Researchers are proposing the idea of using our planet itself as a “paleo-detector” to solve the enduring mystery of dark matter–Earth has been orbiting through interplanetary space for some 4.5 billion years, during which time it must have been penetrated by a new form of dark matter known as massive, super-heavy gravitinos. Strong and electromagnetic interactions with known matter may make this new form of dark matter particles with large mass, easier to track down despite their extreme rarity.
Recently, the world was transfixed when the first ever image of a black hole shown above was released by the Event Horizon Telescope. Or, to be more precise, the pictures showed the bright circle, called an Einstein ring, made by the light that just barely escaped the grasp of the black hole’s immense gravity. This ring of light was due to fact that, according the theory of general relativity, the fabric of spacetime itself becomes so contorted by the mass of the black hole that it acts like a huge lens.
An experiment to test a popular theory that dark energy –the unknown force that is causing the universe to expand at an accelerating rate– is a ‘fifth’ force that acts on matter has found no evidence of its existence. “The discovery of dark energy has greatly changed how we think about the laws of nature,” said Edward Witten, one of the world’s leading theoretical physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. who has been compared to Newton and Einstein.
The “Planet Earth Report” connects you to headline news on the science, technology, discoveries, people and events changing our planet and the future of the human species.
The “Planet Earth Report” connects you to headline news on the science, technology, discoveries, people and events changing our planet and the future of the human species.
