It’s a slow, yet all over the show week this week…

Second experiment hints at seasonal dark matter signal
Feng suggests that the discrepancy among all the experimental results may simply be due to the assumption that WIMPs interact the same way with protons and neutrons. If this is not the case, that could explain differences in the signals from xenon and germanium detectors, which each have a different ratio of protons to neutrons (arxiv.org/abs/1102.4331). “These experiments may look inconsistent, but a small theoretical tweak can bring everything in to line,” he told New Scientist.

Sky survey maps distant universe in 3D
Past surveys have relied on galaxies to map the universe (bright dots in the image’s central region). Now cosmic cartographers have probed even greater distances – to about 11 billion light years away – using intergalactic gas clouds (pictured along the perimeter in blue). The gas clouds are detectable because they absorb light from even more distant objects called quasars, blazing beacons powered by supermassive black holes that are devouring surrounding matter.

Beating the traffic before it even exists
The Smarter Traveler Research Initiative blends real-time traffic data with past traffic patterns to predict congestion up to 40 minutes into the future. Drivers are then automatically sent an email or text message of conditions on their regular commute before their trip begins.

…is pretty sweet.  Doesn’t look like much on first glance, but it’s a picture of Obama and his team watching a video feed of the raid on Bin Laden.

And just as I’m about to hit post on this, there’s a great Times write up on it to be found here: After Uncertainty, a Moment of Triumph in the Situation Room: ‘We’ve IDed Geronimo’

The President sat stone-faced through much of the events. Several of his aides, however, were pacing. For long periods of time, nobody said a thing, as everyone waited for the next update. In the modern age, Presidents can experience their own military actions like a video game, except that they have no control over the events. They cannot, and would not, intervene to contact the commanders running the operation. So when word came that a helicopter had been grounded, a sign that the plan was already off course, the tension increased.