New Scientist: Designed to detect radio waves emitted when a high-energy cosmic neutrino interacts with the ice, the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), flying on a giant balloon, has instead detected ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. Eric Grashorn of Ohio State University in Columbus and colleagues, who published their findings in Physical Review Letters, were at first puzzled by unexpected patterns of radio waves until they realized that the signals were generated by electrons produced when cosmic rays collide with molecules in the air. “They have actually found a new way to detect high-energy cosmic rays,” said Francis Halzen of the University of Wisconsinâmdash;Madison, who works on the IceCube neutrino telescope in Antarctica.
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
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