Using NASA's Fermi gamma-ray space telescope, scientists led by Tomonori Totani may have achieved the first direct detection of dark matter.⁠ ⁠ They observed a gamma-ray emission of 20 gigaelectronvolts forming a halo-like structure near the Milky Way's center. The signal's pattern and energy precisely match predictions for the annihilation (self-destruction upon collision) of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), a leading theorized dark matter particle.⁠ Dark matter, which makes up about 85% of the universe's matter but is invisible as it doesn't emit or absorb light, has only been inferred through its gravitational effects since first proposed in the 1930s.⁠ ⁠ If confirmed, this discovery would mark a breakthrough, suggesting dark matter is a new particle outside the Standard Model of particle physics. However, the scientific community requires more accumulated data to definitively confirm the finding and solve the century-old mystery. The research was published in the Journ...