Big Bang Gang

“Inside a laboratory nestled above the mist of the forests of south Dakota, scientists are searching for the answer to one of science’s biggest questions:” Unfortunately those questions don’t include what I think are the biggest mysteries of the Anthropocene: What the hell happened in the past few months and how do we make it stop? But the questions do consider another pretty interesting question: Why does the Universe exist? “US scientists are hoping the answer lies deep underground, in the aptly named Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (Dune). The scientists travel 1,500 metres below the surface into three vast underground caverns. Such is the scale that construction crews and their bulldozers seem like small plastic toys by comparison. Dune’s science director Dr Jaret Heise describes the giant caves as “cathedrals to science.” (In 2025 parlance, we call them basilicas of budget cuts.) BBC takes you deep underground where scientists are in a race to discover why the Universe exists. Meanwhile, I’m in a race to develop the perfect, pithy headline to use when they figure it out. (So I totally get the pressure they’re feeling.)