archaeologists just discovered something new inside the largest pyramid in Egypt. "The most important discovery in the 21st century! " And they did it without actually doing any digging.
They used something called cosmic ray muon radiography. Here's how that works and what they found. Okay it's kind of like they took an enormous x-ray of the pyramid but instead of using x-rays they used muons.
Muons are really cool, they're created when cosmic rays from space crash into Earth's atmosphere. They're constantly hitting the Earth's surface and they can pass through almost anything like rocks or buildings or pyramids. By placing detectors inside and around the pyramid scientists were able to track how many muons passed through the Great Pyramid and how many were absorbed which allowed researchers to see a hidden corridor that hadn't been discovered without the researchers ever needing to touch anything.
This is a big deal not just because we discovered something awesome inside the Great Pyramid but also because we're using muons in a different way. We've usually used them to study the cosmos but now we're using them to study things that are a lot closer to home like the inside of a volcano to prepare for eruption or the inside of a shipping container the screen for hazardous materials. If you like this kind of optimistic tech stories follow for more.
