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MARY LOUISE KELLY: Scientists announced today that for the first time, they have been able to pinpoint the source of a particle called a high-energy neutrino. It was detected by an observatory at the South Pole. And as NPR science correspondent Joe Palca reports, finding the source of this particle opens a whole new way of looking at the universe.
JOE PALCA: At the South Pole, there's a sophisticated observatory designed to catch high-energy neutrinos, enigmatic particles produced by violent cosmic events like exploding stars. Neutrinos are sometimes called the ghost particle because they can travel virtually unimpeded across the universe. When a particularly powerful neutrino is captured, IceCube sends out an alert.
OLGA BOTNER: We had this neutrino alert in September 2017.
JOE PALCA: Olga Botner is a particle physicist at Uppsala University in Sweden....