Cosmos yields another secret

Despite science and research slaking some of our thirst for knowledge, we can be confident that what we know is dwarfed by what we do not know. But that enticing imbalance between known and unknown has been importantly altered by the unprecedented discovery of the origin of one of the fundamental particles of the universe. Using an observatory – called IceCube – in the ice deep below the South Pole, astrophysicists have traced the origin of a neutrino to a galaxy with a massive black hole at its centre. Neutrinos, which have no electricity and almost no mass, are so small they pass through solid objects. It is extremely rare to measure evidence of their existence. But they are not rare per se; trillions of them pass through each of us without trace each second, travelling in a straight line at almost the speed of light.

The scientists’ work could help unveil some of the biggest puzzles; dark matter (which we can’t see but believe accounts for about a quarter of the universe) and black holes. And just as X-rays allow us to observe inside objects, neutrinos give scientists a potential tool for examining the cosmos other than by using light. This scientific leap might not lead to an answer to perhaps the greatest question ever posed: why is there anything, rather than nothing? It might, though, help us learn the answer to another compelling unknown; are we alone?