The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced, on Tuesday, that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics had been awarded to the Belgian scientist Francis Halzen, in recognition of his “decisive contributions to the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin,” in the achievement of opening a new window on the secrets of the universe.
According to the Nobel Prize awarding body, Halzen's honor is due to his scientific vision, which enabled researchers to use Antarctic ice to detect particles known as "neutrinos," which are particles spread throughout the universe, but they rarely interact with matter, which makes their detection extremely difficult.
In 1988, Halzen first proposed the idea of using Antarctic ice to detect neutrinos. When a neutrino collides with an atomic nucleus, it can produce a very weak flash of light, which special sensors can detect inside the ice.
The Antarctic region provides suitable conditions for this type of monitoring, as relatively pure and transparent ice extends beneath it. The region is also characterized by its geological stability, which helps reduce sources of interference that may affect monitoring operations.
Halzen's idea was supported by other researchers, and a few years later, preliminary experiments were conducted using sensors buried inside the ice. The idea later developed into building the “Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory,” which extends within about a cubic kilometer of ice.
The observatory was completed in 2011, and includes a huge network of light sensors distributed within the ice at great depths. These devices capture flashes resulting from neutrino interactions, allowing scientists to determine the properties, directions, and possible sources of these particles.
Particles penetrating the ground
Neutrinos are found almost everywhere, but they do not interact easily with matter. Millions or billions of them can pass through the Earth and our bodies without us feeling them or noticing their effects.
In very rare cases, a neutrino interacts with an atomic nucleus, and this interaction produces a flash of light that can be picked up by specialized monitoring devices. For this reason, scientists need to use huge volumes of material, such as ice, to increase the chances of recording these rare interactions.
Neutrinos are of particular importance because they can reach Earth from distant cosmic sources without deviating from their path or losing a large amount of their energy, unlike many other particles that are affected during their journey through space.
A new window on the most violent regions of the universe
Scientists have long known that the universe contains massive natural “particle accelerators,” capable of firing particles with up to a million times the energies that can be achieved in laboratories on Earth.
But many of these sources are still mysterious, as scientists do not fully know what they are, their locations, or the physical processes that occur within them and produce these enormous energies.
High-energy neutrinos arise in the same environments as other types of particles. However, its ability to travel huge distances without deviating from its path or losing much of its energy makes it a unique tool for studying these extremely violent cosmic environments.
After operating the Ice Cube Observatory, researchers were able to observe the first high-energy neutrinos. Then, a few years later, they announced the discovery of neutrinos that proved they could not have originated within our solar system, which opened the door to a systematic search for the sources of these particles in the universe.
Since then, the Ice Cube devices have continued to record neutrino interactions on an ongoing basis, providing scientists with new information about the cosmic environments capable of producing these high-energy particles, and may help in the future to reveal previously unknown cosmic phenomena.
Tracking the sources of neutrinos
The study of neutrinos has also helped physicists test and understand the processes that occur inside the Sun, in addition to what happens during the explosion of stars.
The basic idea behind “Ice Cube” is to advance the science of “neutrino” astronomy to a new level, in the hope that these particles will provide information about cosmic phenomena that may hide behind dust clouds, or about objects that are so distant that other forms of radiation may have weakened or disappeared during their journey to Earth.
It is expected that the science of “neutrinos” will witness significant development in the coming years, with the emergence of new projects that follow the path paved by “Ice Cube” and expand the ability of scientists to monitor these mysterious particles and use them to understand the most extreme regions of the universe.
In line with its stumble at the global box office, the movie “Digger” recorded a weak opening in Saudi Arabia, after Tom Cruise’s latest film grossed only 1.8 million riyals ($480,000). This is one of the weakest openings for his films in the Kingdom since the return of cinema, at a time when the film became the talk of international cinema circles, which began to wonder about the reasons for the failure of a project that brings together one of the biggest movie stars in the world and the Oscar-winning Mexican director, Alejandro Gonzalez. Inarritu. According to the latest data from the Saudi Film Authority, “Digger” sold only 26.1 thousand tickets during its first week, from September 27 to October 3, ranking third at the box office.
The opening seems remarkable given the popularity enjoyed by Cruise's films in the Saudi market, especially the action works with which his name is associated. In 2025, “Mission: Impossible: The Last Judgment” opened at about 6.5 million riyals ($1.73 million), more than three times the opening of “Digger.” As for “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One,” it ended its journey in Saudi cinema, collecting about 33.4 million riyals ($8.9 million).
Cruise's most prominent Saudi experience remains with "Top Gun: Maverick," which in 2022 generated about 85 million riyals ($22.7 million). Even in its fourth week of showing, the film was collecting about 6 million riyals ($1.6 million), more than three times what “Digger” achieved in its first week.
Cruz is outside the safety zone
But the numbers of “Digger” tell one part of the film’s story, as the project itself represents a clear turning point for Cruise, who has built his cinematic image in recent years around huge action films, impossible missions, and dangerous scenes that he performs himself.
In “Digger,” Cruise changes his skin... He appears with white hair, wrinkles, and unfamiliar features created by cosmetic effects, and abandons the image of the athletic hero who runs, jumps, and defies death, to play the character of Digger Rockwell, an aging oil tycoon whose actions cause an environmental disaster that threatens the world. The physical transformation is accompanied by a deliberately loud and exaggerated performance, which places Cruz in a different character than the one his fans have become accustomed to in recent years.
A sudden change in the movie
One of the most controversial elements of Digger has to do with its structure itself. The film begins as a satirical black comedy about a wealthy oilman facing an environmental disaster that he caused, and Cruise gives a loud performance, amidst a very strange visual world. Then the film changes course and tone sharply, redefining the story the viewer thought they were in to follow. This transformation opened the door to contradictory readings. A team saw in it boldness that gave the film additional layers, and a team found that the film that started with a specific path suddenly turns into a different, more abstract and complex experience.
Hence the question becomes, “Why did Digger fail?” More complex, especially since the film had on paper the elements of a huge Hollywood project, with a star the size of Tom Cruise, an Oscar-winning director, a high budget, an acting transformation for its hero, and an idea that mixes black comedy with political and environmental satire.
Disappointing global numbers
Globally, the numbers were harsh, as “Digger” opened with $8 million (30 million riyals) in North America, and added $12 million (45 million riyals) from 73 international markets, bringing its global opening to $20 million (75 million riyals).
Estimates of the film's production budget vary between $125 and $180 million (469 and 675 million riyals), after the project began with a budget of $125 million before its costs increased as the production period extended, while the company spent about $100 million (375 million riyals) on marketing. Industry sources estimate the break-even point at about $350 million (1.31 billion riyals) globally. This equation made the film, immediately after its opening holiday, a subject for analyzes of potential losses and reasons for failure, transforming within days from a project carrying great expectations into one of the most prominent box office failures in the current year 2026.
A Saudi paradox in cinema
Despite this stumble, the Saudi market recorded a paradox different from the global scene. Locally, “Digger” was slightly ahead of “Verity,” which collected 1.7 million riyals ($453,000) from 26.6 thousand tickets, compared to 1.8 million riyals ($480,000) for “Digger” from 26.1 thousand tickets. Globally, the picture was greatly reversed, as “Verity” opened at about $62.5 million (234.4 million riyals), more than 3 times the opening of “Digger.”
This came in a week full of anticipated films such as “Digger” and “Verity,” during which the number of films shown in Saudi cinemas increased from 57 to 63 films, but the box office recorded a noticeable decline. Total revenues fell from 18.6 million riyals ($4.96 million) in the previous week to 15.9 million riyals ($4.24 million), a decline of about 14.5 percent, which shows that the push of new films did not give the Saudi box office the expected momentum.
Dr. Karl Deisseroth spent long hours answering congratulatory calls, after learning in the early hours of Monday morning that he had won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, in recognition of his contribution to establishing a new field in neuroscience known as “optogenetics.”
But the California-based scientist soon asked for a break from all this attention to perform a more ordinary task: preparing school meals for his children, who were sleeping in the family home in Stanford, while their father spoke in the middle of the night with journalists and well-wishers.
Deisseroth (54 years old) shares this year's medicine award with two researchers from Germany, in recognition of their work in the field of "optogenetics," a field that combines light and genes to activate or deactivate neurons in living brains.
Deisseroth, who describes himself as a night owl, often working until after midnight, is a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a professor at Stanford University. He said that after reviewing research papers and emailing his students, he had gone to lie down when he received a call from the Nobel Committee in Stockholm.
He told the Associated Press: “I almost felt like I had lost the ability to form words, but after a minute or two I regained my composure.”
He quickly regained his ability to speak, and conducted remote interviews with the agency's science reporters, while quick email correspondence with the Stanford communications team facilitated communication between the two parties.
“I haven't had any real sleep,” he said an hour after the announcement.
While science reporters spoke with Deisseroth by phone and Zoom, an AP photographer and videographer raced to his home at Stanford.
The photographer arrived at about three-thirty in the morning, to find Halloween decorations hanging outside the house, and only one light lit inside. He was worried that he might have come to the wrong address, before he gathered his courage and knocked on the door.
The scientist's wife, Dr. Michèle Monje-Deisseroth, opened it and brought him into the house, where the Nobel laureate was taking calls on the couch.
Monji Deisseroth, a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and professor of pediatric neuro-oncology at Stanford, sometimes stood next to her husband, and sometimes went off to prepare coffee for the Stanford communications team that joined the celebration. Deisseroth told the agency that he was surprised that his work received the honor of the Nobel Prize, while his wife was not surprised.
He recalled the process of research he conducted with his fellow Nobel laureates, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel, and pointed out its impact on reality.
He said: “At my core, I am a doctor and a scientist at the same time. I am a psychiatrist who cares about my patients, whether they suffer from autism or depression. I care about the hope this work holds. But at the same time, I am a basic science scientist, interested in understanding this amazing organ, the brain, and how it works, integrates and processes information and produces everything that makes us human.”
When Deisseroth finished his interviews, he told the Stanford team that he needed an hour-long break starting at 6:30 a.m., explaining that his children were about to wake up and would need their meals before heading to school.
When a Stanford representative asked whether the midnight noise would disturb the neighbors, Dr. Monje Deisseroth played it down, saying that they lived in faculty housing and that the neighborhood was full of Nobel Prize winners.
