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Cold,
clear, and quiet,
p2
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A
photodetector, on it's way down into darkness.
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Other
scientists lower crystalline spheres in long chains thousands
of meters down into the dark, clear ice,where they hang in
darkness for years, looking for the faint blue light tracings
of neutrinos. These ghostlike particles, nearly without mass,are
created by the most violent events in the universe, like black
holes and supernovae. They pass through matter nearly unimpeded,
crossing vast interstellar distances like messengers from
the formation of space and time--- in the clear, pure darkness
of the Antarctic ice these photodetectors catch some trace
of a rare collision between a neutrino and the matter our
our earth. In silence broken only by the wind and the hum
of computers, the universe is seen.
In
this cold place, humans make for themselves a warm community.
Somehow, human nature improves when there are fewer of us,
and we face some enormous outside force that threatens us---
here at the South Pole, we need each other to a degree that's
disquieting. To be alone here is to be, in some way, in danger.
The summer community of 200+ lives and eats in a space designed
for 65, and yet everyone bears with the crowding and the lack
of privacy with grace, and only the occasional snarl. It's
a
small
town-- everyone knows everyone, and gossip
is inescapable. But it's friendly, too, and at this time of
year, with family celebrating the holidays far away, it's
good to have this surrogate family around you, offering the
welcome noise and chafe of a human place, here amidst the
immense white silence.
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The
holiday feast is set in the South Pole Galley, waiting
for the diners.
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