Fun_People Archive
29 Feb
Dark Matter Update

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Tue, 29 Feb 100 21:41:09 -0800
To: Fun_People
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Subject: Dark Matter Update

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Forwarded-by: Jack Doyle <doylej@peak.org>
Excerpted From: inthenews <inthenews@SIGMAXI.ORG>
Today's Headlines - February 29, 2000


IN THE DARK MATTER WARS, WIMPS BEAT MACHOS
from The New York Times

MARINA DEL REY, Calif., Feb. 27 -- The last hopes for a universe filled
with familiar stuff behaving in comprehensible ways died here in Los Angeles
County last week. It showed in the head-turning attire of at least two of
the scientists who carried the news to a major conference on cosmology in
a hotel across the street from a restaurant called Killer Shrimp.

But never mind the shrimp. Dr. Joel Primack spoke about the overall contents
of the universe while wearing a midnight blue jacket and a tie that bore
the likeness of Van Gogh's "Starry Night," in which some ominous presence
between the stars overwhelms the visible bodies themselves. In her own
talk, Dr. Katherine Freese heralded "The Death of Baryonic Dark Matter" in
an all-black pantsuit.

Baryons are the ordinary particles, like protons and neutrons, of which
stars, asteroids, comets, planets, people and textiles are made. By
measuring the gravitational pull of some unknown "dark matter" on the
visible stars and galaxies, astronomers have determined that this mysterious
material which seems to permeate the universe has a weight that is 60 times
that of the stars and 7 times that of all baryons, including gas and solid
material in space.
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/022900sci-dark-matter.html>


STANFORD STUDY CONTRADICTS OTHERS
from The Associated Press

STANFORD, Calif. -- A group of physicists said their Stanford University
experiment to detect so-called "dark matter" particles that hold the
universe together could contradict earlier findings by an Italian team.

Physicists have long theorized that "dark matter" particles could account
for much of the universe's mass.

But new research presented Friday by University of California-Berkeley
physicist Richard Gaitskell suggests that it is unlikely that a Stanford
University detector has found as many of the elusive particles as an Italian
experiment recorded.
<http://www.worldscientist.com/?action=display&article=1331526&template=worl
dnews/index.txt>

© 2000 Peter Langston