Neutrinos are invisible almost mass-less particles that offer potential new opportunities for the future, from greater scientific understanding of dark matter to commercial opportunities such as improved global communication. Ray Jayawardhana's book - Neutrino Hunters - provides a wealth of information on the subject, exploring opportunities for the future. Neutrino research is already occurring with many organisations investing in the area. For example, the DUNE neutrino experiment. Two potential applications for neutrinos influenced what I wrote in my next novel, Sentient, which is set in the year 2120.
Firstly, the potential to provide more detailed x-ray capability, given neutrino's can pass through matter. Importantly they leave a telltale sign, changing their spin as they do that. This potentially allows for more accurate identification of previously unexplored areas such as deep cavities of mineral or oil deposits in the Earth's crust.
The second application of interest is the possibility for faster communication. Given neutrino's can pass through almost anything, there's potential to develop communication technology that transmits messages directly through Earth rather than over it.
My next novel, Sentient, is set on Mars, where two adversarial companies are mining the planet's rare deposits of a newly discovered mineral, Elithium. Both companies are utilising its benefits, but for different reasons. One company wants to use Elithium to terraform Mars, a major objective of humans in the 22nd century, given the climate emergency on Earth. Whereas their adversary wants to use the resource to fuel their expanding inter-solar and inter-galactic operations, a key aim of the growing 'post-human' population, seeking to evolve the homosapien race to a new era of homocosmos.
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