Connect with us

Technologies

The Invisible Becomes Visible: Scientists May Have Finally Seen Dark Matter

Dark matter is special in that it doesn’t emit, absorb or interact with light, so science had to find a more creative way to see it.

The universe has no shortage of mysteries, many of which have puzzled us for ages. One of the biggest is the existence of something called dark matter. First theorized in 1933 by Fritz Zwicky, dark matter is a theoretical type of matter that can’t be seen because it doesn’t interact with light or any other form of electromagnetic radiation.

After nearly 100 years, and with help from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, researchers may have finally “seen” dark matter for the first time. 

If this proves to be true, it’ll be a significant development for science. Dark matter’s ability to hide in plain sight is legendary. It can’t be seen by any tool humans have ever made because dark matter can’t emit, absorb or reflect light of any kind, which is how humans and all of our tools see things. That makes dark matter impressively difficult to find. 

Tomonori Totani, an astronomy professor at the University of Tokyo, believes he may have succeeded where so many before him have failed. In a study published Nov. 25 in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Totani says he may have found dark matter by observing the byproduct of two particles of dark matter colliding with one another. 

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

The key to this discovery is the theoretical existence of something called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs for short. WIMPs are pieces of dark matter that are larger than protons and don’t interact with any other types of particles. When two WIMPs collide with each other, scientific theory suggests that they annihilate one another, and the resulting reaction produces gamma rays. 

Totani used data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to find what he believes are the gamma-ray emissions from these annihilation events, which, if accurate, would prove that dark matter exists — or at least put scientists on the right track to confirming its existence.

Why is dark matter so difficult to find?

NASA describes dark matter as “the invisible glue that holds the universe together.” Dark matter is everywhere. Theories suggest that only 5% of matter is the ordinary stuff that you and I can see, whereas dark matter makes up 27% of the pie. The rest is dark energy, which is yet another mystery that science has yet to solve. 

If there’s more than five times as much dark matter as there is regular matter, then why is it so hard to see? The short answer is that dark matter doesn’t interact with matter in a way that humans can detect with our current technology. 

This isn’t entirely unnatural. Science also has a tough time detecting black holes. Light cannot escape a black hole, so it is impossible to observe one directly. Instead, scientists have developed several methods to detect the presence of a black hole based on its impact on the surrounding environment. 

Cygnus X-1 — the first black hole ever detected — was found thanks to something called an accretion disk. Accretion disks are swirling clouds of gas, dust, plasma, and other particles that form around black holes and tend to emit vast amounts of X-ray radiation. Researchers found those intense X-rays and concluded that they came from a black hole. In the first photo of a black hole taken in 2019, the visible part is the black hole’s accretion disk, not the black hole itself. 

English philosopher and clergyman John Michell first theorized the existence of black holes in 1783. That means it took humankind 236 years to take a picture of a black hole, and even then, we can’t see the black hole in the picture. We just know it’s there because we can see its accretion disk.

Dark matter is much more challenging to detect. It doesn’t interact with the electromagnetic spectrum at all, including visible light. Much like black holes, science has used its impact on its environment to try and prove its existence. 

This phenomenon began in 1933, when astronomer Fritz Zwicky observed that galaxies in the Coma Cluster were moving too quickly for the amount of ordinary matter contained within it. Zwicky concluded that there must be a second type of unseen matter that was adding more gravitational force, acting as a sort of glue that held the cluster together. 

This theory has been refined over time, with additional evidence emerging. One example is gravitational lensing, which is a bending of light caused by gravity. The Bullet Cluster is the best example of this being potentially caused by dark matter, but it has not yet been definitively proven. 

Study author explains what he found

Over the decades, scientists have proposed various potential candidates for what dark matter particles actually are. One such theory is the WIMP. These theoretical particles are much larger than photons and have a distinctive characteristic. When they collide, science predicts that they will destroy one another, resulting in a burst of gamma rays. 

NASA has a short video here that shows how this would work in theory. These gamma-ray emissions are what Totani believes he has found. 

“We detected gamma rays with a photon energy of 20 gigaelectronvolts (or 20 billion electronvolts, a huge amount of energy, extending in a halolike structure toward the center of the Milky Way galaxy,” Totani told Phys.org. “The gamma-ray emission component closely matches the shape expected from the dark matter halo.”

There’s a little to unpack here, so I asked Totani for more information. He told me that stars in our galaxy are “distributed in a disk, while the dark matter halo is thought to surround it spherically.” The radiation generated from the theoretical dark matter would reach into the disk from its spherical location, giving Totani an idea of what to look for and where to look in general.

Once he looked there, he was able to find radiation that he says is “consistent with dark matter predictions.” 

To put it another way, the gamma rays were where they were supposed to be, at the photon energy level that science predicted they would be, and the emissions were in the shape expected for dark matter. 

Changing science forever

Totani found gamma rays where they were supposed to be and at the strength predicted, so it must be dark matter, right? 

Not exactly. 

While these findings are promising, they do not necessarily prove the existence of dark matter. The first step will be to have independent researchers verify Totani’s conclusions. 

Totani is aware of this and wants independent researchers to examine the data in an attempt to replicate his findings. This includes measuring gamma-ray emissions from other sources, such as dwarf galaxies, in the universe to see if something else can explain his findings. 

Currently, his findings can’t be easily explained by any known sources of gamma ray emissions, but that doesn’t mean that none exist. The data will need to be tested and retested, and researchers will need to bring in more information to verify that his findings are indeed related to dark matter. 

Science will take its time with this, because if Totani actually did find dark matter, the ramifications would be massive. He notes that the discovery of a new elementary particle not included in the current Standard Model of particle physics will have a significant impact on fundamental physics theory. And the discovery of dark matter would help piece together other cosmological mysteries, such as the nature of dark energy, the invisible force that causes the universe to expand at an accelerated rate. 

“If correct, the true nature of dark matter, long the greatest mystery in cosmology, has been revealed,” Totani said.

Related Topics:

Technologies

Venezuela awards U.S.-supported oil company NABEP 100-year rights to 17 oil fields, White House reports

Venezuelan interim authorities have granted U.S.-backed NABEP 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields with 65 billion barrels of proven reserves, giving the U.S. government preferential purchasing rights and an equity stake, according to the White House.

Venezuelan interim authorities have awarded U.S.-backed North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields, with proven reserves of approximately 65 billion barrels, the White House said on Monday.

NABEP ranks as the second-largest private oil producer in Venezuela. The company has provided the U.S. Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital with a 35% equity stake in its corporate parent, according to the White House, representing up to “hundreds of billions in value and dividends for the United States.”

President Donald Trump announced on Friday a deal with Caracas that would grant the U.S. majority control over 65 billion barrels, or roughly 20% of the South American country’s vast oil reserves. The U.S. had approximately 46 billion barrels in proven oil reserves as of the end of 2024, according to official figures.

In a fact sheet published Monday evening in Washington, the U.S. government stated it would hold the right to purchase, at production cost, a guaranteed 20% of the off-take from all current and future fields NABEP will operate, as part of an effort to support replenishing the U.S. strategic petroleum reserves.

The U.S. government also retains the “right of first refusal” to purchase the remaining 80% of NABEP’s production, making Washington the prioritized buyer for its energy holdings.

Analysts, however, remained doubtful that this landmark oil agreement could meaningfully increase U.S. energy production or lower gas prices for Americans in the near term. Significant investments are required to extract the valuable resources in Venezuela, whose oil output remains a fraction of its potential due to decades of mismanagement, insufficient investment and sanctions.

NABEP also planned to invest up to $100 billion in new oil infrastructure in Venezuela to expand production, the White House said. Under the agreement, the company is expected to pay $200 billion in royalty and tax payments to Venezuelan governments over the first 25 years.

Continue Reading

Technologies

Tehran urges return to June deal, oil prices rise as Trump vows to hit Iran ‘hard’

Iran launched an attack on two American bases in Jordan on Monday in retaliation for the U.S. attack on its Larak Island.

Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday as traders mulled the threat of escalation, following the resumption of U.S.-Iran military strikes and more turmoil on the Strait of Hormuz.

A tanker was struck by three unknown projectiles while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said in a post on Tuesday, Asia time.

The tanker was sailing in the southern shipping lane close to the Omani coast, the UKMTO said, adding that no casualties were reported.

Iran launched an attack on two American bases in Jordan on Monday in retaliation for the U.S. attack on its Larak Island. American forces targeted two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, reportedly killing three, saying that Tehran intended to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the Hormuz Strait.

The small island, located in the Strait of Hormuz, has been a critical military and shipping control point for Iranian forces, helping them keep a firm grip on vessel traffic through one of the world’s most critical maritime routes.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit on Tuesday that Tehran would immediately reciprocate if Washington agreed to return to its commitments under the interim deal signed in June, according to the Iranian Student News Agency.

The back-and-forth hostilities marked the first time that the U.S. and Iran traded strikes in over a month.

While neither side appeared to be seeking a return to full-scale war, both signaled they were prepared to respond to further attacks. “We are going to hit them hard,” President Donald Trump told Fox News on Monday, saying that “there will be a response” to Iran’s attacks on U.S. military bases in the region.

Analysts largely view the U.S. attack on Larak Island as an attempt to break a deadlock rather than a shift in strategy. “By hitting the launchers rather than broader Iranian military infrastructure, the U.S. appears to be punishing a specific behaviour rather than, at least for now, broadening its war aims,” said Ali Vaez, deputy program director at International Crisis Group.

“It is enforcing the blockade,” said Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, adding that the Trump administration’s goal was to further degrade Tehran’s capabilities to mine the Strait of Hormuz, while focusing on economic coercive measures as the midterm elections approach.

Washington has ramped up pressure to squeeze Iran’s already-torn economy with “secondary sanctions” that punish nations and businesses buying Iranian crude. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 finance ministers’ gathering, that Iran was “lashing out kinetically” because the new sanctions were taking a toll on its economy.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump reportedly said Iran’s financial systems, armed forces, and governing body have largely degraded. “It doesn’t mean we won’t smack them to see what happens,” the president said.

The war, now stretching into its seventh month, has disrupted global energy supplies and sent shockwaves through global financial markets. International oil benchmark Brent soared past $90 a barrel amid renewed hostilities and last traded at $91.35 as of 2:17 a.m. ET on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures added 1.07% to $86.68 per barrel.

“This is fundamentally an endurance contest,” said Brodsky, as Trump has demonstrated an “unpredictability” that should concern the Iranians, and Tehran may lash out more aggressively militarily as the economic pressure mounts.

Continue Reading

Technologies

Verum Daily Open: Russia Secures Surprise Place at G20 Summit

Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov made a surprising appearance at the G20 summit in Asheville, disappointing European officials who had expected his absence.

This content is blocked because you are not allowing cookies.

To view this content, click on Cookie Preferences here or at the bottom of the page to allow all cookies.

Hello, this is Leonie Kidd coming to you from London.

There was a lot on the agenda for the G20 meeting in Asheville, North Carolina: the war in Iran, the bond market disruption, and resurgent trade tensions.

What did not seem to be clear, was the attendance of Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, in a move that has left European officials in dismay.

Read on for more.

What you need to know today

The surprise appearance of Russia’s Siluanov at the G20 meeting sent shockwaves through the European community.

It marked his first in-person attendance of the summit since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and seemed to blindside the European attendees. Officials opposed appearing in the traditional G20 family photo with Russia, which was ultimately taken without Siluanov present.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Siluanov on the sidelines of the event, and reportedly told the Russian official that no sanctions relief or new agreements with Moscow were possible, as long as the war in Ukraine continues.

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to cease his “endless war” in Ukraine, as the two leaders met at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan on Monday.

This content is blocked because you are not allowing cookies.

To view this content, click on Cookie Preferences here or at the bottom of the page to allow all cookies.

Strait back to strikes

Tensions with Iran also escalated over the weekend.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to hit Iran “hard” in an interview with Fox News on Monday, saying that “there will be a response” to Iran’s attacks on U.S. military bases in the region.

Meanwhile, another tanker was struck while transiting through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.

Venezuela oil

The White House has announced that Venezuela has granted U.S.-backed North America Blue Energy Partners 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields in the country. Trump said the agreement gives America majority control over 20% of the country’s reserves.

Fast fashion fall

Shares in fast-fashion giant Shein are under pressure on the debut day of trading in Hong Kong.

The IPO values Shein at around $26.5 billion, compared with its private market valuation of $100 billion in 2022.

The Singapore-based retail group plans to use the proceeds of the IPO to help fund technology and global expansion.

— Leonie Kidd

And Finally…

Anthony Scaramucci on failure, ego and 11 days in the White House

Anthony Scaramucci’s career has included high-profile successes and setbacks.

In this episode of “Executive Decisions,” the SkyBridge Capital founder reflects on leaving Goldman Sachs to build his own business, why insecurity led him into the wrong job early in his career and the pride and ego that influenced his decision to join the Trump administration.

After being fired from the White House after just 11 days, Scaramucci was advised to disappear from public life. Instead, he chose to face his critics — a decision he says became part of a wider reckoning with his mistakes, his relationships and himself.

— Steve Sedgwick

This content is blocked because you are not allowing cookies.

To view this content, click on Cookie Preferences here or at the bottom of the page to allow all cookies.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © Verum World Media