SURF sets standard as next-generation of experiments build on Black Hills research

Majorana Demonstrator experiment paves way for more aggressive studies that could overturn human understanding of universe

Researchers at SURF work inside a clean room glove box on the decommissioning of the Majorana Demonstrator. (Courtesy of Stephen Kenny/SURF).

Deep underground in the Black Hills, scientists are chasing one of physics’ rarest and most important mysteries — a process so improbable it might occur only once in 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years.

That’s right — 26 zeros.

And if scientists in South Dakota and beyond can prove a theory known as neutrinoless double-beta decay, it could overturn the entire framework of human beings’ understanding of the universe.

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