PART TWO: Science is on the Verge of Observing Dark Matter

The search for dark matter is occurring using telescopes and underground laboratories. Hundreds of PhDs using expensive telescopes and laboratories are devoting their life to this subject. If you read my blog yesterday, you can appreciate their dedication gazing into outer space of and ruminating into the unknown.

Dark Matter in space is being searched by 400 researchers from 25 centers in seven countries. They recently reported on the results of looking at 226 million galaxies and thousands of supernova explosions. A new dark matter map has been created by the Dark Energy Survey. Their conclusion is that the cosmos is more mysterious than they earlier imagined. A pleasant way of saying that they have yet to prove the existence of Dark Matter. But they now have a better map.

The XENON project is a collaboration of over 160 scientists mostly attempting to detect WIMPs, or Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, plus axions. Basically, the atmosphere blocks 99.9% of radiation from space, but detecting the existence of dark matter requires conditions that can be thrown off even if 0.1% of that radiation gets through. Thus, some labs have been built at 8,000 foot depths, often using existing mineshafts. Or otherwise protect using water and rocks.

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) has been collecting data in Assergi, Italy since 2017, the lab sitting under 4600 feet of solid rock.

Using tellurium dioxide crystals at -273.144 C, they are seeking axions and WIMPs.
Their TeO2 crystals are grown in Shanghai, and funding also comes from the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy.

Also in Italy, beneath a mountain is the Gran Sasso National Laboratory with support from the European Union, the U.S.and Middle East, using three tons of liquid xenon protected by a three-story tank of ultra-pure water to find WIMPs and axions.

Theoretically, if a particle of dark matter bumped into one Xenon atom, it should be recordable.
They're now into their third upgrade, and have recorded hundreds of possible events, but nothing certain.

The Large Underground Xenon Experiment (LUX) is located in Lead, South Dakota, at a depth of 4950 feet, and was commissioned in 2016.

Using Xenon to discern WIMPs.
A new system called LUX-ZEPLIN began operating in 2020.
Nothing of particular interest has thus far been found.

All the above interact with a range of labs located world-wide, including Super Kamiokande, SNO, IceCube, Kamland, EXO and Double Chooz.

I am not doing this Dark Matter posting to confuse you, although I am confused, for much of what has been accomplished seems to be an incredibly well-organized network of serious science showing how well international researchers collaborate. Now, if only politicians and national leaders can work together in like manner, we could be well on our way to World Peace.

For example, forget the matter of what Dark Matter might be. Try reading what an axion is, from Wikipedia. Surely, you need to be a genius just to understand the fundamentals. Now, get to understand WIMPs. This latter exposition at least well summarizes the landscape.

For those who are really interested in this subject, I lead you to:

Maybe Dark Matter is More Than One Thing

This comes from the latest issue of Scientific American, and if you click on it, you can actually access this paper. It was this article that helped inspire me to take on this series, which ends tomorrow with the reality of what we should do for the benefit of Planet Earth and Humanity.

Last night PBS had a special featuring Andrea Bocelli. I had in my mind a swarthy middle-age singer whose singing was exceptional. Suddenly he looked really old. What happened? I checked. According to his wife, he is well and really hasn't lost any weight.

Best I can determine, many of the videos I previously saw were filmed a decade and more ago. For example, here he is with Celine Dion in 1999 singing The Prayer. Then sixteen years later in 2015. Note that six years ago, he was already aging with white hair. I had stored an original image of him in my mind, and now realize, he too, like all of us, is aging. Bocelli is 62 years old.

From December of last year, here is Andrea on a guitar, performing with his 8-year old daughter Virginia, Hallelujah:

He has two sons from wife #1, and is currently married to Enrica.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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