• Neutrinos have been a mystery for nearly 100 years, and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) was created to try to catch them.
• DUNE is a $1.7 billion project funded mostly by the Department of Energy, and it involves the most powerful neutrino beams ever created, 10,000 tons of ultra-pure liquid argon, and 800,000 tons of excavated rock.
• Neutrinos are everywhere, but they are so small and charge-free that they are difficult to catch and study.
• Other neutrino detectors, such as Super-Kamiokande and IceCube, have been built, but they have only managed to capture a handful of neutrinos.
• DUNE is now running about a decade behind schedule and over budget, and the DOE is questioning whether the project is worth the investment.
• The only way to find out if DUNE will be successful is to build it out and flip it on, but this raises the question of what scientific discovery is worth.
Published February 3, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Paul M. Sutter’s original post What Is Scientific Discovery Worth?