Neutrino Particles May Be a Link to the Dark Sector
&gt; The idea that our experiments might be detecting a fourth neutrino remains controversial, however, because the Standard Model of particle physics is one of the most tested and thoroughly confirmed theoretical frameworks in history—and it allows for only three neutrinos.<p>I am frustrated with how the &quot;Standard Model&quot; has become a veil with which a priestly particle physicist class hides sacred knowledge of how the universe works from plebeians like myself.<p>Why does the Standard Model only allow for three neutrinos? Is it because the math says so? Is it because some other maths only work if this number is three? Does it come from some fascinating group-theory or symmetry groups that nobody teaches at a highschool math level? I can&#x27;t be the only one who wants to learn more about this stuff.<p>I don&#x27;t believe that the Particle Physicist or the broader Physics community is at fault here. I blame our approach to school education.<p>If we accept that it&#x27;s ok for a 14 year to be bewildered at quadratic equations and is expected to accept the &quot;Don&#x27;t worry, it&#x27;ll all make sense later&quot; line, it should also be possible for the same student to learn about Heisenberg&#x27;s uncertainty principle, the basics of non-Euclidean geometry and symmetry groups.<p>Our society today has several cohorts of adults who do not have the necessary foundations to understand the Standard Model. We don&#x27;t plan to educate children in schools today to be able to understand this stuff. It will take a highly motivated adult several years of self study to reach a point where the Standard Model becomes approachable. Do we really want to live in the world where an attempt to understand fundamental truths about the universe can only be an extremely ambitious goal?<p>History shows us how the world changed when the first translations of the Bible became widely available. We need to think hard about what lessons we can learn and how to apply it to the comprehension-inequality that plagues our world today.<p>I wonder if the stagnation in Particle Physics after 2012 needs a second renaissance led by a generation who grew up never hearing the phrase &quot;Nobody understands Quantum Mechanics&quot;.