Another Delhi gang-rape suspect is under 18, says lawyer

NEW DELHI: A lawyer for one of five suspects who have gone on trial for the fatal gang-rape of a student on a New Delhi bus said on Monday his client was under 18 and should appear before a juvenile court.

Police had said Vinay Sharma, a gym assistant and fitness trainer, was aged 20 and he was put on trial along with four other adult suspects in a special "fast-track" court on Monday.

"My client is a minor and I have requested the court that his case should be moved to the juvenile justice court," Sharma's lawyer A P Singh told AFP outside the courtroom, adding that a ruling was expected on January 24.

A sixth suspect in the horrifying crime, which has provoked street protests and a month of soul-searching in India, is being tried in a juvenile court where he is expected to receive a far more lenient sentence.

The woman, a promising student whose father worked extra shifts as an airport baggage handler to educate her, suffered massive intestinal injuries during the assault on the bus in which she was raped and violated with an iron bar.

She died 13 days later after the government airlifted her to a Singapore hospital in a last-ditch bid to save her life.

- AFP/xq

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49ers to face Ravens

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Baltimore's John Harbaugh says he admires his brother Jim, the 49ers' coach


• The two will be the first brothers to face off, as coaches, for a major U.S. sports championship


• San Francisco rallies from a big deficit to beat Atlanta 28-24 in the NFC Championship game


• Baltimore shuts out New England in the second half , winning 28-13 to reach the Super Bowl

(CNN) -- One Harbaugh will win Super Bowl XLVII. Another will lose it.

That much is guaranteed after the San Francisco 49ers, coached by Jim Harbaugh, and the Baltimore Ravens, led by his brother John Harbaugh, beat their respective foes in conference championship games Sunday. Those wins mean the Harbaughs will be the first siblings to face off as head coaches in the NFL's title contest and, in fact, for any major U.S. professional sports championship.

Both teams rallied from halftime deficits on the road to earn berths in the Super Bowl, which will be played February 3 in New Orleans.

Baltimore did it by reeling off 21 straight points to overcome Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. It was sweet revenge for the Ravens, who lost last year's nail-biter AFC Championship to the same Patriots foe on the same Gillette Stadium field in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

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A few hours earlier, the 49ers rallied from a 17-0 hole to defeat the Atlanta Falcons, who had posted the best regular season record in the NFC.

John Harbaugh joked to reporters, after the Ravens' win, that he and his brothers had a "few dreams" -- one of which may have been meeting up in the Super Bowl -- as well "as a few fights ... just like all brothers."

"We'll let the two teams duke it out, as much as possible," John Harbaugh said, smiling.

The Baltimore coach then made a point to talk about how proud he was of his brother Jim, as well as how much he admired the San Francisco team.

"I'd like to think that when you look at (the) two teams, you're looking at mirror images," John Harbaugh said, referring to the Super Bowl foes. "It's going to be a great football game."

Baltimore's dominant second half leads to win

Beyond their recent playoff history, Baltimore and New England matched up earlier this season -- one in which the Ravens came back from a late 9-point deficit, winning on a last-second field goal by Justin Tucker.

Still, victory Sunday evening was hardly guaranteed.

New England had the superior regular record, not to mention a storied playoff pedigree having played in five Super Bowls in the past 11 years. They also had Brady, who last Sunday passed Joe Montana as the quarterback with the most playoff wins ever.

And the Patriots started out strong, jumping to a 3-0 lead and -- after a Baltimore score -- entering halftime up 13-7.

But the second half was all Baltimore. The Ravens scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, two of them on Joe Flacco touchdown passes to receiver Anquan Boldin.

Meanwhile, the vaunted Patriots offense sputtered, hurt especially by a Stevan Ridley fumble and two Brady interceptions. Baltimore ended up winning 28-13.

"We came here last year and left with a bitter taste in our mouths," Baltimore's Boldin told reporters after the game. "We felt like this team took something away from us. And we wanted to come back and make that right."

49ers rally, hold on for 28-24 victory

Led by quarterbacks Montana and Steve Young, San Francisco was one of the NFL's top franchises through much of the 1980s and 1990s.

But the 49ers haven't been in the Super Bowl in 1995, and their 2000s were marred by mostly losing regular seasons.

The team's fortunes, however, have turned since the 2011 hiring of Jim Harbaugh, a former NFL quarterback himself who'd been coaching at nearby Stanford. The next season, they made it to the NFC Championship, only to fall to the eventual Super Bowl winners, the New York Giants.

On Sunday, trailing by three scores midway through the second quarter, San Francisco rallied for two quick touchdowns -- one on a LaMichael James 11-yard run, the other on a four-yard reception by tight end Vernon Davis.

Still, Atlanta maintained its slim advantage -- in part thanks to a missed field goal and a fumble by the 49ers Michael Crabtree just inches from the end zone -- into the fourth quarter. But then, running back Frank Gore scored from nine yards out to put San Francisco ahead 28-24.

At this point, there were still just over eight minutes left in the game.

Atlanta -- paced by quarterback Matt Ryan, known as "Matty Ice" for his strong play in the waning minutes of games -- made a run. With just over a minute to go, the Falcons got within striking distance of the goal line. But San Francisco defenders broke up two straight passes, effectively sealing the win.

After the game, San Francisco linebacker Patrick Willis said the 49ers prevailed because they refused to give up and stuck together as a team, just as they have all season long.

"One thing about our team all year long is that we continue to fight," Willis told Fox, which broadcast the game. "We have an unbelievable team."

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Inside the heightened Inauguration Day security

(CBS News) More than 2,000 police officers from around the country were sworn in as deputy U.S. marshals Sunday in Washington. They'll be patrolling Monday alongside the D.C. police force, Secret Service, FBI, and other agencies, reports national security correspondent Bob Orr.

At Union Station, Transportation Security Administration VIPER security teams are checking trains and passengers, in a show of force designed to be a deterrent.

"If someone were to walk in and see a group of officers and turn around immediately and leave Union Station, that's a good indication to us that perhaps they have something to that they're trying to hide," Assistant Supervisory Air Marshal Jeffrey Buzzi said.

Not all security is so obvious. Two men with backpacks are undercover behavioral detection officers, working in tandem with uniformed patrols at rail stations and airports.

Along D.C.'s waterfront, Coast Guard fast boats are increasing surveillance runs. The cutter Cochito is a floating command center.

For 48 hours surrounding the inaugural time frame, the waters around Washington will be closed as more than 20 Coast Guard and police boats conduct patrols along 22 miles of shoreline.

At the edges of the restricted zone, the Coast Guard is watching for any "suspect" boaters -- "If they're in key specific areas or near critical infrastructure, if they're lingering there longer than normal, maybe if they're taking photographs from a certain angle," Coast Guard D.C. Commanding Officer Lt. Celina Ladyga told Orr.

A guide to today's inaugural events
2,000 cops from around country join D.C. force to handle expected masses
Behind-the-scenes security for the presidential inauguration
Complete CBSNews.com coverage: President Obama's second inauguration

A group of National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from more than 25 U.S. States, hold their right hands up as they take a legal oath to officially make them deputized "special police officers" for the 57th Presidential Inauguration, at the D.C. National Guard Armory January 18, 2013, in Washington, D.C.

/

PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

A large swath of downtown Washington, from the Capitol to the White House, is cordoned off -- accessible only through metal detectors at checkpoints.

In all, more than 10,000 police officers, federal agents and National Guardsmen are on duty.

The Secret Service is coordinating the effort from its operations center, where analysts are monitoring surveillance cameras and real-time threat streams.

"Based on what we're hearing and seeing from our partners and what we're seeing internally, we feel that we are prepared," said Deborah Evans Smith, who runs the FBI's Washington field office. "No credible threat at this moment."

But nothing is being left to chance.

Senior correspondent John Miller, a former assistant director of national intelligence, told "CBS This Morning" that in addition to behavioral detection teams, security will also be deploying equipment monitoring the air to detect chemical, biological and radiological threats. "You also have teams of people moving through the crowd -- and they'll be moving all day -- who have that detection equipment, and more sophisticated stuff."

Miller also said a "render safe" team, comprised of agents from various agencies, will be on stand-by -- "sitting around playing cards, reading their BlackBerries" -- who have the capability to dismantle a nuclear device if one were found.

Miller said there are no credible threats on the radar, unlike Inauguration Day 2009, when there were two: "One was a major credible threat from al Qaeda that a group from Somalia was going to attack the inauguration," said Miller. "The other had to do with a guy coming down from Boston with a suicide vest, and both of those ended up washing out. But they certainly brought up the tension level. This time it's a little calmer."

Miller said the major concern is for the "lone wolf" threat, who may not have surfaced in the screens of intelligence analysts. "When you're looking at the international threat picture, what you're focusing on is networks, and there's sources and there's collection and there's intercepts. With the lone wolf, that's the guy who's going to end up in the crowd -- it's the John Hinckley, it's the Lee Harvey Oswald, it's the one who's probably spoken to no one, 'cause the conversation is going on in his mind. That's where you have a zero intelligence base and that's where the Secret Service really, really earns its money."

The president's security team -- the counter-sniper teams and counter-assault teams -- will also be put through their paces during the motorcade. "The dicey moment for the protectors, and the best moment for the president, is on the parade route when he pops out of the car," Miller said. "That thrills the crowd. I know the president enjoys it. But if you're one of the Secret Service agents, that's the time when the hairs all jump to attention on the back of your neck."

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Obama Second Inaugural: A Déjà Vu Moment

At the height of the "fiscal cliff" showdown, the final political battle of his first term, President Barack Obama lamented the bitter persistence of Washington partisanship as "déjà vu all over again."

Today, as Obama delivers his second inaugural address on the west front of the Capitol, he could say the same thing about the looming political battles of his new term.

Four years ago, Obama took office amidst what he then described as "gathering clouds and raging storms," an economic crisis that resulted from "our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age."

The nation was in the throes of a financial collapse, decades in the making, whose breadth and depth were only starting to be known. It would become a devastating recession, the worst since the Great Depression.

Now, even as the economy continues a gradual climb back from the brink, many of those "hard choices" still remain, with climbing deficits and debt and a yawning partisan gap over how to deal with them.

On the horizon is a cascade of fresh fiscal crises, these politically self-imposed, over the nation's debt ceiling, spending cuts and a federal budget, all of which economists say threaten another recession and could further downgrade of the nation's credit rating.

Obama Sworn In for Second Term, Kicks off Inaugural Festivities Watch Video

Getting the Parties Started: Memorable Inaugural Balls Watch Video

Obama will use the first major speech of his second term to try to reset the tone of debate and turn the page on the political battles of the past, hoping for something of a fresh start.

He will "talk about the challenges that face us and what unites us as Americans," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina told ABC News.

"Monday is an American moment: the swearing-in of the President of the United States -- everyone's president," Messina said. "You're going to see a president who wants to work across party lines to get things done, that's what the country wants."

He will acknowledge that we won't "settle every debate or resolve every difference" but that we "have an obligation to work together," said a senior administration official, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak freely about the speech.

Obama will not discuss specific policy prescriptions in his address, though he may broadly allude to issues of war, immigration, climate change and environment, and gun control, officials said. The details will be saved for the State of the Union address on Feb. 12.

But the president will make clear that his re-election -- the first Democrat to win two elections with more than 50 percent of the vote since FDR -- reflects momentum for his agenda, said top White House aides.

"He's going to find every way he can to compromise. But he's going to be pretty clear, and we're also going to bring the American people more into the debate than we did in the first term," senior Obama adviser David Plouffe said on ABC's "This Week."

Polls show Obama begins his second term with soaring popularity -- the highest job approval rating in years -- and strong backing on some of his top legislative priorities.

Fifty-five percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of Obama's job performance overall, the most since November 2009, with a small exception for the 56 percent spike shortly after the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011.

That rating compares with 19 percent approval for Congress -- matching its lowest at or near the start of a new session in polls by ABC News and the Washington Post since 1975.

Majorities in the survey also broadly favor Obama's position on the debt ceiling, gun control measures, and reforms for the immigration system.

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Turn up the bass to scare birds away from planes

PLANES and birds aren't good at sharing air space - bird strikes worldwide cause over a billion dollars in damage every year, and put passengers and crew at risk. To scare avians away, a new device will fire low-frequency sound waves at flocks as they near busy flight paths.

Noise makers are often used to scare birds away from airports or contaminated waterways. But loud sounds also annoy any humans within earshot.

Now a system developed by Technology International, based in Laplace, Louisiana, aims to deter birds using infrasound, below the range of human hearing.

The trial version of the Avian Infrasound Non-lethal Denial System has a passive infrasound detector that listens for an approaching flock, and activates a series of rotary subwoofers that generate high-intensity, but low-frequency sound. It worked well in tests.

Thunderstorms also emit lots of infrasound, which may be why birds are naturally averse to it, says Abdo Husseiny, the firm's CEO.

Husseiny adds that the system could be used to keep pigeons away from public squares, or divert flocks away from wind turbines. He says that the equipment should be commercially available within two years.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Golf: Donaldson wins in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI: Jamie Donaldson reeled in red-hot Justin Rose to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on Sunday.

The 37-year-old Welshman poked his nose in front going into the back nine and he held firm, going up against the hotly-favoured world No.5 to record just the second win of his professional career.

He came in with a final round of 68 for a 14-under total of 274.

Rose and Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark were joint second on 13 under after rounds of 71 and 69 respectively with Ricardo Santos of Portugal fourth a further two strokes back after a 68.

The victory was Donaldson's second after he won the Irish Open last year in what was his 255th European Tour event. His second took just 13 more tournaments.

It also means he will break into the world top 30 for the first time ahead of his Masters debut in April.

Rose started the day two strokes clear of the field, but quickly came under pressure with Olesen the first to show, drawing level with the 32-year-old Englishman at the fifth as he birdied and Rose had a bogey.

But the fast-rising Dane came to grief at the next, a drive into deep rough, resulting in a wild second into a bush, a penalty drop and a double bogey six. He was unable to get his nose back in front again after that.

Veteran Englishman David Howell, a former world top tenner fallen on hard times due to a combination of back problems and loss of form, then edged ahead with a scintillating front nine of 32.

But his challenge collapsed in tragic fashion at the 13th where he somehow contrived to four-putt from five feet to plummet down the leaderboard.

That left Rose and Donaldson out in front, two strokes clear of the field.

Donaldson then eased ahead by sinking 12-foot birdie putts at the 14th and 15th with Rose cutting the gap to one stroke with a birdie of his own at the 14th.

Two holes later though, the Ryder Cup star's second to the par-four 16th went way right and was lucky not to end up in the water. But he was unable to get down in two from there and Donaldson had a two-stroke cushion.

The Welshman opened the door slightly by missing a five-footer for par at the last, but neither Rose nor Olesen were able to grab the birdie they needed to force a play off.

For Rose, the runners-up finish will feel like a lost opportunity in a tournament that saw the world's top two golfers - Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods - fail to make the cut.

Olesen has again underlined the potential he has shown to become one of Europe's top players in the next few years.

- AFP/fa

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Stan 'The Man' Musial dies

Photo portrait of Stan Musial in the 1960s.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Musial played 22 years in the Major League, all with the St. Louis Cardinals


• He retired in 1963 as, statistically, one of the best hitters in baseball history


• He died Saturday evening of natural causes, his grandson says


• Baseball commissioner, players, fans recall Musial as a great athlete and man

(CNN) -- He was simply "The Man."

Stanley Frank Musial made a name for himself as one of baseball's best hitters of all time on the field, as well as one of its greatest, most dignified ambassadors off it.

And now "Stan the Man" is gone. Musial died at his Ladue, Missouri, home surrounded by family, the Cardinals said in a statement. According to a post on his Twitter page, which is maintained by his grandson Brian Musial Schwarze, Musial died at 5:45 p.m. (6:45 p.m. ET) Saturday of natural causes.

He was 92.

"We have lost the most beloved member of the Cardinals family," said William DeWitt Jr., the club's chairman. "Stan Musial was the greatest player in Cardinals history and one of the best players in the history of baseball."

The Pennsylvania-born Musial transitioned from a lackluster pitcher to a stellar slugging outfielder, according to his biography on the National Baseball Hall of Fame's website.

The left-hander had a batting average above .300 17 times during his 22-year career -- all played with St. Louis -- and earned three National League Most Valuable Player awards as well as three World Series titles. The only blip came in 1945, in the thick of World War II, when he left baseball to join the U.S. Navy.

Stan Musial waves to fans during the 2012 National League Championship Series.

After the 1963 season, Musial retired with a .331 career batting average and as the National League's career leader in RBI, games played, runs scored, hits and doubles. He has since been surpassed in some of those categories, but he still ranks fourth in baseball history in total hits, behind only Pete Rose, Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron.

Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver dead

He also stood out for his grace and sportsmanship -- having never been ejected once by an umpire. In his retirement ceremony, then-Major League Commissioner Ford Frick referred to Musial as "baseball's perfect warrior, baseball's perfect knight."

In 1969, Musial was elected on his first try into the Hall of Fame, calling it "the greatest honor of the many that have been bestowed upon me."

During and after his playing career, Musial developed a special relationship with the St. Louis fan base, who knew him simply as "Stan the Man."

A bronze statue of him stands outside Busch Stadium, which is located in Musial Plaza along Stan Musial Drive.

He continued with the organization for more than 25 years after his playing days ended, serving as vice president and general manager.

And Musial was active in the community, contributing to causes such as the USO, the Senior Olympics, the Boy Scouts and Covenant House.

People we lost in 2013

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"I have no hesitation to say that St. Louis is a great place in which to live and work," he said in his Hall of Fame induction speech. "We love St. Louis."

His fans returned the favor, revering him for his play as well as his character and commitment to the area.

"Cardinal Nation will never be the same. Rest in peace Stan 'The Man' Musial, the best Cardinal there ever was," wrote one woman, by the name of Elise, on Twitter.

Musial also stood tall outside eastern Missouri. He served between 1964 and 1967 as chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

In 2011, President Barack Obama bestowed upon him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

"Stan matched his hustle with humility," Obama said then. "Stan remains, to this day, an icon, untarnished; a beloved pillar of the community; a gentleman you'd want your kids to emulate."

Lillian, Musial's wife of 71 years, died last May -- a longlasting marriage that some people, online, called as admirable as anything that happened on the diamond.

Stan Musial's passing spurred an outpouring of condolences and praise. Commissioner Bud Selig described him as "a Hall of Famer in every sense" and "a true gentleman," former pitcher Curt Schilling called his life "a clinic in respect, integrity and honor," and current Cardinal Matt Holliday said it was "an honor to the same uniform."

The messages from fans were no less heartfelt.

Wrote Jason Lukehart, on Twitter: "In a week that's shown the dangers deifying athletes, Stan Musial's death reminds me that once in a great while, there's a man worthy of it."

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Islamists flee Mali town after French airstrikes

Malian soldiers inspect armed vehicles recovered from Islamist militants during fighting to retake the town of Konna, at the Malian military base in Sevare, central Mali, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013. / AP Photo/Harouna Traore

BAMAKO, Mali Burned out vehicles and scattered bullets dotted the streets of a central Malian town after radical Islamists retreated following days of French airstrikes, according to video obtained Sunday.

The Malian military announced late Saturday that the government was now controlling Diabaly, marking an important accomplishment for the French-led offensive to oust the extremists from northern and central Mali.

"People are calm since the Islamists left the city of Diabaly before it was taken by the Malian and French forces yesterday," said Oumar Coulibaly, who lives in the nearby town of Niono.

The Associated Press obtained video filmed Saturday by a local resident, which shows people from Diabaly inspecting the fighters' vehicles and charred weaponry destroyed by French airstrikes and Malian ground forces.

Several armored vehicles belonging to the Malian army also can be seen lying abandoned and damaged at the side of roads in Diabaly, a town of 35,000 that is home to an important military camp.

The video marks the first pictures to emerge from the area, which was taken over by al Qaeda-linked militants at the beginning of the week. The zone remains blocked off by a military cordon and journalists have not been able to access the area so far.

Residents who had fled to the nearby town of Niono and officials described how Islamists fled the town on foot after days of French airstrikes that destroyed their vehicles.

"They tried to hijack a car, but the driver didn't stop and they fired on the car and killed the driver," said a Malian intelligence officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.

The Islamists first seized control of the main towns in northern Mali nine months ago, taking advantage of a power vacuum after a military coup in the distant capital of Bamako.

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Obama to Be Sworn in for 2nd Term at White House

Jan 20, 2013 8:43am

While an estimated 800,000 people are expected to gather in Washington D.C.  Monday to watch President Obama be sworn in for a second term, his second term officially begins Sunday. He will take his oath of office in a private ceremony. Vice President Joe Biden was sworn in on Sunday morning at the Naval Observatory.

OBAMA SWEARING-IN:

–Obama will take the oath of office for a second term in a small ceremony in the Blue Room of the White House at 11:55 am. Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath.

–Obama will be sworn in using a Bible today that belonged to First Lady Michelle Obama’s grandmother, LaVaughn Delores Robinson. The Robinson family Bible was a present from the first lady’s father to his mother on Mother’s Day in 1958, six years before Michelle’s birth.

–Due to constitutionally-mandated scheduling, President Obama is set to become the second president in U.S. history to have four swearing-in ceremonies. Today will be his third. Obama was sworn in twice in 2008 out of an abundance of caution after Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed the oath of office.

–Franklin Roosevelt was also sworn-in four times but, unlike Obama, he was elected four times.

–This year will mark the seventh time a president has taken the oath on a Sunday and then again on Monday for ceremonial purposes. Reagan last took the oath on a Sunday in 1985.

PHOTOS: U.S. Presidents Taking the Oath of Office

BIDEN SWEARING-IN:

–Vice President Biden was sworn-in at the Vice President’s residence at the Naval Observatory, surrounded by his family and close friends.

–Biden personally selected Associate Justice Sotomayor, who will be the first Hispanic and fourth female judge to administer an oath of office.

–Three women have previously sworn-in presidents and vice presidents: Judge Sarah T. Hughes swore-in President Johnson in 1963; Justice Sandra Day O’Connor swore-in Vice President Dan Quayle in 1989; and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg swore-in Vice President Al Gore in 1997.

–On Sunday and Monday, Vice President Biden will be sworn in using the Biden Family Bible, which is five inches thick, has a Celtic cross on the cover and has been in the Biden family since 1893. He used it every time he was sworn in as a US Senator and when he was sworn in as Vice President in 2009. His son Beau used it when he was sworn in as Delaware’s attorney general.

Tune in to the ABC News.com Live page on Monday morning starting at 9:30 a.m. EST for all-day live streaming video coverage of Inauguration 2013: Barack Obama. Live coverage will also be available on the ABC News iPad App and mobile devices.

SHOWS: This Week World News

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Earth may be crashing through dark matter walls

Earth is constantly crashing through huge walls of dark matter, and we already have the tools to detect them. That's the conclusion of physicists who say the universe may be filled with a patchwork quilt of force fields created shortly after the big bang.

Observations of how mass clumps in space suggest that about 86 per cent of all matter is invisible dark matter, which interacts with ordinary matter mainly through gravity. The most popular theory is that dark matter is made of weakly interacting massive particles.

WIMPs should also interact with ordinary matter via the weak nuclear force, and their presence should have slight but measurable effects. However, years of searches for WIMPs have been coming up empty.

"So far nothing is found, and I feel like it's time to broaden the scope of our search," says Maxim Pospelov of the University of Victoria in Canada. "What we propose is to look for some other signatures."

Bubbly cosmos

Pospelov and colleagues have been examining a theory that at least some of the universe's dark matter is tied up in structures called domain walls, akin to the boundaries between tightly packed bubbles. The idea is that the hot early universe was full of an exotic force field that varied randomly. As the universe expanded and cooled, the field froze, leaving a patchwork of domains, each with its own distinct value for the field.

Having different fields sit next to each other requires energy to be stored within the domain walls. Mass and energy are interchangeable, so on a large scale a network of domain walls can look like concentrations of mass – that is, like dark matter, says Pospelov.

If the grid of domain walls is packed tightly enough – say, if the width of the domains is several hundred times the distance between Earth and the sun – Earth should pass through a domain wall once every few years. "As a human, you wouldn't feel a thing," says Pospelov. "You will go through the wall without noticing." But magnetometers – devices that, as the name suggests, measure magnetic fields – could detect the walls, say Pospelov and colleagues in a new study. Although the field inside a domain would not affect a magnetometer, the device would sense the change when Earth passes through a domain wall.

Dark matter walls have not been detected yet because anyone using a single magnetometer would find the readings swamped by noise, Pospelov says. "You'd never be able to say if it's because the Earth went through a bizarre magnetic field or if a grad student dropped their iPhone or something," he says.

Network needed

Finding the walls will require a network of at least five detectors spread around the world, Pospelov suggests. Colleagues in Poland and California have already built one magnetometer each and have shown that they are sensitive enough for the scheme to work.

Domain walls wouldn't account for all the dark matter in the universe, but they could explain why finding particles of the stuff has been such a challenge, says Pospelov.

If domain walls are found, the news might come as a relief to physicists still waiting for WIMPs to show up. Earlier this month, for instance, a team working with a detector in Russia that has been running for more than 24 years announced that they have yet to see any sign of these dark matter candidates.

Douglas Finkbeiner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who was not involved in Pospelov's study, isn't yet convinced that dark matter walls exist. But he is glad that physicists are keeping an open mind about alternatives to WIMPs.

"We've looked for WIMP dark matter in so many ways," he says. "At some point you have to ask, are we totally on the wrong track?"

Journal reference: Physical Review Letters, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.021803

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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