Listen to the dark side

WE MAY not be able to see dark matter, but scientists may soon be able to hear it. Astrophysicist Ilidio Lopes and his colleagues from Oxford University think that the hypothetical dark matter particles called WIMPs (or weakly interacting massive particles) are being trapped and destroyed at the centre of the Sun. They have worked out that this would cool the Sun’s core, and slow down sounds generated in the Sun, giving them a slightly lower pitch than predicted. Satellites that watch the Sun, such as NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, can monitor these sounds, and should be able to…