Fermilab Confirms Evidence of 4th Flavor Neutrino 122
eldavojohn writes "We've only had evidence for three kinds of neutrinos so far, but a recent test at Fermilab involving an antineutrino beam has reinforced a Michigan researcher's earlier experiment suggesting a fourth flavor. What's really odd about this is that a prior neutrino test (carried out as part of project MiniBooNE) did not result in indications of such strange oscillations. According to the researcher, 'The simplest explanation involves adding new neutrino-like particles, or sterile neutrinos, which do not have the normal weak interactions.' But this could also be an unknown or misunderstood effect. A Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist added that an explanation of this strange anomaly could result in understanding 'matter asymmetry of the universe, or why the universe is primarily composed of matter, rather than antimatter.' The results are published in the Physical Review Letters."
Cool (Score:2, Funny)
Fourth flavor (Score:3, Funny)
Sorry, I spilled my Fun Dip packet [wikipedia.org] in there...
Department win (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cool (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, but you're never going to get one to hit your taste buds.
Re:Department winur (Score:5, Funny)
No, no, no the neutrino flavors follow the same pattern as basic emotions: Happy, sad, approving, disapproving and umami. Umami is a relatively recently discovered emotion. It feels like broth.
Re:wel... (Score:5, Funny)
Those guys in white coats all look alike to me.
Re:Matter / Antimatter (Score:3, Funny)
Re:wel... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Cool (Score:4, Funny)
Billions of them pass through your taste buds every second. The problem is getting them to interact with your taste buds.
So, they have no calories!
I'm on the neutrino diet plan now. I just need to get booked on "The View" and I'll be rich!
Move over Atkins, here comes the Neutrino Diet!
Re:Matter / Antimatter (Score:1, Funny)
Except, of course, that there would be more people wearing goatees.
Re:Cool (Score:5, Funny)
tests confirm... (Score:2, Funny)
http://cheezburger.com/View/4126230016 [cheezburger.com]
Re:Matter / Antimatter (Score:4, Funny)
Well, it's simple: At big bang, the matter went forward in time into our universe, and the antimatter went backward in time into the anti-universe. :-)
And there we have it. Maxwell's Demon, telling us how it all was done!
Re:Pikers (Score:3, Funny)
Dude I totally just found it! Tennis balls are the size of tennis balls!
Boo-ya!
What's next? Ooh I know! I'll see if I can find something the size of a bowling ball! Now there's a challenge!
Now let's see... what could be the size of a bowling ball?
Re:strange anomaly? (Score:3, Funny)
Scientists acknowledge that they have only gathered about 1% of the total amount of information available in the universe.
If we keep on collecting information like that, do we not run a risk of creating a black hole or something?
Re:Matter / Antimatter (Score:3, Funny)
May I direct your attention to the three characters at the end of my post? Those letters are:
U+003A COLON
U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS
U+0029 RIGHT PARENTHESIS
You can learn more about the meaning of this character combination at Wikipedia. [wikipedia.org]
Or to make it short:
WHOOSH!
Re:wel... (Score:5, Funny)
The only physicists I've ever seen in lab coats were in angles and demons.
Angles? Were they so acute they were obtuse?
Re:Heim Theory? (Score:3, Funny)
Any sufficiently advanced particle physics... (Score:3, Funny)
This is why I love particle physics. I am a scientists by training, but not a physicist, and while I have the sense that you two are not speaking gibberish, I can't be sure :) Or to put it another way, to paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke, "Any sufficiently advanced physics is indistinguishable from gibberish."