North Carolina Researchers communicate without wires through 240 meters of solid rock.

tgDaily ^ | March 15, 2012 | Kate Taylor

[HenryArmitage]

Scientists have for the first time sent a message using a beam of neutrinos, through 240 meters of solid stone.

The team's not telling us how long the message - which said, simply, 'Neutrino', took to arrive.

"Using neutrinos, it would be possible to communicate between any two points on Earth without using satellites or cables," says Dan Stancil, professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University.

"Neutrino communication systems would be much more complicated than today's systems, but may have important strategic uses."

The most intriguing thing about using neutrinos to communicate is that they can penetrate almost anything they encounter. This could be a particularly useful feature for submarines, for example, or for sending messages in space, allowing them to travel straight through a planet.

Because of their neutral electric charge and almost non-existent mass, neutrinos aren't affected by magnetism or gravity, so can travel almost unimpeded.

The experiment was carried out at Fermilab, using its particle accelerator and a multi-ton detector called MINERvA, located in a cavern 100 meters underground.

The message consisted of the word 'Neutrino' in binary format. The neutrinos needed to be fired in large groups, because they're so hard to spot that, even with a multi-ton detector, only about one in ten billion is detected.

After the neutrinos were detected, a computer on the other end translated the binary code back into English.

"Of course, our current technology takes massive amounts of high-tech equipment to communicate a message using neutrinos, so this isn't practical now," says University of Rochester physics professor Kevin McFarland.

"But the first step toward someday using neutrinos for communication in a practical application is a demonstration using today's technology."

[HenryArmitage]

It looks like there is great need for a more effective system of detection.

[loungitude]

Can they get a message into B-HO’s head?

[scripter]

This is really interesting. I love technology.

[bgill]

As if a 240 meters of solid stone would muffle the neighbors’ barking dog.

[bunkerhill7]

-duhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

If you tap on a railroad track with a hammer one mile away you can hear it at the other end with your ear on the track [with no train coming]

duhhhhhhh
moronic scientists never had a childhood evidently

[namvolunteer]

U.S. taxpayers paid for this research, it should be expressed in yards, feet and inches. Get the UN and its standards out of the United States.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

If you use neutrinos, at least the European kind, you send them tomorrow’s lottery numbers today!

[Pecos]

Those must have been nutrino-filled railroad tracks.

[6ppc]

Can they get a message into B-HO’s head?

No way...it's way to thick!

On a more practical note...if they have to send such large number of neutrinos to make sure at least one is detected it sounds like reliability is an issue. I'm a lot more interested in research on quantum entanglement.

[Savage Beast]

Only a few years ago, the first computers were as big as rooms, and the internet had not even been conceived.

[Bobalu]

Makes me think of the very early days of wireless experimentation.

One of the earliest transmitters (AC spark gap)

The matching receiver (iron filing detector)

This is the actual distance covered during the public exhibition

[LRS]

Did Uhura acknowledge the call?

[PUGACHEV]

You have to wonder why, after decades of listening, we have not detected radio signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. I've always had a suspicion that it is because there are much better ways that we have not yet discovered to communicate across great distances than by using radio signals. We have broadcast radio signals on a large scale for less than a century, and perhaps we, like other civilizations, will soon discover a better way.

[righttackle44]

I’m an American. How far is 240 meters? Is that the same as 240 metres? If you talk to me in terms of feet and inches, I’ll understand.

[Boogieman]

Ummm... scientists voluntarily use the metric system because it’s better suited to their work.

[HenryArmitage]

I would be impressed if a dog could bark through 787 feet of solid stone.

[HenryArmitage]

fForgive me if your post was sarcasm. It is a little over 780 feet.

[HenryArmitage]

The ‘240 meters of solid stone’ was added for sensationalism. This method of Neutrino firing has been tested by firing from Italy to Switzerland and has been received. Theoretically, they should be able to pass through the Earth and a large portion of them unhindered. The distance is not relevant, and I’m part to blame for not changing the headline. What is relevant in this article is that this is the first time a message has been sent.

[Moonman62]

Because of their neutral electric charge and almost non-existent mass, neutrinos aren't affected by magnetism or gravity, so can travel almost unimpeded.

Anything with energy is affected by gravity, which would include neutrinos.

[HenryArmitage]

Anything with energy is affected by gravity, which would include neutrinos.
True. However since the mass/energy of a neutrino is so small it has never accurately been measured, I would have to think the gravitational effect on it is even smaller. But your point is taken, it is foolish to assume since something is too small for us to measure that it does not exist.