‘Junk DNA’ No More: Johns Hopkins Investigators Develop Method of Identifying Cancers from Repeat Elements of Genetic Code

Repeats of DNA sequences, often referred to as “junk DNA” or “dark matter,” that are found in chromosomes and could contribute to cancer or other diseases have been challenging to identify and characterize. Now, investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have developed a novel approach that uses machine learning to identify these elements in cancerous tissue, as well as in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) — fragments that are shed from tumors and float in the bloodstream. This new method could provide a noninvasive means of detecting cancers or monitoring response to therapy. Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that uses data and computer algorithms to perform complex tasks and accelerate research.

El Estudio de la Energía Oscura: Revelando lo invisible

El Estudio de la Energía Oscura (también conocido en inglés como Dark Energy Survey) fue un programa de observación de seis años diseñado para explorar el cosmos con el fin de comprender mejor la energía oscura, un concepto complejo que se desarrolló cuando los científicos se dieron cuenta de que el Universo parecía estar rompiendo sus propias leyes de la física –supuestamente inmutables. Pero, ¿cómo se observa algo que no se ve? ¿Y por qué los científicos están tan convencidos de que realmente hay algo que buscar?

The Dark Energy Survey: Uncovering the Invisible

The Dark Energy Survey was a six-year observing program designed to survey the skies in order to better understand dark energy — a complex concept that developed when scientists realized that the Universe seemed to be breaking its own supposedly immutable laws of physics. But how do you observe something that cannot be seen? And why are scientists so convinced that there is really something to search for?

First-of-its-kind measurement of the Universe’s expansion rate weighs in on a longstanding debate in physics and astronomy

A University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led team used a first-of-its-kind technique to measure the expansion rate of the Universe, providing insight that could help more accurately determine the Universe’s age and help physicists and astronomers better understand the cosmos.

Mapping Dark Matter Like Never Before

A new groundbreaking image from one of the world’s most powerful telescopes that reveals the most detailed map of dark matter distributed across one quarter of the sky, and deep into the cosmos, offers scientists a perspective that may lead to new methods to demystify dark matter. The research that led to the image, completed by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) collaboration, also provides further support to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which has been the foundation of the standard model of cosmology for more than a century.

Halos and dark matter: A recipe for discovery

About three years ago, Wolfgang “Wolfi” Mittig and Yassid Ayyad went looking for the universe’s missing mass, better known as dark matter, in the heart of an atom.

Their expedition didn’t lead them to dark matter, but they still found something that had never been seen before, something that defied explanation. Well, at least an explanation that everyone could agree on.

Department of Energy Announces $78 Million for Research in High Energy Physics

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $78 million in funding for 58 research projects that will spur new discoveries in high energy physics. The projects—housed at 44 colleges and universities across 22 states—are exploring the fundamental science about the universe that also underlies technological advancements in medicine, computing, energy technologies, manufacturing, national security, and more.

DARK MATTER DETECTION

University of Delaware’s Swati Singh is among a small group of researchers across the dark matter community that have begun to wonder if they are looking for the right type of dark matter. Singh, Jack Manley, a UD doctoral student, and collaborators at the University of Arizona and Haverford College, have proposed a new way to look for the particles that might make up dark matter by repurposing existing tabletop sensor technology.

Hunting for Sterile Neutrinos with Quantum Sensors

An international team has performed one of the world’s most sensitive laboratory searches for a hypothetical subatomic particle called the “sterile neutrino.” The novel experiment uses radioactive beryllium-7 atoms created at the TRIUMF facility in Canada. The research team then implants these atoms into sensitive superconductors cooled to near absolute-zero.

SpinQuest: Putting together the proton spin puzzle

SpinQuest is a collaboration of 50 individuals from 13 institutions from around the world. It starts at Fermilab’s Main Injector accelerator, which will fire our familiar protons at a polarized target. A quark from a proton in the proton beam and an antiquark from a proton in the target will interact, eventually producing a pair of oppositely charged muons, heavier cousins of the electron.
SpinQuest is supported by the DOE Office of Science.

Fermilab scientist Juan Estrada wins American Physical Society Instrumentation Award

A physicist making great advances in particle detector technology, Estrada is recognized by the American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields for his creation and development of novel applications for CCD technology that probe wide-ranging areas of particle physics, including cosmology, dark matter searches, neutrino detection and quantum imaging.

Science Snapshots From Berkeley Lab

These news briefs cover topics including gut microbes, tsetse flies in 3D, an energy use framework for heating and cooling, and new gravitational lensing candidates.

Precision measurements of intracluster light suggest possible link to dark matter

Faint light from rogue stars not bound to galaxies has been something of a mystery to scientists. The dimness of this intracluster light makes it difficult to measure, and no one knows how much there is. Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey, led by Fermilab, have made the most radially extended measurement of this light ever, and they’ve found that its distribution might point to the distribution of dark matter.

VIDEO: Dark Matter Day Q&A with LUX-ZEPLIN Spokesperson Kevin Lesko

Kevin Lesko, a spokesperson for the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter experiment and senior physicist at Berkeley Lab, shares his insights about the mysteries of dark matter, what we know about it, and what we hope to learn about it from LZ, in this Q&A interview at Sanford Lab.

Hubble Observations Suggest a Missing Ingredient in Dark Matter Theories

Astronomers using Hubble and the VLT have found that something may be missing from the theories of how dark matter behaves. This missing ingredient may explain why they have uncovered an unexpected discrepancy between observations of the dark matter concentrations in a sample of massive galaxy clusters and theoretical computer simulations of how dark matter should be distributed in clusters. The new findings indicate that small-scale concentrations of dark matter produce lensing effects that are 10 times stronger than expected.

Sensors of world’s largest digital camera snap first 3,200-megapixel images at SLAC

Crews at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have taken the first 3,200-megapixel digital photos – the largest ever taken in a single shot – with an extraordinary array of imaging sensors that will become the heart and soul of the future camera of Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

Galaxy Simulations Could Help Reveal Origins of Milky Way

Rutgers astronomers have produced the most advanced galaxy simulations of their kind, which could help reveal the origins of the Milky Way and dozens of small neighboring dwarf galaxies. Their research also could aid the decades-old search for dark matter, which fills an estimated 27 percent of the universe. And the computer simulations of “ultra-faint” dwarf galaxies could help shed light on how the first stars formed in the universe.