Ghost Particles & Little Bangs

I study neutrinos, fundamental particles with tiny masses and no electric charge that are sometimes called the "ghost particle." They're all around us and streaming through us all the time, but (luckily!) they rarely interact with us. While this makes them difficult to study in the lab, this same property also makes them interesting tools for understanding our universe. I will talk about some neutrino mysteries and the kinds of experiments that we are building to solve them.

Have you ever wondered how scientists can know things about the beginning of the universe 13.8 billion years ago? About the inside of neutron stars light-years away? About particles so small that they have never been directly observed on their own? Come learn about scientists' biggest magic trick -- traveling billions of years back in time, light-years in space, and to the smallest scales imaginable, all without the help of Ms. Frizzle's Magic School Bus.