  IceCube has recently observed 37 events of TeV-PeV energies. The angular
distribution, with a strong preference for downgoing directions, the spectrum,
and the small muon to shower ratio in the data can not be accommodated assuming
standard interactions of atmospheric neutrinos. We obtain an excellent fit,
however, if a diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy (cosmogenic) neutrinos
experiences collisions where only a small fraction of the energy is transferred
to the target nucleon. We show that consistent models of TeV gravity or other
non-Wilsonian completions of the standard model provide cross sections with
these precise features. An increased statistics could clearly distinguish our
scenario from the one assumed by IceCube (a diffuse flux of astrophysical
neutrinos with a E^{-2} spectrum) and establish the need for new physics in the
interpretation of the data.
