Science · 2026-10-20 · Afternoon briefing

China's underground lab prepares to weigh the neutrino

In a subterranean complex 700 metres beneath southern China, a vast experiment is poised to solve one of particle physics' greatest puzzles. The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory, or JUNO, has been designed specifically to determine the mass of neutrinos, the subatomic particles that pass through most matter undetected.

The results could fundamentally alter our understanding of the universe. According to Silvia Pascoli, a physicist at the University of Bologna, the existence of neutrino mass is the sole piece of direct evidence from particle physics that the standard model—the reigning theory of fundamental forces and particles—is incomplete. A definitive measurement would confirm the precise point where the current map of reality breaks down.

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• Yale prepares critical tech for 4,850 feet underground DUNE neutrino detector

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