A group of researchers communicated a message through 780 feet of solid stone using a beam of neutrinos, the University of Rochester announced Wednesday. When the message came out the other side, the scientists were able to read it perfectly: it said, perhaps unimaginatively, "Neutrino."

Neutrinos are nearly massless and travel very close to the speed of light. Because they only interact with matter via gravity and the weak force, they can pass through substances, including entire planets, with little disruption. Scientists have talked about using the particles as a messaging alternative to cables or satellites, sending messages to the other side of the earth by going through the earth, rather than going around the long way or sending messages into space and back again.

The equipment to send neutrino messages is still wildly expensive. The researchers who sent the "Neutrino" message used a particle accelerator at Fermilab with a 2.5-mile-circumference track and the 5-ton particle detector named MINERvA. To signal the message, the scientists used binary code, with a group of neutrinos fired corresponding to a 1 and no neutrinos fired corresponding to a 0. Even MINERvA can only detect about one in 10 billion neutrinos, so the particles had to be fired in very large numbers to register.

Because the equipment is so expensive, actual communication with neutrinos is still a long way off. Still, the authors note that the particles are barely affected by gravity and not affected at all by magnetism; eventually, they could provide a stable alternative to the electromagnetic waves we use now.