Neutrinos are some of the most enigmatic particles in all of physics. Sporting a neutral charge and a mass close to zero, neutrinos rarely interact with other matter and as such have been notoriously difficult to observe. Scientists have still learned a great deal about them — including identifying three neutrino types (electron, muon and tau particles) — but observing them has been quite another matter. Although neutrinos have been detected using advanced equipment, physicists have hoped to better understand neutrinos by seeing them within a particle collider.
Now, thanks to scientists at two separate institutes, neutrinos have been detected in a collider — and the world of physics may never be the same.
