Science Facilities and Laboratories
Debate between Alison Hume and Jonathan Davies(3 days, 10 hours ago)
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Alison Hume
I thank the hon. Member for making that important point. We lead the way in physics in the UK, and we want to continue that and continue to inspire young minds.
Jonathan Davies (Mid Derbyshire) (Lab)
I draw colleagues’ attention to the fact that I chair the all-party parliamentary group on UNESCO world heritage sites. There is a question over the future funding of Jodrell Bank at the moment. Will my hon. Friend join me in asking the Minister to look at what we can do to ensure that that site, which has inspired many young people, will continue to be funded properly and retain its UNESCO designation?
Alison Hume
I thank my hon. Friend for making that important point. I will come to Jodrell Bank later in my speech; I completely agree that it needs to be saved.
Dark matter is thought to make up most of the matter in the universe. It has played a major role in shaping the cosmos, but despite decades of effort it is yet to be detected. Discovering what dark matter is made of will be one of the biggest discoveries of our time. The Boulby lab has been a frontrunner in the race since the 1980s. It is the birthplace of the ZEPLIN technology that is now used in the world’s leading dark matter experiments. I want to welcome some of the incredible scientists working at the Boulby underground laboratory to the Public Gallery today, and thank them for making the journey down to Westminster.
In recent years, Boulby has been preparing to host a massive international experiment seeking to detect dark matter. This is not the stuff of films and TV—it is really happening. It is called the XLZD, and it is a $1 billion international science project that would build upon the legacy of ZEPLIN to create the most sensitive dark matter detector ever constructed. Only a small number of underground laboratories worldwide are considered capable of hosting such an experiment, and Boulby is one of them.