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.
Tag: dark matter
Testing the Evolution of the Universe with Galaxy Clusters
100 billion – there are at least that many stars in our Milky Way. It seems like an unimaginable number. Yet astrophysicists study structures in our universe that are far bigger than galaxies alone.
Physicists embark on six-year hunt for dark matter particle
This DarkQuantum consortium was awarded €12.9 million on October 26 by the European Research Council, of which roughly €2 million is set aside for Aalto University researchers.
Department of Energy Announces $137 Million for Research on High Energy Physics
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $137 million in funding for 80 projects in high energy physics. The scope of the research spans the full gamut of topics in experimental and theoretical high energy physics.
Finding explanation for Milky Way’s warp
The Milky Way is often depicted as a flat, spinning disk of dust, gas, and stars. But if you could zoom out and take an edge-on photo, it actually has a distinctive warp — as if you tried to twist and bend a vinyl LP.
Pulsars may make dark matter glow
The central question in the ongoing hunt for dark matter is: what is it made of? One possible answer is that dark matter consists of particles known as axions.
New cosmological constraints on the nature of dark matter
New research has revealed the distribution of dark matter in never before seen detail, down to a scale of 30,000 light-years. The observed distribution fluctuations provide better constraints on the nature of dark matter.
Direct evidence for modified gravity at low acceleration from Gaia observations of wide binary stars
A new study reports conclusive evidence for the breakdown of standard gravity in the low acceleration limit from a verifiable analysis of the orbital motions of long-period, widely separated, binary stars, usually referred to as wide binaries in astronomy and astrophysics.
Dark SRF experiment at Fermilab demonstrates ultra-sensitivity for dark photon searches
Scientists working on the Dark SRF experiment at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have demonstrated unprecedented sensitivity in an experimental setup used to search for theorized particles called dark photons.
Exploring dark matter and the first bright galaxies simultaneously: 21-cm forest probe may unlock secrets of early universe
The mystery of the first galaxies of the universe is an indomitable urge of human beings.
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?
Einstein and Euler put to the test at the edge of the Universe
The cosmos is a unique laboratory for testing the laws of physics, in particular those of Euler and Einstein. Euler described the movements of celestial objects, while Einstein described the way in which celestial objects distort the Universe.
First SuperCDMS detector towers journey from SLAC to SNOLAB
After years of pioneering work, researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have completed the detector towers that will soon sit at the heart of the SuperCDMS SNOLAB dark matter detection experiment.
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.
Rachel Mandelbaum: Then and Now / 2012 Early Career Award Winner
Rachel Mandelbaum prepares to measure weak gravitational lensing, the tiny deflections of light from distant galaxies due to the gravitational influence of dark matter and visible matter that the light rays pass by on their way to Earth. Those measurements can help answer fundamental questions.
Unusual atom helps in search for Universe’s building blocks
An unusual form of caesium atom is helping a University of Queensland-led research team unmask unknown particles that make up the Universe.
Space and time: Clocks to detect dark matter
Researchers have proposed a plan to send two atomic clocks deep into space to search for ultralight dark matter, with the goal of better understanding the universe.
The Most Precise Accounting Yet of Dark Energy and Dark Matter
Analyzing more than two decades’ worth of supernova explosions convincingly bolsters modern cosmological theories and reinvigorates efforts to answer fundamental questions.
Astronomers create new technique to assist in search for dark matter
Meteors may help astronomers devise a new way to locate dark matter – mysterious and invisible particles that have so far only been discerned by the effect they have on the natural world.
New Superconducting Qubit Testbed Benefits Quantum Information Science Development
A new testbed facility capable of testing superconducting qubit fidelity in a controlled environment free of stray background radiation will benefit quantum information sciences and the development of quantum computing.
Researchers at SLAC use purified liquid xenon to search for mysterious dark matter particles
An enormous vat of pure liquid xenon will help scientists at SLAC and around the globe learn more about the universe.
Scientists Take Another Theoretical Step to Uncovering the Mystery of Dark Matter, Black Holes
A study by a team of scientists including three from Stony Brook University proposes a novel method to search for new particles not currently contained in the standard model of particle physics. Their method, published in Nature Communications, could shed light on the nature of dark matter.
No Trace of Dark Matter Halos
Dwarf galaxies are small, faint galaxies that can usually be found in galaxy clusters or near larger galaxies.
Scientists reveal distribution of dark matter around galaxies 12 billion years ago–further back in time than ever before
A collaboration led by scientists at Nagoya University in Japan has investigated the nature of dark matter surrounding galaxies seen as they were 12 billion years ago, billions of years further back in time than ever before.
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.
Revealing the Secret Language of Dark Matter
In the Universe, dark matter and standard matter “talk” to each other using a secret language.
Carter Hall: Then and Now / 2011 Early Career Award Winner
Carter Hall works with colleagues around the world to search for ancient relic particles from the Big Bang, using the LUX and LZ dark matter detectors at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD.
Astrophysicists Reveal Largest-Ever Suite of Universe Simulations
To understand how the universe formed, astronomers have created AbacusSummit, more than 160 simulations of how gravity may have shaped the distribution of dark matter.
DOE Invests $93 Million for New Discoveries in High Energy Physics
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $93 million in funding for 71 research projects that will spur new discoveries in High Energy Physics.
Mystery of Galaxy’s Missing Dark Matter Deepens
Hubble astronomers say they confirmed that an oddball
galaxy mysteriously lacks dark matter—the glue that holds stars and gas together in galaxies. This confirmation challenges the standard ideas of how researchers think galaxies work.
Dark Energy Survey releases most precise look at the universe’s evolution
The Dark Energy Survey collaboration has created the largest ever maps of the distribution and shapes of galaxies, tracing both ordinary and dark matter in the universe out to a distance of over 7 billion light years. The results are based on the first three years of data from the survey.
To Map the Universe, Astrophysicists Launch Largest Sky Survey Yet
Nearly 40 years after creating the first, iconic map of the universe, researchers aim for the largest map ever.
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.
Using exoplanets as dark matter detectors
In the continuing search for dark matter in our universe, scientists believe they have found a unique and powerful detector: exoplanets.
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.
Arán Garcia-Bellido: Then and Now / 2011 Early Career Award Winner
His Early Career Research award allowed Arán Garcia-Bellido to transition from his work at the Fermilab Tevatron collider – establishing the rare production of top quarks with bottom quarks – to setting up a group at the LHC focused the search for the Higgs boson and possible new generation of quarks.
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.
Study: X-Rays Surrounding ‘Magnificent 7’ May Be Traces of Sought-After Particle
A new study, led by a theoretical physicist at Berkeley Lab, suggests that never-before-observed particles called axions may be the source of unexplained, high-energy X-ray emissions surrounding a group of neutron stars.
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.
Pinning down the ampere with a supersensitive particle detector
A precise calibration for measurements of electric current has long eluded scientists. Last year, the ampere was redefined based on the charge of a single electron. The next generation of charge-coupled devices, known as skipper CCDs, could provide the sensitivity needed to calibrate the new definition.
Three students awarded DOE Graduate Student Research Fellowships
Three students have received the prestigious Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research Fellowships to conduct their research at Fermilab. DOE awarded these fellowships to 52 students from U.S. universities.
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.