Welcome to The Sciku Project – the latest scientific and mathematical discoveries, thoughts and ideas as scientific haiku.
Latest:
Dark Matter by Martina Matijević
The secret marriage
by Martina Matijević
of dark matter and fifth force.
A matter of fact?
Scientists from Université de Genève and collaborators performed one of the most precise tests of whether dark matter behaves like ordinary matter by comparing galaxy motions within cosmic gravitational wells to the predicted depth of those wells.
Their observations showed that dark matter falls into these wells exactly as expected under standard gravity, allowing no measurable deviations. Because any additional “fifth force” acting on dark matter stronger than about 7% of gravity would have altered galaxy velocities in detectable ways, the researchers conclude that if such a force exists, it must be weaker than that threshold.
Further reading:
‘Dark matter acts surprisingly normal in a new cosmic test’, 2025, Université de Genève, ScienceDaily, available: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/11/251115095924.htm
‘Comparing the motion of dark matter and standard model particles on cosmological scales’, 2025, Grimm, N., et al., Nature Communications, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65100-8
Author bio:
Martina Matijević is a poet from Croatia who has traveled around the Sun 24 times, which makes her 24 years old in Earth’s timekeeping. Her work has been featured in Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Kokako, The Cold Moon Journal, Acorn, and others. You can discover more of her poetry here: https://tinamatijev.wixsite.com/martina-matijevi
Light’s Posthumous Letter by Norazha Paiman
We only see stars
by Norazha Paiman
that died millennia past—
the sky is a tomb.
Due to the finite speed of light (299,792,458 meters per second) and the vast distances in space, we observe celestial objects not as they are now, but as they were when their light began its journey to Earth.
A light-year is the distance light travels in one year (approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers). This temporal delay means that astronomy is fundamentally the study of the past; every observation is historical documentation, and the present state of the universe remains forever invisible to us. The night sky is effectively an archive of extinct or transformed objects whose light continues to travel long after the original source has changed or ceased to exist.
Further reading:
‘What is a light year?’, 2021, Gordon, J. & Childers, T., Space.com, available: https://www.space.com/light-year.html
‘Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries’, 2007, Tyson, N. D., W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393062243.
Author bio:
Norazha Paiman teaches English and Greek and Latin in Scientific Terminology at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, where his research bridges psychometrics and poetics. He writes poetry that reimagines how science feels, with work appearing in Poetizer, Substack, Consilience, and Poets for Science.
Uterus as sentinel by Debbie Lee
Menstrual health research
by Debbie Lee
Uterus as sentinel
Tampon-based study.
Leveraging power in the menstrualome, NextGenJane (NGJ) is unlocking the data of monthly cycles.
* As a hyper-responsive organ that responds to external and internal stimuli, from stress to disease, the uterus is a data trove.
* Menstrual blood contains early indicators of health and disease that’s difficult to get any other way.
* Members of the NGJ community mail their tampons using a patented, specially-designed collection kit.
* A survey is the beginning of this anonymised conversation with NGJ.
* The menstrual cycle is a convenient way to sample the uterus and advance the science of uterine biology.
* As a longitudinal study of women’s menstruation, a more sophisticated, molecular understanding of gynecological health will inprove medical diagnostics.
* More precise options for treatment is expected to deliver genomic insights and improved outcomes for endometriosis, fibroids, and other gynecological conditions.
For more information: https://www.nextgenjane.com/
Author bio:
Debbie Lee (@lee_debbie):
Writing from places light and dark,
awkward data nerd,
elegant word nerd,
dreaming in colour,
clumsily balancing love, hope,
kindness with pragmatic realism.
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