Neutrinos: The ghost particle that could explain why you exist | with Kirsty Duffy

Right now, around 100 billion neutrinos are passing through your thumbnail. You will not feel a single one. These ghostly subatomic particles are the most abundant matter particle in the universe, produced in the sun, in supernovae, at the heart of the Earth, and in bananas. They pass through almost everything without leaving a trace. And yet they may hold the answer to one of the most fundamental questions in all of physics: why does the universe exist? Filmed at the Royal Institution on 18 May 2025. __________ In this talk, particle physicist Kirsty Duffy explains what neutrinos are, how they surprised scientists for decades, and how a quantum phenomenon called neutrino oscillation proved that our best theory of particle physics is incomplete. She also introduces DUNE, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, a next-generation detector being built a mile underground in South Dakota that may finally help us find the answer. __________ Join this channel to get access to the Member's Only Q&A: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYeF244yNGuFefuFKqxIAXw/join Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe ___________ Kirsty Duffy is an Associate Professor and Tutorial Fellow at The Queen's College, University of Oxford, a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, and physics lead for the international MicroBooNE collaboration at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. She hosts the popular YouTube series Even Bananas, about neutrino physics, in collaboration with Fermilab. _________ The Ri is on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ri_science Listen to the Ri podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ri-science-podcast Donate to the RI and help us bring you more lectures: https://www.rigb.org/support-us/donate-ri Our editorial policy: https://www.rigb.org/editing-ri-talks-and-moderating-comments Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter __________ Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:07 The big questions of particle physics 3:27 The Standard Model 6:58 Neutrinos: the most abundant particle in the universe 10:08 Why have you never seen one? 14:22 Demonstration: what "small" means in particle physics 21:09 The solar neutrino problem 24:43 Neutrino oscillation explained 36:02 The experimental proof: SNO and Super-Kamiokande 43:47 Why does the universe exist? Matter vs antimatter 48:55 DUNE: the next generation experiment 57:58 Summary __________ #Neutrinos #ParticlePhysics #RoyalInstitution #Physics #QuantumMechanics #StandardModel #Antimatter #NeutrinoOscillation #GhostParticle #BigBang #DUNE #Fermilab #Oxford #Science #Astrophysics #SubatomicParticles #MatterAntimatter #KirstyDuffy #EvenBananas #FutureOfPhysics Product links on this page may be affiliate links which means it won't cost you any extra but we may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase through the link.