Thursday, April 3, 2025

Today in Science: Dark matter could be a shadow realm of the universe

April 2, 2025—Dark matter may be a whole hidden sector of the universe, astronauts launch into polar orbit, and the shingles vax could protect against dementia.

—Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

TODAY'S NEWS

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Fram2 mission astronauts aboard soars into orbit.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Fram2 mission lifts off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on March 31, 2025. Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images

SpaceX's Fram2 mission launched Monday night. It is the first ever to take astronauts into polar orbit, carrying four crew members between Earth's North and South Poles in about 45 minutes. | 3 min read
The shingles vaccine may protect against Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, a new study shows. | 3 min read
The new leader of the NIH fired four leaders and thousands of employees at the agency. | 4 min read
A long-simmering disagreement over the universe's present-day expansion rate (called the Hubble tension) shows no signs of resolution, leaving experts increasingly vexed. | 7 min read
State and local emergency responders were warned last week to prepare for FEMA to be abolished or drastically reduced. | 4 min read

More News

The Dark Sector

For the past three decades, the search for dark matter has come up empty. Astrophysicists know it exists–they've measured the gravity of the mysterious substance that fills and shapes galaxies and other large cosmic structures, but which is still transparent to photons. But pinning down precisely what it is still eludes scientists. (Dark matter is not to be confused with dark energy, which is a yet-to-be-identified force pulling the universe apart.)

A new idea: Astrophysicists have embarked on many involved and expensive experiments to try and identify the single particle that might be dark matter. But some scientists hypothesize that, rather than being one type of particle, dark matter might be a whole new sector of particles and forces. "There could be dark atoms—made of dark protons, dark neutrons and dark electrons—held together by a dark version of electromagnetism," writes Kathryn Zurek, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology.

How it works: Dark matter particles could occupy a so-called hidden valley of the energy scale. The dark sector particles would exist at lower energies than some traditional hypothesized dark matter particles such as WIMPS (weakly interacting massive particles). To find the hidden valley, physicists need a "connector," that is, an interaction between dark matter and regular matter that can tunnel between the accessibility barrier between them.

Schematic compares two dark matter paradigms. Standard Model particles are represented as a circle in a low valley to the left of a hill. On the right, the dark sector particles are in a higher valley. Force tunnels through the hill represent different levels of energy that act as connectors between the two particle categories.

Jen Christiansen

Next steps: To produce a connector, Zurek and colleagues have begun experimenting with so-called polar materials, like sapphire and quartz, which produce strong phonons (a unit of vibrational mechanical energy) that seem like they would interact well with dark photons. Such materials would need to be placed in very quiet and contaminant-free environments. Setting up such experiments could take years.

Explore the dark sector: Next week, Zurek will sit down with Scientific American senior space and physics editor Clara Moskowitz for a digital discussion about the hidden world of dark matter. This event is open to Scientific American subscribers only, so if you're already a subscriber, log in to your account to sign up.

Dark matter is the hidden mass of the universe. But what if it's more mysterious than we thought? Join theoretical physicist Kathryn Zurek and science journalist Clara Moskowitz to learn about the latest research and compelling findings.

Sign Up!

EXPERT PERSPECTIVES

Last week, Trump administration officials leaked plans and rationale for bombing Yemen on a group chat on Signal (which also included the editor in chief of the Atlantic magazine). This is a prime example of "groupthink" in political psychology, writes Dan Vergano, senior opinion editor at Scientific American. First described in 1972, "groupthink leads to premature decisions, often bad ones, spurred by conformity within groups where any one person feels that disagreement is impossible," he says. | 5 min read

More Opinion

WHAT WE'RE READING

A marine biologist discovered an octopus with a brood of babies living in the bottom of a bottle on the seafloor off the Florida Keys. | Vox
ProPublica wanted to talk to people working in the federal government. So it bought an LED billboard truck. | NiemanLab
The work of the eclectic American futurist Alvin Toffler has had a strong influence on China's digital transformation since the 1980s. | The New York Review

For decades, physicists have been trying out and testing many different hypotheses to explain dark matter—the two leading candidates are WIMPS and axions, both particles. In the next decade or so, experiments will begin to test these particles' mass ranges. Whether by route of a single particle or an entire sector of particles and forces, the hunt is ramping up.

The universe is a dark place, but we are lucky to live in a bright spot. Thank you for joining me on an illuminating journey of science discovery. Send any thoughts or suggestions to: newsletters@sciam.com.

—Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

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Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Watch chilling 1st views of Earth's poles seen by SpaceX Fram2 astronauts (video)

'In a heartbeat': Astronauts would fly Starliner again | Chilling 1st views of Earth's poles by Fram2 astronauts | Earth is in the firing line of powerful M5.6 solar flare

Created for ceo.studentlike.spuniv@blogger.com | Web Version

April 2, 2025

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Something amazing every day.

The Launchpad

(NASA)

'In a heartbeat': Astronauts would fly Starliner again

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore both say they'd ride on Boeing's Starliner again, despite the issues the capsule had on its first crewed flight.

(Fram2)

Chilling 1st views of Earth's poles by Fram2 astronauts

The first humans to orbit over Earth's north and south poles are sending back images from their spaceflight, and the views are incredible. SpaceX launched the private Fram2 mission Monday (March 31), sending a crew of four spaceflight rookies into an orbit never before flown by astronauts. The crew is riding aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience in a polar orbit around the planet, on a trajectory that flies Resilience above some of Earth's most remote regions.

Watch now

Skywatching

(NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center)

Earth is in the firing line of powerful M5.6 solar flare

The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center is placing the chances of an X-class flare - the most powerful category of solar flares - at 25% over the next three days. If such an eruption occurs and is accompanied by a CME, Earth could experience strong geomagnetic storms, which may lead to disruptions in radio communications, satellite operations, and GPS systems, but also enhance the chances of breathtaking auroras.

Spaceflight

(JAXA/Takuya Onishi)

Floating blue-eyed robot keeps watch on the ISS

What's black and white and can see you when you float? Japan's Internal Ball Camera-2: an experimental free-flying robot designed to take photos and video of the astronauts onboard the International Space Station while they are going about their day-to-day activities.

Science & Astronomy

(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

SPHEREx space telescope takes its 1st cosmic images

You know how the James Webb Space Telescope is said to be revolutionizing astronomy because it can study wavelengths hidden to human eyes? Well, those wavelengths lie in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum - and on April 1, NASA announced its brand new infrared space telescope, SPHEREx, has officially opened its eyes to the cosmos as well.

SpaceX

(Fram2)

Fram2 billionaire watches launch on the way to his own

"We're gonna watch a rocket launch while on our way to a rocket launch," Wang wrote on social media as his crew drove to their Cape Canaveral launch site in black Tesla sedans. (The license plate on one read "Fram2Go.") He also shared a video of his view of the SpaceX Starlink launch as it soared over the Clint Hurdle baseball field of Merritt Island High School after lifting off from the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Technology

(Lockheed Martin Corporation/Gary Tice)

X-59 'quiet' supersonic jet aces key 'cruise control' test

NASA's new X-59 supersonic jet is a step closer to flight after passing an important ground test in March. Known as "engine speed hold," the test ensured that the X-59 can maintain a specific speed when it flies for the first time later this year.

Entertainment

(XYZ Films)

'Watch the Skies' is giving us Swedish Spielberg vibes

The latest entry into the mysterious mire of flying saucer mania is a new abduction thriller from Sweden called "Watch The Skies." The ominous title is a nostalgic nod to the finale of director Christian Nyby's "The Thing From Another World" from 1951, where Scotty the newspaper reporter character warns the whole world of potential extraterrestrial visitors over the radio.