From Scientific American, July 2020: Evidence for the existence of a sterile neutrino is compelling, but the idea that certain experiments might be detecting a fourth neutrino remains controversial. Projects around the world seek to settle the matter, including Fermilab’s Short-Baseline Neutrino program.

Construction workers have carried out the first underground blasting for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility, which will provide the space, infrastructure and particle beam for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. This prep work paves the way for removing more than 800,000 tons of rock to make space for the gigantic DUNE detector a mile underground.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science has selected three Fermilab scientists to receive the 2020 DOE Early Career Research Award, now in its 11th year. The prestigious award is designed to bolster the nation’s scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early years, when many scientists do their most formative work.

The biggest conference in neutrino physics kicks off on June 22, with two weeks of talks dedicated to one intriguing particle.

From DOE, June 18, 2020: It’s Pride Month, and several national laboratories have employee resource groups to advance LGBTQ+ individuals equality, inclusion and diversity in the workplace. Fermilab physicist Erica Snider, a member of the LGBTQ+ laboratory resource group Spectrum and the lab’s Scientist Advisory Council, will participate in the panel discussion on June 23 called “A Day in the Life: A Panel Discussion about LGBTQ+ inclusion.”

From The Innovation Platform, July 10, 2020: In this Q&A, Mauricio Suarez, Illinois Accelerator Research Center head and Fermilab deputy head of technology development and industry engagements, discusses the development of compact particle accelerators, using accelerators for the environment and in medicine, and commercializing technologies developed for high-energy physics.

From fixing up furniture as a kid to testing particle accelerator components at the lab and woodworking in his garage, Dave Burk has a knack for solving problems with his hands.

From Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, June 17, 2020: While COVID-19 risks had led to a temporary halt in fabrication work on high-power superconducting magnets built by a collaboration of three national labs for an upgrade of the world’s largest particle collider at CERN in Europe, researchers at Berkeley Lab are still carrying out some project tasks. Fermilab scientist Giorgio Apollinari, head of the U.S.-based magnet effort for the HL-LHC, is quoted in this piece.

From Science News, June 17, 2020: An experiment searching for cosmic dark matter may have finally detected something. But it’s not dark matter. Scientists with the XENON1T experiment reported data June 17 showing an unexpectedly large number of blips within their detector. Fermilab scientist Dan Hooper is quoted in this piece.

The 29th International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics brings together thousands of researchers for the latest developments in the field.