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For Spotlight, François Picard is pleased to welcome Johan Sjöström, Senior Research Scientist at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. He argues that the devastating wildfires affecting northern France are not an isolated anomaly but part of a "new normal" for Europe. His focus moves beyond extreme weather to examine the interaction between climate, vegetation, land management and institutional preparedness.

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Two major mysteries in science, the nature of dark matter and the possible existence of higher dimensions, could be linked, new research suggests. The team behind a new study proposes that dark matter may be so strange and ghost-like because it is in tune with a fifth dimension.

When scientists discuss "extra dimensions," they aren't talking about other universes in which another evil version of you exists (and with a beard). Instead, they refer to dimensions that could be "curled up" with reality alongside the standard four-dimensional spacetime , consisting of the three dimensions of space and one dimension of time.

While these extra dimensions remain highly speculative, they have become a hot topic, especially as string theory, the most popular extension to standard physics, relies upon the existence of at least 11 dimensions. Scientists are more sure that dark matter exists, but proving its existence still remains troubling because, despite its gravity literally holding galaxies together and outweighing ordinary matter by around five to one, it remains effectively invisible because it doesn't interact with light and it simply ghosts through ordinary matter.

"Understanding dark matter would represent a profound advance in humanity's knowledge of the cosmos and what it is made of," team member Yu-Dai Tsai of the University of Sheffield said in a statement .

"Our research gives physicists clear new targets in the search for dark matter, while connecting two of the biggest ideas in fundamental physics: the mystery of dark matter and the existence of hidden dimensions."

Dark photons play dark matter like a violin

Though the main idea is that dark matter may operate in the fifth dimension, this new research expands upon that concept with another theory. It suggests that dark matter exists with another inhabitant of the fifth dimension, a force-carrying particle called a "dark photon."

Standard photons are the constituent particles of electromagnetic radiation, or light; dark photons would be similar but for a hypothetical "dark force."

The team's new proposal would see the unique geometry of the fifth dimension causing the masses of dark matter particles to form an arrangement that gives rise to a "dark matter resonance." This is akin to the intense vibration of a musical instrument at certain notes.

"Dark matter resonance is already known to be a powerful idea, with the potential to change our understanding of how dark matter was produced in the early universe and how we search for it today," team member Yu-Dai Tsai of the University of Sheffield said in a statement. "But many previous resonant dark matter models have treated the resonance as an assumption. This work gives a possible deeper origin for it: the resonance may come directly from the geometry of hidden dimensions."

An illustration shows a cloud of dark matter slipping past a distant star (Image credit: Robert Lea (created with Canva)) Tsai explained that while dark matter resonance is a phenomenon that has been explored before, the research conducted by this team differs because it suggests dark matter resonance is not a coincidence. Instead, the possible deeper origin for the resonance sees it emerge directly from the geometry of hidden dimensions. This would allow dark matter to interact strongly shortly after the Big Bang while allowing it to settle into its ghost-like inert existence today.

"This resonance can make dark matter interactions much stronger at crucial epochs in cosmic history, such as in the early universe," Tsai added. "Crucially, the model allows for these strong interactions in the past while still explaining why dark matter appears so inert and hard to detect today."

Of course, it is very early days for the team's theory, but it excitingly offers a way toward solving two of the universe's greatest mysteries.

The team's research was published in the Physical Review D.

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Starship won't be the only SpaceX rocket flying today, if all goes according to plan.

A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base today (July 16), carrying 21 satellites for the U.S. military's advanced new "Tranche 1 Transport Layer" (T1TL) constellation to orbit.

Liftoff will take place during a 22-minute window that opens at 4:22 p.m. EDT (2022 GMT; 1:22 p.m. local California time). You can watch it live via SpaceX beginning about 10 minutes before launch.

SpaceX's Starship megarocket — the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built — is slated to make its 13th test flight shortly thereafter. It will lift off from the company's Starbase site in South Texas during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT; 5:45 p.m. local Texas time).

SpaceX will stream that mission live as well, and Space.com will carry the feed . Coverage will begin about half an hour before launch.

Today's Falcon 9 flight will help assemble the T1TL, a network in low Earth orbit (LEO) that will be operated by the U.S. Space Force 's Space Development Agency (SDA).

The T1TL "will provide global communications access and deliver persistent regional encrypted connectivity in support of warfighter missions around the globe," SDA officials wrote in a explainer .

The T1TL will eventually consist of 126 satellites, which will be built by York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Forty-two of the spacecraft have reached orbit to date, on two Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg — one last September and another last October .

These 126 spacecraft will be part of a larger LEO network that the SDA calls the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The PWSA is "a proliferated constellation of hundreds of optically linked small satellites, in low-Earth orbit (LEO), delivering capability at speed to the warfighter," SDA officials wrote in a Tranche 1 fact sheet .

"SDA leverages spiral development to deploy and proliferate new capability into a new generation of the PWSA every two years, called a 'tranche,' to continually increase capability used by the warfighter," they added.

Previous Booster 1103 launches

NROL-179 | 2 Starlink missions

If everything goes according to plan today, the Falcon 9's first stage will come back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff for a landing in the Pacific Ocean, on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You." According to a SpaceX mission description , it will be the fourth flight for this particular booster, which is designated 1103.

The Falcon 9's upper stage will haul the 21 satellites to LEO. We don't know when or exactly where they'll be deployed; the SpaceX mission description doesn't provide that information, likely at the request of the SDA.

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PARIS — If time is indeed a flat circle , François Hollande may yet have a chance of returning to power in France next year.

The 71-year-old, who served as French president from 2012 to 2017, told dozens of influential supporters, including elected officials and public servants, at a garden party at the French Senate that he thinks he “could be useful” in next year’s presidential election.

“I’ve been president before; I know what the job entails, and I’ve held that position,” Hollande said, according to an attendee who was granted anonymity to relay details about the private gathering. Hollande said he believes French voters will in 2027 focus on “what matters,” which means: “Who can lead France? Who can help France find its place?”

“Many people started campaigning in June. What matters is what will happen at the end of this year and early next year,” he said.

Hollande had previously said he is “getting ready” ahead of the election but is postponing a decision until closer to the end of the year. He hopes favorable opinion polls and turmoil within his own center-left Socialist Party could offer him a path back to power.

But a comeback remains a long shot. Hollande left office in 2017 after having registered the lowest-ever approval rating — four percent — of any French president in recent history. He was loathed by both his opponents on the right and erstwhile allies on the left, who accused him of failing to pursue the ambitious progressive agenda he had promised during his campaign.

His image has improved over the past decade. A recent survey from French pollster Ifop placed him second in a ranking of 50 public figures, with 49 percent of respondents saying they held a positive view of the former president.

But likeability and electability are two different things. Three separate pollsters have tested Hollande as a Socialist Party candidate over the past month, and he was consistently shown receiving less than 10 percent of the projected vote and missing the runoff by a significant margin.

In French presidential elections, the two best-placed candidates advance to a second round if none receives more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round. Polling currently shows the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen well-placed to reach the runoff, with the race for second place much more open.

Radical left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, whose rivalry with Hollande dates back several decades to when the two men fought internally within the Socialist Party, appears to be the best-placed figure on the left to qualify for the runoff.

Even on the center-left, Hollande is polling behind presidential hopeful and member of the European Parliament Raphaël Glucksmann, who has said he will announce near the end of the summer whether he is running for president.

The Socialists are expected to hold a closed primary in October, where members of the party and of allied forces, including Glucksmann’s own micro-party Place Publique, will be invited to pick their champion.

Hollande, however, does not wish to take part in the process. He is instead betting that whoever emerges as the Socialist candidate may look weak as the campaign unfolds, fueling calls for a seasoned politician like himself to return to the game.

Sarah Paillou contributed to this report.

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Pokémon Go players are reacting in disgust after seeing fans who were hand-picked to attend the game's ultra-exclusive 10th anniversary Times Square event now selling off their unique Mewtwo on eBay for thousands of dollars — breaking the game's rules in the process.

Last week, Pokémon Go celebrated its first decade of operation by holding an invitation-only event in New York, where around 2,000 hardcore fans, as well as media and influencers, took part in a unique Times Square battle to capture Mewtwo.

The event proved highly controversial within the Pokémon Go community and generated a wave of complaints at the special treatment offered to those in attendance, who were awarded a unique Mewtwo with a special Times Square cosmetic background and perfect "hundo" stats.

While the cosmetic background was a nice-to-have, the fact players were given a "hundo" Mewtwo was startling. The game has never gifted a guaranteed perfect Pokémon before, and the timing couldn't have been much worse — ahead of a weekend of Mewtwo raids aimed at the rest of the game's player base, who needed to spend time and raid passes on grinding for even a chance at such a prize.

A large proportion of the New York event's attendees were Community Ambassadors (CAs), vetted but unpaid superfans who work closely with the game's developer Scopely Explore (previously Niantic) to galvanize local players. As a reward for their time, many were invited to the New York event, and allowed to bring a couple of other players from their community with them. Other attendees included members of the media, as well as influencers and streamers who help promote the game online.

Now, however, some of these players are choosing to profit off their attendance by selling their unique Mewtwo on eBay, where completed listings show the creature being sold for up to $5,000. A string of further in-progress string can also be found , with one currently being bid on up to $10,000.

Of course, selling Pokémon like this breaks the games rules — not to mention the fact that many of these listings discuss "flying" to complete the in-game trade process (a term commonly used by players who cheat by spoofing their in-game location, another banned activity).

"It's time Scopely takes a hard look at things like this," Pokémon Go fan SchaferQuest777 wrote of the eBay listings, discussing the matter in a post on X/Twitter. "I know CAs are more scrutinized when it comes to TOS and I'm pretty sure selling this breaks that. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out who it is either.

"Being a CA heavy event, like I said - NOT a good look at all for the program," they continued.

With only around 2,000 attendees, it would likely not be too difficult to examine the accounts of those going and discover which players no longer have their unique Mewtwo, and which may have made suspicously-long "flying" journeys to make the trade. Whether this results in any action being taken against these players, though, remains to be seen.

IGN has contacted Scopely Explore for comment.

Image credit: GMC/Sassy.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social