From WDCB’s First Light, Jan. 19, 2020: In this 13-minute radio piece, First Light host chats with Fermilab’s newest artists-in-residence Patrick Gallagher and Chris Klapper during their visit to the lab. While the science being done at Fermilab is amazing, if you’re not a particle physicist, that work can be difficult to understand. Making it understandable is one of the goals of the artist-in-residence program.
In the news
From UKRI, Jan. 23, 2020: Representatives from UK Research and Innovation and the U.S. Department of Energy have signed an agreement that outlines £65 million worth of contributions that UK research institutions and scientists will make to the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and related projects hosted by Fermilab. DUNE will study the properties of mysterious particles called neutrinos, which could help explain more about how the universe works and why matter exists at all.
From Gizmodo, Jan. 23, 2020: Fermilab scientist Peter Kasper guides Gizmodo writer and birder Ryan Mandelbaum around the Fermilab site to look for birds.
From STFC, Jan. 23, 2020: Representatives from UK Research and Innovation and the U.S. Department of Energy have signed an agreement that outlines £65 million worth of contributions that UK research institutions and scientists will make to the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and related projects hosted by Fermilab. DUNE will study the properties of mysterious particles called neutrinos, which could help explain more about how the universe works and why matter exists at all.
From Scientific American, February 2020: Collaborators from eight institutions have come together to turn a mine shaft at Fermilab into the world’s largest atom interferometer — MAGIS-100. The researchers plan to assemble the instrument in 2021 and start harnessing lasers to expand submicroscopic strontium atoms into macroscale “atom waves” soon after. Fermilab scientist Rob Plunkett comments on the mind-boggling experiment.
From SLAC, Jan. 13, 2020: Matching up maps of matter and light from the Dark Energy Survey, hosted at Fermilab, and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope may help astrophysicists understand what causes a faint cosmic gamma-ray glow.
From PBS Space Time, Jan. 6, 2020: Why is there something rather than nothing? The answer may be found in the weakest particle in the universe: the neutrino. In this 10-minute video, PBS Space Time host Matt O’Dowd and Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln explore the mysteries of the neutrino and how Fermilab is tackling them. The elusive neutrino may hold powerful secrets, from the unification of the forces of nature to the biggest question of all: Why is there something rather than nothing?
From CNN, Jan. 1, 2020: Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln discusses how Betelgeuse, a star in the constellation Orion and one of the brightest stars in the heavens, has observably dimmed in recent months, a sign that some astronomers interpret as a warning that the star will explode in one of the most powerful and dramatic events in all of the cosmos — a supernova.
From Kane County Chronicle, Dec. 16, 2019: The Commission on Excellence in Ecological Restoration has recognized Fermilab with a Chicago Wilderness Excellence in Ecological Restoration Award. The commission was impressed with the lab’s knowledgeable staff, their work and its dedication to helping protect, restore and maintain one of Chicago Wilderness’s significant natural areas.
From Black Hills Pioneer, Dec. 13, 2019: Scientists at Fermilab and the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota are eager to begin collecting data from the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, which is hosted by Fermilab. But before the world’s largest neutrino experiment can begin producing results, more than 800,000 tons of rock will need to be removed from the 4,850-foot level of a former mine to make room for the detectors.