Not that I understand this very well — I’m afraid I didn’t learn much about neutrinos in my English classes in college — but according to this article, scientists are preparing to build a telescope that will be the second largest structure ever constructed by man, coming in second only to the Great Wall of China.

The KM3net telescope planned for the sea bed under the Mediterranean will be a network of detectors with a volume of several cubic kilometres, built to detect neutrinos - tiny, fast-moving particles that pass straight through water and even solid rock.

And to what purpose: to scope out neutrinos under the Mediterranean sea. Neutrinos are fast-moving subatomic particles, and detectors are often installed deeply underwater to eliminate most of the interference. Each detector, and there will be a network of them, will be taller than the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai:

The sea water in between the 900m KM3Net detectors works as a giant optical ‘detector’ – the detectors look for ‘flashes’ caused by neutrinos hitting water atoms.

Most of the neutrinos pass straight through, but the few that do collide with atoms will be picked up by the huge telescope.

The detector’s discoveries could propel research in dark matter and high energy physics.

Construction could start as early as next year.