Stimulus funding a shot in the dark

[question everything]

Part of the state's federal stimulus money is being used to build a big lab to catch tiny nuclear particles underground.

By JENNIFER BJORHUS, Star Tribune

Insulation, turkey breasts, wind turbines, buses, crime labs, unemployment checks. ... In the mountain of goods and services being funded by the $4.7 billion-plus American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars flowing into Minnesota, one project stands out: $40 million to build a laboratory near the Canadian border to catch ghostly neutrinos fired at Minnesota from Illinois. The little-known physics lab -- think three-quarters of a football field underground -- is one of the most exotic basic research projects being financed by the $787 billion act. With $40 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, crews are in the process of blasting the lab out of granite in the woods near remote Ash River.

The lab ultimately carries a $270 million price tag and offers a window on $21.5 billion that the recovery package is pouring into scientific research and development in the name of fostering long-term jobs with impact. Critics have argued that such public projects aren't the best way to juice an ailing economy.

Jobs? Sure. Dozens while it's being constructed, and 10 permanent lab jobs when it's finished. But don't expect the Nova Far Detector Laboratory to spawn Google-like innovations anytime soon. This is basic science. Neutrinos are elusive, relatively massless subatomic particles that come from the sun and from radioactive decay and whiz through matter every day. Scientists study them to glean insights into the origin of the universe. It could take a lifetime for information from the new laboratory to generate any practical uses, said physicist Marvin Marshak, the University of Minnesota professor heading the project. We're trying to understand the matter/antimatter asymmetry in the universe," said Marshak, 63, of St. Louis Park. "What history tells us is that sometimes the questions you ask to try to understand the universe ..., the knowledge you gain later on has practical applications. When you do it, you don't know the applications."

The U of M is building the lab as part of a consortium with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) near Chicago and a variety of universities around the world. It will be a sister to the existing neutrino lab housed about a half-mile underground in the Soudan mine on the Iron Range. They're the only labs in the United States doing neutrino experiments, Marshak said.

Not everyone is sold on the lab. Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano and a gubernatorial contender, scoffed when informed of the neutrino project. "Minnesotans want jobs, not science fair projects," Emmer said. "Bringing long-term private employment is the real solution for Minnesota." Adolfson & Peterson Construction, the St. Louis Park contractor building the lab, sees it differently. The Nova lab has been a needed shot in the arm during a year of painful layoffs. "It's a really important project for jobs, at least near-term," said Doug Jaeger, Adolfson & Peterson CEO. "You and I might not see the results for many years, but this is the type of research that needs to be done to keep the U.S. economy innovative."


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http://www.startribune.com/business/79465092.html

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It would be nice if we resurrect the days when we funded basic research for the sake of knowledge, not necessarily for "benefits."