This year's Nobel Prize in Physics went to Francis Halzen for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a detector buried in Antarctic ice that caught high-energy neutrinos from deep space. It took decades and a huge international effort to pay off. Is that kind of long-shot fundamental physics worth the money, or should budgets chase faster payoffs?
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A detector a kilometre into the ice is just cool.
Basic research is where the big breakthroughs come from.
Hard to sell to taxpayers, but worth it.
GPS came from 'useless' physics too.
Lol. neutrinos are wild, they pass through you right now.
Congrats to the whole IceCube team.
Fund cancer research first, honestly.
Agree — fund cancer research first, honestly.
Neutrinos are wild, they pass through you right now.
Fair point, but a detector a kilometre into the ice is just cool.
Sure, and basic research is where the big breakthroughs come from.
Exactly. hard to sell to taxpayers, but worth it.
A detector a kilometre into the ice is just cool.