After three years of hard work, they observed 12 events in which one out of the trillion of tau neutrinos of the beam reacted with an iron nucleus.
I think physicists must be the most patient people on earth. I was thinking of Marie Curie extracting tiny bits of radium from pitchblende as I read this. At least today's scientists don't run the risk of radiation poisoning (do they?).
A question: because neutrinos have mass, they create a problem (contradiction?) for the standard model. At what point do scientists decide that the standard model might need adjusting? Then, everything else based on the standard model (including predictions about dark matter) might also need adjusting? As you describe it, though, this disruption to you seems exciting because it offers the possibility to make new discoveries, to expand the understanding of the universe (matter?).
Fascinating, @lemouth. I am more familiar with the structure of the atom (than I am with dark matter) because I once did a little research on the Curies, so this was easier for me to read than the dark matter blogs. Still, I think those dark matter blogs have prepared me for some of what appears here--discussion of the Standard Model, for example.
Wow. Another eye-opening blog. I think you will be excited by the work you do for the rest of your life. What a gift.
Thanks, @lemouth, for another great lesson.