News

A mile underground in South Dakota, construction crews have worked diligently to carve out an extensive network of caverns and tunnels that one day will house a huge neutrino experiment. Their efforts have paid off: With almost 400,000 tons of rock extracted from the earth, the excavation has reached the halfway point.

From the Rapid City Journal, Jan. 12, 2023: An interview with Fermilab project manager Joshua Willhite on the excavation of the caverns for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) being built under the Black Hills of South Dakota at SURF. Willhite is a mechanical engineering graduate of the South Dakota Mines university who spoke with him about his love of engineering and how the program at SD Mines led to his work on DUNE. This article is an adaptation of the South Dakota Mines story that published on Jan. 10.

From CNN, Don Lincoln, Jan. 13, 2023: Because of the Montreal Protocol signed in 1987, which regulated the consumption and production of almost 100 chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, use of CFCs has decreased by 99%, and the Earth’s ozone layer is on track to recover in the coming decades.

From the DOE Office of Science: Fermilab’s Dr. Marcela Carena was recently named a 2022 DOE Office of Science Distinguished Scientist Fellow. On January 25, 2023, all are invited to join a virtual lecture given by Dr. Carena where she will discuss her research accomplishments, career journey and experiences working at the DOE national laboratories. Registration is required for this free DOE event.

From Big Think, Jan. 10, 2023: While the Standard Model is the best theory available in modern physics to explain subatomic physics, it cannot explain why antimatter isn’t observed in nature or provide an explanation for dark matter and dark energy. Don Lincoln explains how recent measurements of muons and electrons are propelling the idea that there may be undiscovered laws of nature yet to discover.

From Big Think, Jan. 6, 2023: While astronomers debate the existence of dark matter, Don Lincoln breaks down a new paper published in Nature Astronomy that claims to debunk a key observation that strengthens the case that the Universe is full of unseen matter.