UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN

IN BRIEF

It is said that the universe is made up of over 80 percent dark matter. What dark matter exactly is, however, has continued to elude experts. Theories abound, and a recent one suggests an entirely different approach involving gravitational waves.

BREAKING SYMMETRY

For decades now, the exact composition of matter in the universe has baffled astronomers and physicists alike. It would seem that, given the basic assumptions about the origins of the universe, there is still no way to account for the “missing” dark matter that makes up for as much as a quarter of all matter in the universe. That’s why a trio of researchers has proposed a new dark matter theory, which could explain how dark matter came about.

We know dark matter exists because we can observe how its gravity interacts with visible matter and electromagnetic radiation. There is something there, although we can’t yet see it, or put a finger on what it is.

In the new study, Evan McDonough and Stephon Alexander from Brown University, with David Spergel from Princeton University, suggest that a mechanism involving gravitational waves — basically, ripples in the fabric of space and time, first theorized by Einstein and confirmed to exist only in 2016 — could explain how dark matter came to be.

McDonough’s team used a model of the primordial universe that assumed the presence of particles called dark matter quarks, which aren’t the same as today’s dark matter. These dark quarks could have a property called chirality, referring to the way the particles twist, similar to neutrinos. The chirality or “handedness” of these dark quarks could have then interacted with the chiral gravitational waves in the early universe, producing the kind of dark matter we have today.

LIGHTER AND WIMPIER

Supposedly, as the universe settled into a cooler state, the interactions between chiral dark quarks and chiral gravitational waves resulted in a small excess of the former. These condensed into a quirky state of matter called a superfluid, which could still exist as a background field today. What we know to be dark matter are proposed as excitations of this background field, in the same way photons are excitations of an electromagnetic field.

Interestingly, the dark matter particles resulting from such a model would be lighter than what’s known as weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which many researchers believe could make up dark matter. There hasn’t been enough evidence to suggest, however, that this is the case. At any rate, being lighter than WIMPs would mean that dark matter wouldn’t interact with normal matter. “It’s much wimpier than WIMPs,” Spergel told New Scientist.

As such, this dark matter theory could change how we should “look” for dark matter, as it wouldn’t be possible to see such particles directly at all. Unlike WIMPs, these particles would also be distributed more evenly across the galaxy. At the same time, the ratio of dark matter and normal matter wouldn’t necessarily be constant throughout the universe.

Spergel explained, however, that this unique behavior could also provide us with a way to find dark matter. A more uniform, non-clustered distribution of dark matter could spill over into cosmic microwave background — the Big Bang’s residual radiation — and produce a unique signature. It could even affect the formation of larger-scale structures, like galaxy clusters. It could also, perhaps, have an effect on gravitational waves.

In any case, any new dark matter theory is certainly a welcome one, as experts continue exploring other possibilities to account for dark matter — or even dismiss it altogether.

“It’s a cool idea,” Stanford University’s Michael Peskin, who wasn’t part of the study, told New Scientist. “Right now, dark matter is completely open. Anything you can do that brings in a new idea into this area, it opens a door. And then you have to walk down that corridor and see whether there are interesting things there that suggest new experiments. This opens another door.”

h heyerlein

IN BRIEF

Entrepreneur and visionary Juan Enriquez outlines a future where we will be able to survive in extreme environments and even hack our memory thanks to DNA manipulation.

Imagine a world where we can design the bodies we want. In this reality we can also create, and recreate, the plants and animals that live alongside us. We can alter organisms and mold them into whatever we want them to be.

This is not the world of tomorrow, though. This doesn’t take imagination. This is the world today.

Right now.

It sounds like science fiction, or even “fake news.” But it’s not. It’s a fact that comes from Juan Enriquez, the Founding Director of the Life Sciences Project at Harvard Business School, and the Managing Director of Excel Venture Management. Enriquez spoke at the World Government Summit. I listened to him, entranced by the eloquent way he discussed how gene editing has allowed humans to become masters of their DNA – the source code of life itself.

This mastery, Enriquez explained, has allowed us to take our evolution – to take our fate – into our own hands. And it’s all thanks to a genome editing technique known as CRISPR. “These instruments, like CRISPR, are allowing us to, in real-time, edit life on a grand scale,” he explained. “We are rewriting the sentences of life to our purposes.” Enriquez continued by discussing what this means from a practical standpoint, saying that we are entering a world of “unrandom selection.”

“Science used to be about discovery, now it is about creation.”

Enriquez described how scientists are already working on altering the genes of plants and animals so that they can thrive in locations where, previously, they would languish. He detailed how scientists are also engineering plants and animals to die. According to Enriquez, we have already entered a time when we can accurately say, “Instead of letting nature select what lives here, I’m going to select what lives here.” He concluded, saying with great gravity, “Science used to be about discovery, now it is about creation.”

Image Credit: h heyerlein

But with gene editing, we will reshape far more than just our bodies. We will remake our minds.

We will insert memories. We will delete memories. We will alter memories. We will store them and use them in any way we desire. In so doing, Enriquez says we will change more than how our bodies operate – we will become a new kind of human, one that is malleable and, one that can be shaped and reshaped on a whim.

What will we be when we have the ability to literally write and rewrite our memories?

When we think of ourselves, we typically think of our memories. Or memories, we’re told, are what make us who we are. What will we be when we have the ability to literally write and rewrite our memories? What will we be when we can delete all the memories of a dead loved one? What will we become when we can remove those memories about that horrible thing we did? When we can insert memories about that heroic thing that we really didn’t do?

Will we still be us? Will we still be human? At the present juncture, it’s not clear. But this question isn’t something that we can leave to future generations, it is something that we must begin to answer today. The technology is already here, and this day is on the horizon.

Image Credit: h heyerlein

And it’s only the beginning.

Enriquez continued by noting that we are not just rewriting our own biology – by editing DNA and manufacturing it in labs, we are able to save lives on an unprecedented, massive scale. “You can make the world’s flu vaccine in a week instead of a year. And by the way, this is no longer theoretical.”

“Why would anyone want to do this [altering human DNA]?” He asked. “Because, at heart, we are explorers. We have to take control of our own evolution if we want to even think about getting somewhere else.” Humans, he argued, are designed to live on Earth. Billions of years of evolution on this planet are engrained in our DNA. We cannot so easily leave this planet in the dust. Not without altering our bodies to suit other worlds – to suit the deserts of Mars and the icy lakes of Europa.