Map of Space-Time Distortions Reveals Universe’s Dark Matter Distribution, Proving Einstein Right

 Simons Foundation, April 2023

By closely measuring the distorted path taken by the universe’s oldest light, researchers with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) collaboration have mapped out the distribution of dark matter in the cosmos with unparalleled precision. The results shore up Einstein’s theory of gravity, provide new insights into the nature of dark matter and expose critical information about the universe’s fundamental properties.

Adapted from University of Pennsylvania press release.

Simons Foundation Accepting Applications for Neuroscience Undergraduate Research Fellowships

 Simons Foundation, March 2023

The Simons Foundation is now accepting applications from undergraduate students to participate in the Simons Foundation Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Neuroscience, or SURFiN, for the 2023–2024 academic year. The program’s goal is to spark and sustain interest in neuroscience among undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds underrepresented in neuroscience research.

New Testing Approach Diagnoses COVID-19 With Near-Perfect Accuracy

 Simons Foundation, February 2023

By inspecting the body’s immune response at a molecular level, a research team has developed a new way to test patients for COVID-19. Their method can potentially catch infections a matter of hours after exposure — far earlier than current COVID-19 tests can detect the virus — with near-perfect accuracy. The team describes their innovation, which is still in the early stages of development, in the February 27 issue of Cell Reports Methods.

Simons Foundation Scientists Named as Sloan Research Fellows

 Simons Foundation, February 2023

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has awarded its prestigious research fellowship to four past and present Simons Foundation researchers. This year’s 125 fellowship recipients “represent the most promising scientific researchers working today,” according to the program’s website. “Their achievements and potential place them among the next generation of scientific leaders in the U.S. and Canada.”

Simons Foundation Providing Support to Researchers in Ukraine

 Simons Foundation, January 2023

Scientists and mathematicians in Ukraine are continuing to conduct their research in the face of Russian bombings, failing power grids, internet disruptions and shattered windows. Today, the Simons Foundation is announcing its support of 405 Ukrainian mathematicians, biologists, physicists and chemists who remain in Ukraine. In total, the foundation will award more than $1.2 million in funding over 12 months.

Colin Hill and Oliver Philcox Among Winners of Buchalter Cosmology Prize

 Simons Foundation, January 2023

First place for this year’s Buchalter Cosmology Prize went to a paper co-authored by Colin Hill, until recently a Flatiron Institute associate research scientist and currently an assistant professor at Columbia University, and Junior Fellow of the Simons Society of Fellows Oliver Philcox, also of Columbia. The prize aims to “support the development of new theories, observations, or methods, that can help illuminate the puzzle of cosmic expansion from first principles.”