Underground Science
Physicists and astrophysicists are listening for the equivalent of a pin drop in the universe, the faint "toc" of a dark-matter particle hitting a detector. On the surface of the Earth, billions of cosmic rays cause a commotion of confusing signals in detectors searching for evidence of dark matter. But underground, rock can shield sensitive detectors from cosmic interference. Experimenters guard the detectors from any additional radiation from the rock with tanks of water. This gives the detectors the silence they need to search for subtle indicators that would signal the discovery of new phenomena at work in the universe.
The MAX collaboration hopes to place its detectors deep underground in a future deep underground science and engineering laboratory or DUSEL