Scientists who want to detect neutrinos must build their detectors deep underground or underwater to filter out the cosmic rays that constantly bombard Earth. (Neutrinos travel through matter, regardless of how dense.) Francis Halzen, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, realized decades ago that Antarctica was an ideal spot because the ice was thick enough to bury thousands of light sensors more than a mile deep. When a neutrino chances to slam into an atomic nucleus in the ice, an electron or muon (a heavier cousin of the electron) is created, releasing a trace of light. That trace of light can be picked up by IceCube, an underground telescope and particle detector at the South Pole. Halzen is one of nearly 250 people involved with the project.
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