Matter’s Missing Piece Shows Up

Physicists have found the first direct evidence for the last of the 12 subatomic particles considered the  fundamental building blocks of matter. A research team from the United States, Japan, Korea, and Greece has unveiled four sets of particle tracks that it attributes to the long-sought tau neutrino.

One particle per trillion in a suspected tau neutrino beam (from left) strikes an iron nucleus, spraying particles through layers of steel, plastic, and charge-detecting emulsion (narrow bars).