Dark matter and gravitational waves: the Challenges of Science in 2016 – The Messenger

              From Mars to the possibility of capturing CO2 from the air, to the chance to see for the first time gravitational waves echo of the great cosmic explosions: the science of 2016 promises to be full of expectations, forecasts published by the journals Nature and Science. By Fabiola Gianotti, who will take office on January as director of CERN, one of the “great challenges” of the new year it could be made to understand what is the dark matter, the mysterious and invisible matter that makes up approximately 25% of ‘ universe. The elusive particles that constitute it could be generated by collisions of the largest accelerator in the world, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.

 Hunting for dark matter there are also the detector AMS (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer), depending on the outside of the Space Station, and the probe Chinese Dampe (Dark Matter Particle Explorer). LHC could also get confirmation, or denial, of the hypothetical particle glimpsed in mid-December if confirmed could be a first step in the so-called “new physics”.

 Even physics is at the top in the expectations for 2016: both Nature Science that indicate the possibility of seeing gravitational waves, or vibrations of spacetime caused by dramatic events, such as exploding supernovae, collisions of holes blacks or the Big Bang. The capture of CO2 from the air is a goal pursued in both Europe and the United States, while in terms of biomedicine is banking on the results that will come from the technique of “cut and paste” DNA, the CRISPR that so far has done a lot to discuss , but at the same time it is full of promise.

 Europe space awaits the spring, with the launch of the ExoMars mission, designed in 2016 to demonstrate its ability to land a rover on the red planet and, in 2018, to pierce the Martian soil to a depth of two meters. Still on the subject of space, we look forward to the French mission Microscope, which will play among the stars the experiment of falling bodies of Galileo. Among the curiosities, finally, according to Science 2016 he may finally shed light on the origin of the dog, putting an end to the long debate over where and when exactly has been tamed and elected to man’s best friend.
         

             Monday, December 28, 2015, 17:40 – Last Updated: 17:48
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