Science Writing

Stories about ghostly neutrinos, the quirks of working in a cleanroom and building a dark matter detector in an underground science facility. For video scripts, scroll to bottom. Bylines prior to September 2022 are under Erin Lorraine Broberg.

Majorana Demonstrator finds ‘tantalizing’ new purpose

Scientists are using a detector originally designed to study neutrinos to pin down an elusive nuclear physics measurement.

Symmetry Magazine

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Researchers publish ‘final word’ on Majorana Demonstrator

For nearly six years, the Majorana Demonstrator quietly listened to the universe. The experiment collected data that could answer one of the most perplexing questions in physics: Why is the universe filled with something instead of nothing?

Published by Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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First DUNE science components arrive at SURF

The anode plane assemblies, or APAs, will one day capture data from neutrino collisions in DUNE’s Far Detector

Published by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

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Think like a computer

A pilot program, designed in part by educators at Sanford Underground Research Facility, is introducing computational thinking into elementary school curricula.

Symmetry Magazine

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Researchers evaluate SURF extremophiles in effort to trap carbon dioxide deep underground

South Dakota Mines researchers study microbial acceleration of carbon mineralization with extremophiles found at SURF

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To advance geothermal systems, EGS Collab maps the hidden fractures behind a wall of rock

Through core evaluation and wireline geophysical logs, researchers map the unseen rifts and fractures hidden within the rock

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Pushing rock to the breaking point with thermal breakout studies

Researchers measure in-situ stress by heating, breaking rock to advance the safety of carbon capture and storage

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The best place to be

Martin and Eileen Brosnahan retire after life-long careers at Homestake Gold Mine and Sanford Underground Research Facility

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From the atmosphere to the underground

Read the travelogue of a xenon atom as it journeys from the air we breathe to a dark-matter detector a mile underground.

Symmetry Magazine

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New discoveries from the same old rocks

David Vardiman retires after 30 years as a geologist with Homestake Gold Mine and Sanford Underground Research Facility

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The history of the Ross Hoists

Sanford Lab’s cutting-edge research supported by the lasting power of 1930s engineering

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Researchers taking inventory of the Universe have found too much and too little

After an unexpected tally of lithium in space, researchers try to pinpoint where cosmological estimates may have gone awry

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SHERLOC goes to Mars

The mystery of ancient life on Mars calls for inter-planetary detective work

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CASPAR’s newest target: neon-22

Upcoming experiment may explain how neon fuels the formation of life-giving elements in the stars

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Shh! These tests will enable a quieter search for dark matter

The LUX-ZEPLIN collaboration has published results showing radioactive background levels for experiment’s components, creating a library for future rare event searches.

Symmetry Magazine

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Why DUNE? Searching for the origin of matter

Part I in our series exploring the science goals of the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

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Video Scripting

Watch the most recent videos from Sanford Underground Research Facility, scripted and narrated by yours truly.

LUX-ZEPLIN inner detector transported nearly a mile underground

Searching for life deep underground

Dark Matter Day Q&A with LZ Researchers

Majorana Demonstrator tests detectors for LEGEND-200

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Road tripping with a germanium detector

Dodging cosmic rays, researchers make a cross-country road trip to from Tennessee to South Dakota

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Setting a 'gold standard' for ultra-pure particle detectors

Berkeley Lab's Alan Smith drove the science of measuring radioactivity in experiments’ materials and components

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The nuts and bolts of experimental science

To test a theory, collaborations must distill models of universal proportions into tangible nuts and bolts, twisting them into functional machines. This process demands the abstract realm of physics and the practical world of engineering to meet.

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Extremophiles that saved the waterways

In the 1970s, Whitlock had a novel idea: develop a strain of cyanide-munching bacteria that could clean Homestake's water before it was released into nearby stream systems.

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The experimental art of particle physics

Nicolas Angelides didn’t intend to be a physicist. It was art that first captured his attention. These days, however, he sees very little distinction between the two disciplines.

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Anything but abandoned

A thriving gold mine, delving 8,000 feet below a modest mining town with houses crouched on steep hillsides—it’s tempting for writers to create a ghost town of Lead and a decrepit caricature of the Homestake Gold Mine. There’s just one problem, though—this facility is anything but abandoned.

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