Canadian scientists detect neutrinos suggesting uneven radioactivity in Earth's mantle
Turns out, Earth's internal heating might not be spread out evenly after all.
Scientists in Canada detected neutrinos, tiny "ghost particles," deep underground and found signs that radioactive materials in the planet's mantle aren't distributed the same everywhere.
This discovery challenges old ideas about how our planet heats itself from within.
Italy and Japan neutrino readings differ
The Canadian team picked up about 50 neutrinos, and their results don't match earlier readings from labs in Japan and Italy: Italy saw higher levels, while Japan's were lower.
These differences hint that some regions of Earth's mantle might have more radioactive elements than others.
As geochemist William McDonough puts it, "Are the Italians right? Are the Japanese right? Are they both right? Or is something wrong?"
A bigger detector in China could help clear things up soon.