In a bit of computer-unrelated, but interesting, nevertheless, news, Yahoo! reports that physicists at a Neutrino Observatory in Canada have discovered the answer to a problem that has plagued scientists for some thirty years.

Neutrinos are extremely small particles (that were previously thought to be massless) that are created by nuclear reactions within the Sun's core. The reactions within the core of the star produce only one type of Neutrino. However, experiments some thirty years ago detected that, of the amount of Neutrinos thought to be produced in the Sun, less than half of those actually reached the Earth. The rest were inexplicably absent.

Physicists have wrestled with the ``solar neutrino problem'' since the early 1970s, when experiments detected a shortfall of the particles coming from the sun. The neutrino shortage meant either that theories describing the nuclear furnace at the sun's core were wrong, or that something was happening to the particles on their way to Earth.

Monday's announcement demonstrates with 99 percent confidence that it is the latter.

The experiments conducted reveal that, in fact, all of the Neutrinos reach the Earth, but that they change type between the time they are emitted by the Sun and the time the reach the Earth. This brings about an interesting development -- current theory in Particle Physics states that particles that change type cannot be massless. Therefore, contrary to past beliefs, it follows that Neutrinos must have some infantessimal mass. This undoubtedly will call for modification of some previous assumptions and theories.

The experiment to detect the new types of Neutrinos had to be conducted in an old mine shaft, about a mile underground, to prevent 'noise' in the atmosphere from interfering with observations. The Neutrinos were passed through a tank of heavy water (Deuterium), and the light given off by the collisions of the Deuterium molecules with the Neutrinos was used to determine the type of Neutrinos involved.

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