SuperK Neutrino Detector Severely Damaged.

Eric Sharkey writes "The Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector, which announced the discovery of neutrino oscillation and mass in 1998 (covered by Slashdot at the time), has been severely damaged. The NY Times (free reg, blah blah) has an article here. Most of the phototubes have been destroyed. Repair estimates top $30M, leaving the world far less capable of observing the next supernova neutrino burst, should it arrive before repairs or a replacement could be completed." CD: I called the lead of the project and he was in the tank checking out the damage. The webpage for the Super-Kamiokande is here. There are pictures for you to peruse.

The answer is obvious

[donglekey]

They should have used a surge protector, not just a power strip. Too late now!

Pick A Punchline...

[Bowie J. Poag]

Allrighty, step right up and pick the punchline that best matches this story:

#1: These photos are fake!! Theyre from the inside of Studio 54!! Look up in the balcony in the 4th image, you can see Liza Minelli smokin a bong!

#2: It should be easy to build another Super K detector. Just look for trailer parks...Super K's tend to spring up in low-income areas where Wal-Mart hasn't already established a commercial presence..

#3: So SuperK is handicapped...Does that make it "Special K" ?

hee hee

In other news...

[c_jonescc]

1,800 Japanese Grad students are looking for a new advisor, citing "extended duration of research project" as the reason. Each potential particle-physicist has a co-authorship of several papers, all shared with the other 1,799 students and their advisors. It is expected that many will go into theory soon, as the resulting projects can be finished this decade. One student was overheard saying "first I was put as 234th author on our last paper, and now the experiment is gone. I've had it, I'm going into astronomy, man! Or maybe condensed matter theory, but not this! Not anymore!"

Future Nytimes

[Henry V .009]

In other news:

Nov 12, 2050,

Scientists working with Japan's Super-Duper-Kamiokande anounce that they have lost containment on a micro black hole.

Apparently, an undergrad triped over the power cable.

Officials tell us that there is no need to panic. The mini black hole plunged straight to the center of the earth.

Happily, it will feed on the other mini black hole that was created when the first copy of Windows 2047 was burned onto CD and collapsed on its own data mass -- it was thought at the time that the universe was acting to protect both itself and the second law of Thermodynamics from Windows 2047's immense entropic mass.

There is some speculation that the black hole could actually provide enough energy to run Windows 2047, but Physicists are highly dubious.

Slashdot checked a story??

[Gorimek]

The apocalypse is near, and chrisd is it's harbinger. Calling the place the story is about is a dead giveaway. A real slashdot editor would never do that.

Bin Laden lauds neutrino detector blast

[serutan]

Bakhrubabad, Afghanistan - Speaking from his hidden mountain stronghold, Osama bin Laden praised the destruction of the Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector Tuesday. The terrorist leader said neutrinos are "...an abomination on the face of God," and termed the search for neutrinos "...idolatry, which will be smashed beneath the fist of righteousness." Bin Laden, who once called neutrinos "little messengers of Allah" abruptly reversed his stand upon learning that a steady stream of neutrinos was constantly penetrating every cell in his body. He now vows "not to rest until the last neutrino has been obliterated from the face of the earth."

Ashcroft: Supernova could explode this week

[MillionthMonkey]

The FBI is warning again that a supernova may explode and send a massive number of energetic neutrinos toward U.S. interests worldwide, possibly this week, and that the world's neutrino telescopes should be on the highest alert.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said the warning -- the second this month -- was based on credible information, described by others as coming from sources outside the solar system. The information did not specify the type of supernova or whether the progenitor star would have a binary companion, Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft tried to walk a fine line between giving the public prompt and necessary warnings and not causing panic.

The alert "gives people a basis for continuing to live their lives the way they would otherwise live them, with this elevated sense of alertness or vigilance that comes from knowing that the planet could be vaporized any second," Ashcroft told a news conference.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said the previous supernova warning may have helped avert an explosion. Ashcroft said the absence of a supernova should not lull people "into a false sense of indifference."

"It's important for the American people to understand that these (alerts) are to be taken seriously," said Ashcroft, who canceled plans to travel Monday to Toronto to address a conference of near-earth asteroid experts.

Officials said the warning was based in part on intelligence that terrorists may set off a supernova within 1000 light years of the earth, in the aftermath of the Afghan bombings by U.S. and British forces.

"There certainly is intelligence that causes you to be concerned, and possibly that al-Qaida may be behind it," said one senior U.S. official, speaking only on condition of anonymity.

Ashcroft said that all neutrino observatories were advised to go on the highest alert. Federal agencies, meanwhile, were increasing security and authorities were boosting their efforts to keep suspected neutrinos from entering U.S. airspace- either by coming down from above or by emerging from the ground after a trip through the center of the earth.

Re:Slashdot checked a story??

[dragons_flight]

Calling the place the story is about is a dead giveaway.

Not only is it entirely atypical behavior for slashdot, one has to wonder why it is that chrisd didn't trust the New York Times? Did he think SuperK would give him more details than were already in the story?

More wild speculation

[Tsar]

A few random thoughts:

I don't know how much their missions overlap, but does this put any more urgency on getting the Ice Cube [slashdot.org] neutrino scope up and running?

Whilst I'm here, I've been mulling over some possible reasons for the accident:

• SuperK Technicians ignored the pump signs warning not to "top off"
• They accidentally filled it with heavy water
• Water level was correct, but wash cycle was accidentally bumped from "Delicates" to "Heavy Duty"
• Weekend Sumo Bellyflop contest got a bit too rowdy this week
• Detector tubes? We thought you ordered defective tubes!
• Drunken revelry, celebrating yet another discovery of the Higgs boson

Re:Supernovae

[Paul Komarek]

Although the thesis sometimes feels like it takes 500 years...

-Paul Komarek

Whoa, dude...

[phillymjs]

Bill: "I'm Bill S. Preston, Esquire."
Ted: "And I'm Ted "Theodore" Logan."
Bill, Ted: "And together, we're WYLD PHYSICISTS!"
Bill: "Ok, the maintenance dudes are done. I'm gonna refill the water tank."

<cacophony of pops as the light detectors implode>

Ted: "Strange things are afoot at the Super-K."
Rufus: [reassuringly to the camera]: "They do get better."

~Philly

What did they expect?

[sysadmn]

It serves them right for adding that big red "SELF DESTRUCT" button. Of course, it didn't help that the Mad Scientist (er, Project Director) just stood there boasting about taking over the world instead of firing the dang thing.

This sounds suspiciously like....

[Unknown Bovine Group]

This sounds suspiciously like the plot of Half-Life [sierra.com].

Re:Next Supernova

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I happen to be employed in the star demolition business as a implosion-explosion engineer and if everything goes as scheduled, blue supergiant Sher 25 will be destroyed in just a matter of minutes. I've confirmed with my people on the ground at Sher 25 and they've told me that all the charges are in place and they're just clearing the area to avoid unnessary damage to neighboring stars. Once they do their final check and wire the detonator, I'll begin the countdown.

Re:Here's why (a guess)

[Peter Harris]

Nah. They just detected a 50kg "Bastardino". These hardly ever interact with matter, but when they do you want to get out of the f**king way. Creating a sensitive and expensive instrument to detect such exotic particles is just asking for trouble in my opinion ;)

Just an irrational and uneducated guess.