  We review the insufficiencies of the hypothesis that neutrinos and quarks are
physical particles in our spacetime; we introduce the hypothesis that the
energy and spin needed for the synthesis of the neutron inside stars originate
either from the environment or from the ether conceived as a universal medium
with very high energy density via an entity here called {\it etherino,} denoted
with the letter "$a$" (from the Latin aether), carrying mass and charge 0, spin
1/2 and $0.78 MeV$ energy according to the synthesis $p^+ + a + e^-\to n$; we
identifies compatibility and incompatibility of the neutrino and etherino
hypotheses; we review the new structure model of the neutron and hadrons at
large with massive physical constituents produced free in the spontaneous
decays as permitted by the covering hadronic mechanics; and we conclude with
the proposal of new resolutory experiments.
