Experimental neutrino detector. Technician holds a sapphire used in an experimental neutrino detector built by Joseph Weber in the 1980s. Weber believed that pure samples of very stiff crystals, such as sapphire, could be used to detect neutrinos. Since neutrinos have extremely high frequencies, and are able to travel through the Earth, he proposed a new form of long distance telecommunication. Neutrinos are fundamental particles that exist throughout the universe. They lack electric charge and have almost no mass. At present they can only be detected using huge detectors such as those at CERN or SLAC. Photographed at the Pirelli Research Centre, Milan, Italy.