important strategic uses."

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My Comment: Talk about expanding the communications grid.

Were Neutrinos Faster-Than-Light .... Or Not?

'Faster-Than-Light' Particles May Have Been Even Speedier -- CBC

Subatomic particles clocked at speeds exceeding the speed of light may have been going even faster than they appeared, physicists say.

A problem with some of the equipment used in the original experiment may have led to an overestimate of the time it took the particles, known as neutrinos, to make their 730-kilometre journey, reported CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in a statement Thursday.

As a result, their speed may have been underestimated.

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Update: Two Technical Problems Leave Neutrinos’ Speed in Question -- New York Times

CSN Editor: We will know the real answer in the next few months when more tests are done.

Neutrinos Are Not Moving Faster Than Light

Really? sk8geek via Flickr

Bummer: Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos Weren't, and It Was the Cable Guy's Fault -- Popular Science

Apparently neutrinos are not moving faster than light after all — some of the brightest minds in modern physics were bamboozled by a loose wire.

If you care about physics, Einstein or controversies, you’ll recall the excitement last fall about neutrinos that were supposedly moving faster than light. The ghostly particles, which can move through the Earth and through you without slowing down, were leaving a particle beam in Geneva and traveling under the Alps to Gran Sasso, Italy, in less time than it would take light to travel the same distance. The neutrinos were only 60 nanoseconds early, but still — the result, which the experimenters could not explain, suggested they were moving faster than light.

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My Comment: I agree .... what a bummer.

Radio Telescopes Turn The Moon Into World's Largest Neutrino Detector

Neutrino Detector? courtesy of NASA

From Popular Science:

Neutrinos, the infinitesimally small particles so faint physicists used to call them "the ghost particle," have driven scientists to construct immense underground facilities simply to catch a glimpse of a single one. Now, with even the most massive detectors failing to trap certain high-energy neutrinos, astronomers have turned to a larger filter: the Moon.

Teams of scientists on the supercomputer-linked LOFAR radio telescope in Holland, and on the Very Large Array (VLA) telescope in the U.S. have both turned their attention to the Moon in hopes of recording rare neutrino interactions.

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