UK Science Agency refuses funding for Large Hadron Collider upgrade
Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider have detected signals that could help reveal dark matter, but the UK Science Agency has refused to fund an upgrade, BBC News reports.
How it was covered
- BBC One was the only channel found covering it, concentrating on dark matter signals, the zeptiverse scale and the funding cut's impact on UK scientists.
- Channel 5, BBC News, BBC Two, Channel 4, GB News, ITV and Sky News: not found in tracked broadcasts.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story. Facts only one channel reported are attributed to it.
BBC News reported that scientists at the Large Hadron Collider have detected signals that could help bring dark matter into view. According to the BBC, the invisible material is thought to make up much of the universe and to link stars, galaxies and planets in a vast cosmic web.
According to BBC News, the research focuses on the zeptiverse, a scale a billion trillionth of a metre where dark matter particles and undiscovered particles might interact with quarks. BBC News reported that studying these interactions could help physicists work out the particles' true nature and develop a more complete theory of how the universe works.
BBC News reported that the UK Science Agency has refused to fund an upgrade to the experiment. The BBC said this could mean British scientists working on the LHCb experiment may not be able to work on the next phase of the project.
One researcher told BBC News they were looking at jobs abroad because there seemed to be more opportunities there. The researcher said many friends had already moved abroad and that moving elsewhere might be the best way to continue working on LHCb. They called the situation a shame.
The body that made the funding decision told BBC News it continued to support research at CERN as one of its second largest funders. It said it had many exciting research projects to choose from and not all of them could be funded.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Researchers reported detecting signals at the Large Hadron Collider that could help reveal dark matter. | |
| The UK Science Agency declined to fund an upgrade to the Large Hadron Collider experiment and said it continued to support CERN research, noting that not all projects could be funded. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The only broadcast in the sample treated the story as a science explainer with a funding consequence. It spent most of the segment walking viewers down to the zeptiverse scale before reporting the UK Science Agency's refusal and its effect on LHCb researchers. It included a researcher's concerns about leaving the UK and the funding body's statement that not every project can be funded.
- “We're knocking on the door of this zeptiverse, this tiny, tiny world.”
- “I am looking at jobs abroad because that seems to be where there are more opportunities at the moment.”
- “The problem is that the UK Science Agency won't fund an upgrade to the experiment.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.