Strange radio waves detected beneath Antarctica

Fortune India

Mysterious radio signals from Antarctica

Antarctica isn't just a region blanketed with ice. It is also a source of rich scientific data about our earth. But some say, this remote continent where no man lives, also houses a deep mystery. And researchers, recently, have started discovering strange radio waves emanating from deep within the region. So what's going on?

What's happening?

Recently, a group of scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, have detected mysterious radio signals, that seem to confound the very foundation of particle physics. As per their journal paper, the signals were discovered by the scientific instrument, Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA).

Findings

According to the researchers, these radio bursts travelled possibly through thousands of kilometres of rock before hitting the detector. It was so low and the barriers so many it should have been killed. But somehow it reached the scientists.

Serendipity

The radio signals actually were discovered by accident, when the scientists were searching for the elementary particles, neutrinos.

Mystery particle?

Radio signals show the presence of matter. And scientists feel every second thousands of neutrinos pass through our bodies, without interacting with us. Which means, the word is out still on the nature of these new radio waves.

What could the signals be?

There is no answer, yet. Scientists are still scratching their heads as to what they can mean. They are not neutrinos, but can they signify the presence of sub-atomic particles that physics has not detected yet? If so, it can rewrite the rules of physics entirely.

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