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Muons: the little-known particles helping to probe the impenetrable

The ubiquitous particles are helping to map the innards of pyramids and volcanoes, and spot missing nuclear waste.
  1. Elizabeth Gibney
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The muon is going mainstream. The particle, a heavy version of the electron that rains down on every square centimetre of Earth, is little known outside particle physics — and last year it helped archaeologists to make a stunning discovery of a previously unknown chamber in Egypt’s Great Pyramid1.

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Nature 557, 620-621 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05254-2

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 25 May 2018: This article has been amended to make clear that the dome of Florence’s cathedral is not at immediate risk of collapse.

References

  1. Morishima, K. et al. Nature 552, 386–390 (2017).

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  2. Alvarez, L. W. et al. Science 167, 832-839 (1970).

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