Scientists hunting an invisible form of matter that pervades the universe and holds galaxies together claim to have found it underneath a mountain in Italy.
The discovery, at a laboratory built deep into the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo, could end a 70-year race to find “dark matter.” Physicists believe that most of the mass of the universe is in a “dark” form.
The existence of dark matter was first postulated in 1933 by a Swiss astronomer. The astronomer observed that distant galaxies must be held together by a huge gravitational pull caused by some apparently invisible form of matter. It gained the name “dark matter” because it does not shine or reflect light.
PHOTO: AP/NASA-ESA
Researchers led by Dr Rita Bernabei at the University of Rome claim that a giant detector inside the mountain laboratory has picked up signs of dark matter. The signal suggests that it could be made of theoretical particles known as axions. The discovery was announced at a physics conference in Venice. The experiment was designed to detect dark matter in space as Earth flies through it.
Scientists are unlikely to take this single result as hard proof. Many say the discovery will have to be replicated by groups around the world before they can be sure they have finally shed light on dark matter. Earlier this year British researchers became the latest to join the hunt, using a laboratory deep inside an old salt mine in the north of England. The labs are built underground to shield them from other particles that could smother dark matter signals.
“We are pretty sure now that this is not a statistical fluke,” said astrophysicist Frank Halzen, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who heard Bernabei’s talk at the conference. “We should pay attention to this. We should not just ignore it,” he told the New Scientist journal.(THE GUARDIAN)
正在尋找一種看不見的物質的科學家宣稱,他們已在義大利的一座山底下偵測到這種遍及宇宙,且能將星系團綑綁在一起的物質。
這項發現可望結束科學家們七十年來競相尋覓「暗物質」的情況;該研究團隊的實驗室設在阿布魯其的巨石峰地底。物理學家認為宇宙絕大部分是由「暗」物質主導。
暗物質存在這項假設最早在一九九三年由一位瑞士天文學家提出,他觀察發現,遙遠的星系團間必定是被某種看不見的物質形式所產生的極大引力綑綁在一起。「暗物質」之所以得名,是因為它既不會發光,也不會反射光線。
由羅馬大學的莉塔.伯納貝博士所帶領的研究團隊宣稱,巨石峰實驗室內一個巨大的偵測儀已經偵測到暗物質的訊號許多團隊反覆檢驗後,該訊號顯示暗物質可能是由一種叫做「軸子」的理論粒子組成。這項發現在威尼斯的一場物理研討會上發表,這項實驗是為了探測地球在太空所飛越的暗物質而設計。
科學家們不太可能將此單一發現當成鐵證;許多人表示,這項發現必須經由世界各地才能確定他們是否終於讓暗物質露出一線曙光。今年年初,英國研究人員利用北英格蘭一個老舊鹽礦深處的實驗室進行偵測,成為最新加入搜尋行列的團隊;為了不讓其他粒子覆蓋過暗物質的訊號,這些實驗室都設置在地底。
「我們現在相當確定,這不是一個統計上的偏差,」威斯康辛大學麥迪遜校區的天體物理學家法蘭克.赫辛聽到伯納貝在研討會上的講解後,對《新科學人雜誌》表示:「我們應該重視、不應該忽略這個發現。」
(衛報�翻譯:袁星塵)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)