Dark Matter and Alien Life in North Yorkshire (with a picture of Rarity)

New Particle Gadgeteering blog post: Dark Matter and Alien Life in North Yorkshire describing the Boulby Underground Laboratory. I did write a Fimfiction post on my last trip there in 2015. This gives a more general overview.

Comments

[Southpaw]

No doubt pretty pastel ponies wearing hard hats with blue bows would make an exciting discovery. Someone down there on a long enough shift must have seen one.

Anyway, very interesting. The cloud science is fascinating, to me. Any luck with the experimental value? Also, I'm curious about vibration and other factors: how much does mining activity affect the possibility of experiments in the mine?

[Pineta]

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Strangely there doesn't seem to be any published data on unicorn sightings at Boulby. There's a research opportunity for someone...

I've not been following the cloud experiments too closely, but I gather the general conclusion is that while it is an effect, the impact on the climate is minimal. Vibrations are always an issue, but you can deal with it by putting your experiment in a sand box or other measures. When I was there I was more concerned about the magnetic noise from the mining activities, but the measurements we did didn't show any sign of it when underground. The mine is big and spread out, and it seems what's going on at the potash-face has little impact at the laboratory. Unfortunately that's not the case on the surface, where there was lots of magnetic noise from all the traffic.

[Booster Spice]

I thought they used heavy construction equipment in the mine, which if its the old reliable stuff, uses mechanical analog computers for diesel fuel pump injectors and pretty much only needs electrics for lights and starting.

If they did start seeing things, they should be checking the spare gas chromatograph to make sure theres no intresting volatile compounds in the air, such as secondary emmisions from treatment of clothing etc.

Sensors are intresting in that you prefer to use aluminium than Copper, because the lower atomic mass doesnt react the same way with radiation from the expreiments or something?

If you really want a good time, use Google satelite view, and follow the railway line that wanders northwards, at one point its impressively close to the cliff top.

[Pineta]

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The big machinery is the conveyor belts used to transport the mineral from the face to the shaft, which is typically several kilometres away. The miners travel around in modified land rovers. Any equipment which moving metal will create magnetic noise, but it turned out this was not a problem.

The big safety fear is an outburst of methane (firedamp), so there are gas monitors everywhere and anything that could potentially ignite it is banned, or has to be made safe. It is a standard procedure in all mines to hand in anything with a battery before you go underground - phones, camera, and even digital watches.

Yes, the cliffs there are impressive.

[Walabio]

This sounds like the sort of place Rocktrix Maudalina Daisy Pie Ph.R. (Philosophiæ Rocktrix)).

MLP:FiM is proeducation (the Mane protagonist of the Mane 6, Miss Twilight Spark, starts off as what we would consider a Graduate Student but ends up a Princess (Principissa) instead of a Philosophical Doctrix (Philosophiæ Doctrix)). It was Pro-Science/Skepticism as one sees in S01E09 Bridle Gossip Amy Keating Rogers 2010-12-10. Then came Dave “Anti-Science/Skepticism ProGenocide” Polsky:

In S01E15 Feeling Pinkie Keen Dave Polsky 2011-02-11, Dave “Anti-Science/Skepticism ProGenocide” Polsky Punishes Miss Twilight Spark for Skepticism, shows her conducting CargoCultScience in the basement, and finally concluding that ponies should giveup on understanding the universe and just believe. Dave “Anti-Science/Skepticism ProGenocide” Polsky follows up S01E15 Feeling Pinkie Keen Dave Polsky 2011-02-11 with S03E03 Too Many Pinkie Pies Dave Polsky 2012-11-17 in which we learn that it is okay to create sapient beings and then massacre them:

derpicdn.net/img/view/2012/11/20/157686__grimdark_artist-colon-racoonsan_pinkie+pie_twilight+sparkle_too+many+pinkie+pies_blood_crying_death_gritted+teeth_gun_horned+humanization_human.jpg

Even with the terrible changes the higherups allowed Dave “Anti-Science/Skepticism ProGenocide” Polsky to make, the show has allows been ProEducation. Rocktrix Maudalina Daisy Pie Ph.R. would love the mine.

[Pineta]

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I'm sure Maud would find it fascinating. But it may be more a commercial rock farmer's sort of place. She might find the rocks on offer a bit dull.
I have a draft story concerning this issue with Too Many Pinkie Pies, but my interpretation is not so unsavoury.

[Walabio]

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Do not forget the 2 escaped clones in S06E09 The Saddle Row Review Nick Confalone 2016-05-21. The 1 in the club

vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/8/8a/Club_ponies_dancing_happily_S6E9.png/revision/latest?cb=20160522171945

probably figured that Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie is her sister whom we saw earlier in the diner.

Her sister in the diner

vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/2/21/Pinkie_clone_in_the_adjacent_diner_booth_S6E9.png/revision/latest?cb=20160522192945

is petrified in fear. She probably believe that Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie is here to finish her off like that Horned Magenta HellMare did to the rest of her sisters back in Ponyville, when they had not even seen their 1st Sunset yet.

What is interesting about the test to which they subjected the clones is that it would not necessarily choose the original Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie, but would choose the calmest Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie. I suppose that the remaining 5 did not care much for Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie and hoped for an upgrade.

S01E15 Feeling Pinkie Keen Dave Polsky 2011-02-11, S02E08
The Mysterious Mare Do Well Merriwether Williams 2011-11-26, and S03E03 Too Many Pinkie Pies Dave Polsky 2012-11-17 are the UnHoly Trinity of episodes and Dave “Anti-Science/Skepticism ProGenocide” Polsky needs psychiatric help; I recommend Doctor Wolf. To this day, S03E03 Too Many Pinkie Pies Dave Polsky 2012-11-17 is the 1 episode I cannot rewatch because it is too upsetting.