Physicists at Sussex University went underground to make a success of one of their latest projects.
Sixty scientists from across the world met at the university last week to discuss the latest developments in a £110 million project called the main injector neutrino oscillation search (Minos).
The Minos project studies the properties of sub-atomic particles called neutrinos by sending a beam of them through the ground from a site near Chicago to a detector more than 400 miles away in northern Minnesota.
Sussex is one of only three UK universities, along with Oxford and University College, London, involved in the project.
Senior lecturer Philip Harris said: "We are responsible for the energy calibration of the detector.
We designed and built a system that uses ultrabright LEDs and 125 miles of optical fibres to help us do this."
The detector resembles an enormous sliced loaf and weighs as much as a battleship.
Half-a-mile underground, it can be accessed only through a narrow 19th Century mine shaft.
Hexagonal steel plates, 25ft across, are interleaved with a special plastic that emits tiny flashes of light when charged particles pass through.
Of the billions of neutrinos passing through it, only a tiny fraction will interact, creating a small shower of particles that can be detected by measuring little flashes of light.
Meanwhile, Sussex physicist Jonathan Hare received an award from the Institute of Physics for his work on promoting science to the public and schools through lecture tours and a variety of television programmes.
A research team at the genome damage and stability centre, led by Penny Jeggo, has been awarded £147,000 by the Leukaemia Research Fund (LRF) to look at abnormalities in DNA damage and repair in some leukaemias and lymphomas.
The team will look at Seckel Syndrome, a rare inherited condition. It has recently discovered that a faulty enzyme in the syndrome prevents the body repairing damaged DNA.
Similar defects in DNA repair have been found to predispose some people to certain forms of leukaemia and lymphoma.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article