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Physics

The 'impossible' particle hinting at the universe's biggest secrets

Neutrinos have always been hard to explain – and now the detection of one so energetic it shouldn't exist may help illuminate the strangest corners of the cosmos

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

28 April 2025

·ï»Ë²ÊƱ. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

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For over a decade, floating cranes have been lowering a strange cargo some 3000 metres under the Mediterranean Sea. The objects look otherworldly: large, shiny spheres crammed with electronics. They are, in fact, detectors for a machine called , designed to search for one of the most mysterious fundamental particles.

The machine is still several years from completion, so got quite a shock when, in 2023, he spotted a dramatic signal in its preliminary data. It was a neutrino, as expected, but one unlike anything ever seen before. “When I first tried looking at this event, my…

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