Theoretical physicists at UC Irvine say they’ve found evidence for a fifth fundamental force of nature, carried by a particle that until now has gone totally unnoticed. In the follow-up, they fleshed out the idea, showing how (with a small entourage of additional new particles) it could be stitched into the standard model. Dark matter makes up nearly 27% of the universe’s mass-energy density; dark energy makes up more than 68%. “This could actually be the dark force,” Tait said. Caption Invasive beetle from Southeast Asia killing trees at UC Irvine UC Irvine’s campus has fallen prey to the polyphagous shot-hole borer, an invasive beetle from Southeast Asia that’s been invading Southern California and killing its trees.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 17, 2016 11:00 UTC