Astrophysicists have an idea that could help to solve two mysteries: the reason for the bizarre abundance of super-high-energy radiation shooting from the center of our galaxy and the identity of invisible stuff called dark matter that has perplexed the world since its discovery some 50 years ago.
And the idea has a super-cool name: gravity portals. The idea goes, when two dark matter particles (whatever they are) get sucked into one of these portals, they obliterate each other and spit out shockingly strong gamma rays.
This line of thinking can potentially explain why the galactic center — where dense clusters of dark matter are thought to lurk — is full of gamma rays; and it could shed light on how the dark matter behaves and might occasionally interact with the normal matter of our universe.