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Fermilab Confirms Evidence of 4th Flavor Neutrino

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."

19 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Cool by Haedrian · · Score: 2, Funny

    Will they be ever available in chocolate?

    1. Re:Cool by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes, but you're never going to get one to hit your taste buds.

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    2. Re:Cool by AnonymousClown · · 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!

      --
      RIP America

      July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001

    3. Re:Cool by Fractal+Dice · · Score: 4, Funny

      Next up: "When Cantor Sets collide"

  2. Fourth flavor by Pojut · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sorry, I spilled my Fun Dip packet in there...

  3. Department win by Verdatum · · Score: 4, Funny

    4th flavor of neutrino; "I hope it's grape", that's just good comedy right there.

  4. Re:Department winur by migla · · 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.

    --
    Some of my favourite people are from th US; Vonnegut, Chomsky, Bill Hicks.
  5. Re:wel... by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Those guys in white coats all look alike to me.

  6. Re:Matter / Antimatter by Barrinmw · · Score: 2, Funny

    We would know because everything would be spinning in the opposite direction. ;-)

  7. Re:wel... by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 2, Funny

    Flannel shirts != white coats

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  8. Re:Matter / Antimatter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Except, of course, that there would be more people wearing goatees.

  9. tests confirm... by eegad · · Score: 2, Funny
  10. Re:Matter / Antimatter by jschen · · Score: 3, 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!

  11. Re:Pikers by Bigjeff5 · · Score: 2, 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?

    --
    Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
  12. Re:strange anomaly? by ardle · · Score: 2, 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?

  13. Re:Matter / Antimatter by maxwell+demon · · 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.

    Or to make it short:
    WHOOSH!

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  14. Re:wel... by slick7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The only physicists I've ever seen in lab coats were in angles and demons.

    Angles? Were they so acute they were obtuse?

    --
    The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
  15. Re:Heim Theory? by BobFulton · · Score: 3, Funny

    Soo.. 2 wrongs don't make a right, but 3 lefts do?

  16. Any sufficiently advanced particle physics... by orichter · · Score: 2, 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."