Dark matter is a substance that makes up 25 per cent of our universe, yet still puzzles physicists to this day. That may change with a surprising new approach using the concepts of molecular biology.
Theoretical physicist from University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Katherine Freese, thinks that a detector using DNA could revolutionize the quest to explain the mystery of dark matter. Also, it is hypothesized that said detector could possible predict incoming particles' paths. These DNA based detectors would be sifting through WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) for changes in frequency and other evidence.
WIMPs would filter between single strands of DNA supported by thin gold sheets. As the particles pass through the detector, they would slice the DNA at specific locations. Later the DNA would be reassembled to see how the particles interacted with the molecular structure of the DNA. DNA is the ideal choice for a detector in this case because of the specific order of the nucleotide can be cataloged and saved to be compared to the order after the WIMPs pass through. Also, because of the way that the strands are formed, Photo credit: A. Drukier et al./arXiv.org 2012
the space between the molecules is very small, resulting in more accuracy.
This type of detector would be much less expensive then the ones presently used. This proposed project is also a fascinating link in between Biology and Physics. Jocelyn Monroe, a dark matter physicist at MIT and the University of London says,"It’s a very smart way to apply technology developed from biology to a fundamental particle physics problem,”
This news discusses themes in science because:
~It seeks to explain a phenomenon ( in this case, dark matter) by looking at previous studies (in this case, what is known about how DNA interacts with incoming molecules)
~ It seeks to create collaborations between Biology and Physics, and collaboration is a main part of science.
Article link:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/346113/description/Hunting_dark_matter_with_DNA
This is a very interesting way to detect dark matter. Another way to detect dark matter using WIMPs is by placing large amounts of material, such as xenon or germanium, deep underground and shield it with many layers of protection to keep out the other particles. If any particles do make it past the protection and collide with the atoms in the xenon or germanium, they will probably be WIMPs.
ReplyDeleteLink: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/27/dark-matter-particle-physicists_n_2197072.html