The failure of ghostly subatomic messengers called neutrinos to
show up at an Antarctic telescope has knocked down a major
astrophysical theory involving some of the most dramatic
explosions in the universe. "I would have preferred to have seen
neutrinos," says the IceCube telescope's principal investigator
Francis Halzen at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "Null
results are usually not very interesting, but in this case, it
is." Neutrinos are emitted by a range of cosmic processes. Most
stream through matter without being deflected or changed, making
them ideal long-distance messengers from distant galaxies. The
IceCube telescope monitors a cubic kilometre of ice beneath the
South Pole for neutrinos of various types, including the cosmic
variety. Vertical strings of detectors frozen into the ice watch
for flashes of blue light emitted when neutrinos strike. The
energy of the neutrino determines its source. One source of
neutrinos was thought to be explosions known as gamma ray bursts
(GRBs) - via myster