Mountain Views News          Saturday, July 14, 2012

9

THE WORLD AROUND US

 Mountain Views News Saturday July 14, 2012 


DARK MATTER SCAFFOLDING OF UNIVERSE DETECTED FOR THE FIRST TIME

 Scientists have, for the first time, directly detected 
part of the invisible dark matter skeleton of the universe, 
where more than half of all matter is believed to reside. 

 The discovery, led by a University of Michigan physics 
researcher, confirms a key prediction in the prevailing 
theory of how the universe’s current web-like structure 
evolved.

 The map of the known universe shows that most 
galaxies are organized into clusters, but some galaxies 
are situated along filaments that connect the clusters. 
Cosmologists have theorized that dark matter undergirds 
those filaments, which serve as highways of sorts, guiding 
galaxies toward the gravitational pull of the massive 
clusters. Dark matter’s contribution had been predicted 
with computer simulations, and its shape had been 
roughed out based on the distribution of the galaxies. 
But no one had directly detected it until now.

 “We found the dark matter filaments. For the first 
time, we can see them,” said Jörg Dietrich, a physics 
research fellow in the University of Michigan College of 
Literature, Science and the Arts. Dietrich is first author 
of a paper on the findings published online in Nature and 
to appear in the July 12 print edition. 

 Dark matter, whose composition is still a mystery, 
doesn’t emit or absorb light, so astronomers can’t see 
it directly with telescopes. They deduce that it exists 
based on how its gravity affects visible matter. Scientists 
estimate that dark matter makes up more than 80 percent 
of the universe. To “see” the dark matter component of 
the filament that connects the clusters Abell 222 and 
223, Dietrich and his colleagues took advantage of a 
phenomenon called gravitational lensing. 

 The gravity of massive objects such as galaxy clusters 
acts as a lens to bend and distort the light from more 
distant objects as it passes. Dietrich’s team observed tens 
of thousands of galaxies beyond the supercluster. They 
were able to determine the extent to which the 
supercluster distorted galaxies, and with that 
information, they could plot the gravitational 
field and the mass of the Abell 222 and 223 
clusters. Seeing this for the first time was 
“exhilarating,” Dietrich said.

 “It looks like there’s a bridge that shows 
that there is additional mass beyond what the 
clusters contain,” he said. “The clusters alone 
cannot explain this additional mass,” he said.

 Scientists before Dietrich assumed that 
the gravitational lensing signal would not 
be strong enough to give away dark matter’s 
configuration. But Dietrich and his colleagues 
focused on a peculiar cluster system whose 
axis is oriented toward Earth, so that the 
lensing effects could be magnified.

 “This result is a verification that for many 
years was thought to be impossible,” Dietrich 
said.

 The team also found a spike in X-ray 
emissions along the filament, due to an excess 
of hot, ionized ordinary matter being pulled 
by gravity toward the massive filament—but 
they estimate that 90 percent or more of the 
filament’s mass is dark matter.

 The researchers used data obtained with 
the Subaru telescope, operated by the National 
Astronomical Observatory of Japan. They 
also used the XMM-Newton satellite for X-ray 
observations. This work is funded by the 
National Science Foundation and NASA. 

 You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@
MtnViewsNews.com.


A filament of dark matter has been directly detected between the galaxy clusters Abell 
222 and Abell 223. The blue shading and yellow contour lines represent the density of 
matter. Photo courtesy of Jörg Dietrich, U-M Department of Physics


KINKAJOU!

TIPS ON TAMING....

 
I love writing for 
the paper! It’s a 
creative outlet that 
challenges me to 
come up with two 
written pages and 
an accompanying 
picture every 
week. There are 
weeks when ideas 
spill from my 
mind like water 
from a bucket! 
My fingers blaze 
over the keyboard 
in a thrilling burst 
of enthusiasm! 

 But this wasn’t one of those weeks. This was one of those weeks that I plied my husband 
and parents with the same nagging question they’ve grown accustomed to hearing. “Do you 
have any burning ideas for an article?” Sometimes they give me a great topic, but usually 
they pause before replying, “Nope.” It’s times like these when I turn to my one reliable source 
of unusual anecdotes --Phil.

 Phil is my dad’s cousin (I’ve never known what that makes me in relationship to him). 
You’ve seen the “Dos Equis” commercials. But in real life, Phil is “the most interesting man 
in the world!” Phil never ceases to amaze me. In two deft moves, he can parallel park his 
whale of a Lincoln in a space barely big enough for a Mini Cooper. He’s a retired engineer 
who paints, reproduced a Peruvian tapestry using wire mesh, and achieved proficiency in a 
second language in less than a month. He can join any conversation on any topic. When my 
family and I are pooped after four hours of eating and talking, Phil is just getting warmed up.

 

 Of course, Phil’s had 80 years to grow into the diversely talented, charismatic individual 

that he is. However, those two conditions are usually mutually exclusive of each other. You 
can either be charismatic or 80, but rarely is anyone both at the same time.

 One of my favorite Phil stories is his account of the kinkajou. (Bonus points for you if you 
know what a kinkajou is before reading further!) Phil and his beautiful wife, Shirley, lived 
in South Pasadena for many years. Over that time, they had many neighbors who owned 
exotic and unusual pets.

 Some pets are technically legal, but domestically impossible. Chinchillas, wolves, and boa 
constrictors fall under this category. Kinkajous are right up there with them. Somewhere 
between a monkey, bear, and raccoon, the kinkajou is a long, furry animal with a “prehensile 
tail.” (Ha ha! There’s a term to drop next time you want to impress someone!) This tail is 
used to grasp branches, gates, lamp posts, banisters, etc. One of Phil’s neighbors acquired a 
kinkajou, but sought to get rid of it after they became more familiar with its habits.

 

 Phil and Shirley first encountered the neighborhood kinkajou one night when Phil felt 
something heavier than their cat walking on their bed. “Don’t move, Honey,” he said, “I 
think there’s something here with us.” It fled back out the French doors when Phil turned 
on the light. This went on for several nights. Once, they caught it eating cigarettes from 
Shirley’s purse. The next night, it chewed a hole through her purse to get to her pack of 
Marlborough’s. 

 Phil finally got a picture of the thing and described it to someone from the L.A. Zoo, who 
confirmed that it was a kinkajou. Kinkajous are the original party animal, literally. They 
love tobacco and alcohol. They’re only active at night, and sleep for the rest of the day. They 
could be in a fraternity!

 Besides smokes and booze, one of the kinkajous’ staples is ripe fruit. This might appeal 
to the owner who’d rather collect stale bananas than furnish their pet with Jack Daniels and 
Dunhill Ultras. However, just like the way too much fruit can send people dashing for the 
bathroom, kinkajous react in much the same way. Let’s just say keeping them is messy at 
best, and bio-hazardous at worst.

 The kinkajou lived with Phil and Shirley for a while. Then a 10 year-old neighborhood 
boy showed an interest, so they gave it to him. Surprisingly, Phil never got a call from the 
boy’s parents. He must have been a very responsible kid.

 The kinkajou lived with the boy for many years, and died at the ripe old age of 40. I asked 
Phil if the owner ever gave him cigarettes or beer. He didn’t know, but he said it stayed in the 
garage, which got hosed down every week. So we can surmise it ate plenty of bananas. I can 
imagine a “Dos Equis” commercial in which the most interesting man in the world says, “I 
don’t always drink beer. But when I do, I share it with my kinkajou.” Thus ends another one 
of Phil’s unusual stories. Until next time, “stay thirsty my friends!”


...........A Computer For More Speed, Less Trouble

 (Paul will be back next week but wanted to share this with you)

(NAPSI)—Most people depend on personal 
computers for so much in daily life 
and when the computer seems sluggish, 
unresponsive or just generally underperforming, 
it can lead to frustration. 
Fortunately, if your computer is misbehaving, 
there are five simple steps you 
can take to help get it back up to speed. 

1. Defrag Your Disk. Computer hard 
drives get fragmented when programs 
are installed and uninstalled and files 
are added and removed. The files end 
up scattered around the hard drive so 
it’s difficult for the drive to find everything 
you want in a timely manner. The 
built-in disk defragment tool can keep 
your computer running efficiently. 

2. Stay Healthy. Just like humans, when a computer has a virus or is infected with spyware, 
it becomes sluggish and performance suffers. Keep your anti-virus program up to date and 
fight off cyber attackers. Run a full system scan every three to six months. Install an anti-
spyware program, too.

3. Don’t Be a Digital Hoarder. Whenever you install software updates, download images, 
save music files, edit documents or browse the Web, your computer accumulates files and 
programs, most of which are unnecessary. Use the built-in uninstaller to remove those 
unneeded files. 

4. Blow it Out. Over time, the inside of your computer will accumulate a “blanket” of dust, 
which may result in a temperature rise inside your computer case. Open your computer 
case and blow out the dust using a canister of compressed air. Be sure to blow air through 
all fans in order to thoroughly clean them. 

5. Upgrade Your Memory. Many computer performance issues can be resolved with a do-
it-yourself (RAM) memory upgrade. Anytime you open your e-mail, surf the Web, watch a 
video, type a paper, play a game or just plain turn on your computer, the computer is using 
its internal memory. When a computer does not have enough internal memory to properly 
run its programs, it becomes slow and unresponsive. 

Installing computer memory is a fairly simple process that requires no special tools or 
skills. However, finding the correct upgrade can sometimes be confusing as there are hundreds 
of thousands of options to choose from. 

Crucial.com makes finding and installing the correct memory upgrade simple with free, 
easy-to-use online tools designed to help you quickly find a compatible memory upgrade. 
Using the Crucial Memory Advisor™ tool, you choose your computer make and model 
from a drop-down menu to see recommended memory upgrade options. Or, use the Crucial
® System Scanner tool to automatically scan the computer to determine the current 
memory and view recommended compatible upgrades.

Visit www.crucial.com for more tips and information on getting your computer back up 
to speed!