[HN Gopher] IceCube observes seven potential tau neutrinos
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       IceCube observes seven potential tau neutrinos
        
       Author : gmays
       Score  : 87 points
       Date   : 2024-04-25 18:43 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (phys.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (phys.org)
        
       | jprd wrote:
       | Every. Time.
       | 
       | Every single time this science hits headlines I have at least (5)
       | seconds of trying to understand how O'Shea Jackson suddenly had a
       | scientific addendum to neutrinos and if that is as-cool or cooler
       | than "No Vaseline".
        
         | morgango wrote:
         | Well, there ain't no tellin' when he's down for a jack move ...
        
         | lagrange77 wrote:
         | Right, i was also like "well, that's even more impressive, than
         | the truck driver becoming a coder at 38 from a few days ago.".
        
         | aidenn0 wrote:
         | Straight outta Amundsen-Scott / Crazy observatory named Ice
         | Cube / From the gang called "physicists with attitude" / when
         | I'm called on / I find a lepton / they emit Cherenkov radiation
        
       | huytersd wrote:
       | Do you think the people that named this program knew about the
       | rapper?
        
         | ericcholis wrote:
         | I got more than a little excited that somehow O'Shea Jackson
         | picked up an interesting hobby.
        
         | exmadscientist wrote:
         | Probably! There were lots of us grad students on Francis's
         | floor! But I don't think he cared very much about that sort of
         | thing. (Maybe more than he cared about being on my committee,
         | though? OK, low bar.)
         | 
         | I really do think it's named that because it looks like a cube
         | and it's made in the ice. So, y'know, icecube.
        
         | ambicapter wrote:
         | I mean, ice cubes are also a real thing that existed before the
         | rapper.
        
           | huytersd wrote:
           | Yeah but the question was about how familiar the people
           | involved might be with the rapper. I would imagine any 30+
           | American or European (probably) would.
        
             | ars wrote:
             | Not me. I was very confused by some of the messages here
             | until I saw your comment.
             | 
             | I take it he's a well known? I've never heard of him.
        
               | huntertwo wrote:
               | Very well known in the states - take a look at his
               | wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Cube
        
               | ziddoap wrote:
               | He was a founding member of N.W.A, which was very
               | influential to the rap scene:
               | 
               | > _They were among the earliest and most significant
               | popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap
               | subgenre, and the group is widely considered one of the
               | greatest and most influential groups in the history of
               | hip hop music_
               | 
               | > _Rolling Stone ranked N.W.A at number 83 on its list of
               | the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time"._
        
         | Fishkins wrote:
         | About 12 years ago someone told me Francis said they would've
         | named IceCube something different if they'd known about the
         | rapper. I can't find any references to that quote now, though.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | It is Friday, and you ain't got shit to do, so...might as well
         | find some neutrinos
        
       | m3kw9 wrote:
       | So IceCube can so do exotic physics? He can def rap though.
        
       | wanderingstan wrote:
       | The IceCube observatory is incredible:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IceCube_Neutrino_Observatory
       | 
       | Incredible to image a square kilometer of pure ice transformed
       | into a sensor to detect rare subatomic particles!
        
         | packetlost wrote:
         | I worked with a former SW technical coordinator who came right
         | from IceCube. The software that runs their analysis and stuff
         | like that is insane. Many, many terabytes of data to crunch.
         | It's very cool stuff
        
           | fch42 wrote:
           | I did an internship with the Amanda (Antarctic Muon and
           | Neutrino Detector Array) project - IceCubes "Pathfinder" - in
           | the mid-1990s, and found it one of the most rewarding
           | experiences in my life. There are over 30 years of work from
           | hundreds of people in this project, and to see how it has
           | really made it from "madcap folly" to "a new lens to the
           | universe" gives me the shivers. Hat's off to them.
        
             | packetlost wrote:
             | It's a truly impressive project. Glad to hear your
             | experience there was also a good one.
        
         | SamBam wrote:
         | That's the kind of thing where I can't even imagine how the
         | project conceivers and directors can even have the creativity
         | and chutzpah to envision a $300 million dollar lab made by
         | boring dozens of tubes 2 kilometers into the south pole to
         | create a giant _cubic_ kilometer of sensors.
         | 
         | Obviously I'm glad such people exist.
        
           | jgalt212 wrote:
           | I believe these folks saw $300MM as a modest and cost
           | effective ask given what the usual table stakes are in
           | particle physics.
        
         | jgalt212 wrote:
         | The Telescope in the Ice was an enjoyable read.
         | 
         | https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33573932-the-telescope-i...
        
         | frob wrote:
         | Also on a massive scale, there's the Pierre Auger cosmic ray
         | observatory. It covers an area about the size of Rhode Island.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Auger_Observatory
        
       | charlie0 wrote:
       | I've been watching too much Rick and Morty. I thought this was
       | related to Water-T and the show at first glance.
        
         | hn_version_0023 wrote:
         | Seems like it might be time to _crunch the numbers_
        
       | duffyjp wrote:
       | I went to UW Madison and now work there and know someone who did
       | a rotation at IceCube (doing tech support). It would be a really
       | neat life experience but Wisconsin is already too cold for my
       | taste.
       | 
       | What they do it totally out of my field, but I love hearing about
       | it. It's a big source of pride in the university.
        
       | concomitant wrote:
       | Clearly, it was a good day
        
       | nimbius wrote:
       | you could say today was a good day...
        
       | timmattison wrote:
       | I was hoping to hear he went from rapper to physicist. Guess not.
        
         | simple10 wrote:
         | I immediately went to ChatGPT to generate an image of a rapper
         | observing neutrinos. Sigh.
        
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       (page generated 2024-04-26 23:00 UTC)