Ancient Romans join neutrino hunt

Ever on the look-out for ultra-low radioactive materials to shield their sensitive experiments, nuclear physicists have struck gold with a consignment of lead that lay on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea for 2000 years. The almost completely inert ancient lead will be used to line the CUORE neutrino experiment located under the Gran Sasso mountain in central Italy.

Experiments designed to study extremely rare nuclear processes must be shielded from all possible sources of radioactive contamination, which will swamp sensitive detectors with spurious signals. The sources of interference include cosmic rays from space and radioactivity naturally present in rocks. But there is also radioactivity in the very materials used to provide the shielding, such as lead or copper. And it is here that the ancient lead comes into its own.

[via kottke]