China has launched the world's deepest and largest laboratory facility, under a mountain, in a bid to solve its biggest scientific mystery.
China's underground Jinping laboratory, which began operations on December 7, is set to offer special testing conditions not available to scientists anywhere else in the world.
The laboratory was developed in China's Sichuan province to facilitate in-depth research into the biggest unsolved mystery in physics: dark matter.
Dark matter is believed to make up at least a quarter of the universe, and it is an almost invisible substance that does not absorb, reflect or emit light.
This makes dark matter extremely difficult to detect, says the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
While modern science has proven the existence of dark matter, it has never been able to detect it directly.
The laboratory is located 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) underground in Sichuan Province, southwest China.
Scientists believe that the laboratory provides them with an ideal “ultra-pure” location to detect dark matter.
At such a depth, almost all cosmic rays, which hinder the detection of dark matter, will be blocked, helping scientists better study the mysterious element.
"Only a small flux of cosmic rays, equivalent to one hundred millionth of the rays found on the Earth's surface, will reach the laboratory," Yue Qian, a professor in the Department of Engineering Physics at Tsinghua University, told Xinhua. "This will provide an extremely clean space for scientists to search for Dark matter.
With a room capacity of 300,000 cubic metres, equivalent to 120 Olympic swimming pools, it also became the largest underground laboratory facility in the world.
Qian noted that other conditions in the laboratory, including extremely low environmental radiation and the concentration of naturally occurring radioactive radon gas, would also enhance the detection of dark matter.
The laboratory will facilitate and support interdisciplinary research in the fields of particle physics, nuclear astrophysics, cosmology, life sciences and rock mechanics.
The first 10 teams of prominent scientists from Chinese universities and research institutions, such as Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Beijing Normal University, as well as the China Institute of Atomic Energy and the Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have already been stationed at the facility.
Dark matter and the quest to find it has been the biggest problem in physics and astronomy of the modern era.
Its existence was first inferred by Swiss-American Fritz Zwicky in 1933, and now scientists can infer its existence from the gravitational effect it appears to have on visible matter.
Solving the mystery of dark matter could help scientists better understand the composition of the universe and how galaxies are held together.
In theory, it could also help understand what science has called “dark energy,” which is one of the most important mysteries that scientists are trying to solve.
It has been hypothesized that there is a force accelerating the expansion of the universe, but no one knows the correct explanation. However, scientists called it dark energy.
No one knows what dark energy is, but approximately 68% of the universe consists of dark energy, according to NASA.
Report: The United States is losing its position as a science center in the world!
The United States may be known for its leadership in many sciences and technologies, but a new report reveals that it is now losing this race to other countries, such as China.
The report included a survey of 2,000 people working in a STEM-related field, including K-12 teachers, technology, health care, military and homeland security, business, and STEM.
The study showed that 75% of participants believe that the United States is lagging behind in these industries or has even lost out to global competition.
60% of participants considered China to be at the top of the group, with data showing that it is ahead of the United States in 34 out of 44 areas, including electric batteries, hypersonic batteries, and advanced radio frequencies.
The study found that only eight percent of those surveyed believe the United States is taking steps to expand its progress, but among the majority who said the United States is lagging behind, 40% blamed the government, saying it should invest more money in research and development.
Although many factors contribute to the decline in scientific and technological progress, including artificial intelligence, growing distrust of science, and lack of government funding, the report describes the lack of adequate K-12 education in STEM fields as a The biggest obstacle.
Over the past three decades, the United States has lagged behind countries in Europe and East Asia, ranking 28th out of 37 participating countries in reading, science, and math.
The research team raised the issue of people's growing distrust of science due to the spread of disinformation and misinformation, which is also undermining public health and skepticism around "innovative medical treatments and products".
This is not the first time that the scientific community has sounded the alarm about the risk of the United States losing its top position as a global leader in technology and science, as about 200 leaders of high-tech companies, including Microsoft and Intel, have put pressure on the government to increase investment in The scientific community in 2005, due to arguments that research and development had been stagnant for the past three decades.
The new report builds on previous arguments, saying that the United States can no longer be complacent and must take a stand on research and development, otherwise a takeover of the technology and science sector is imminent.
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