Wonderful Pistachios Celebrates California Pistachios’ First Advertising Campaign in India

Jan 10, 2025 Mumbai, India

Wonderful® Pistachios, the world’s largest grower and processor of pistachios and distributor of California Pistachios, is celebrating the launch of California Pistachios’ first international advertising campaign, “The Better Nut”. This initiative communicates the nutritional benefits of California pistachios, aiming to increase category awareness and position them as a delicious, guilt-free and complete protein snack.

The Better Nut OOH campaign indicating nutritional benefits of California Pistachios

The campaign’s centrepiece is a striking visual featuring an arm flexing its muscles crafted entirely of California pistachios in their vibrant green hue. This imagery will be showcased across billboards, unipoles, newspapers, and in-app promotions on Amazon. The messaging highlights California pistachios as a tasty and guilt-free snack boasting essential vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that promote well-being.

The Better Nut draws insights from a global study conducted by Wonderful Pistachios across ten countries, revealing a rising demand for healthier snacks and plant-based protein among urban Indians. Key findings include:

86% of consumers seek protein in their diets.

58% of India consumers perceive health to be more important than taste

Nuts are the second most popular snack in India, with 86% of shoppers buying them and 66% of urban Indians snacking on pistachios.

The ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN), recommended including nuts like pistachios as a healthy snack and an essential source of plant protein in a balanced diet. A serving of 28 grams of California pistachios contains 6 grams of protein, fibre, and unsaturated fats, making them ideal for mindful snacking.

Diana Salsa, Vice President of Marketing at Wonderful Pistachios, stated, “India is a dynamic and growing market with a deep appreciation for nutritious and versatile foods. With its rich culinary traditions and a rising focus on healthy lifestyles, The Better Nut offers an incredible opportunity for us to connect with consumers who value the quality, taste and benefits of incorporating pistachios into their daily diet. Over the last six years, pistachio consumption in India has doubled, driven by a growing awareness of these nuts’ nutritional benefits.”

The campaign is a collaboration between Wonderful Pistachios’ in-house agency, Wonderful Agency, DDB Mudra for creative adaptation and PHD India, part of the Omnicom Media Group, for media execution.

Michael Perdigao, President of The Wonderful Agency, The Wonderful Company’s in-house agency, commented, “The Better Nut campaign inspires us to see that making a healthy snack choice is simple. This new campaign uses clean and impactful visuals that make it easy to understand why pistachios are a smart snack for any time of day.”

Harshada Menon and Siddhesh Khatavkar, Executive Creative Directors, DDB Mudra added, “We are excited to collaborate with California Pistachios on this campaign. Our strategy blends to adapt global brand consistency with local adaptation to resonate with Indian audience. In addition to the striking imagery created by TWC, our 3D installation of a giant pistachio will draw eyeballs to the powerful health benefits of pistachios.”

The campaign will run for three weeks, targeting high-traffic locations across Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru. Select billboard sites in these cities will feature the 3D installations of a giant pistachio to enhance engagement. The print advertisements will appear in a leading newspaper, while a customized Amazon storefront will elevate category visibility, featuring QR codes on creatives to streamline purchasing from leading brands in India offering California pistachios.

Mrs. Neerja Birla Initiative Mpower Strengthens CISF Mental Health, Driving a Significant Decline in Suicide Incidents

Jan 10, 2025  Mumbai, India

Mpower, an initiative of the Aditya Birla Education Trust, has significantly enhanced the mental well-being of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), contributing to a remarkable 40% reduction in suicide rates since 2020. This achievement highlights the success of Project Mann by Mpower, a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) that addresses the unique mental health challenges faced by CISF personnel, including prolonged working hours, loneliness, interpersonal issues, financial stress, and high-pressure living conditions.

Through this partnership over the years, Mpower has developed a comprehensive mental health support system tailored for CISF personnel across India. The comprehensive and holistic program includes a 24/7 counselling helpline that has managed over 24,200 calls since 2020, providing immediate, confidential assistance and sustained well-being checks across 70 airports and 51 non-airport units. In addition to the Tele counselling, the team of psychologists have provided one-to-one therapy sessions. The change to seek help started when we conducted awareness across India for CIS personnel. Our efforts have impacted over 2 Lakh personnel.

These sustained efforts have yielded remarkable results, including a significant reduction in suicides among Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel. In 2024, CISF reported a 40% decline in suicides—the lowest since the partnership began. This highlights the tangible impact of Mpower’s mental health interventions in fostering emotional resilience and cultivating a supportive mental health culture within the organization.

A senior CISF official expressed his views, stating, “Mpower’s consistent support and tailored interventions have normalized help-seeking behavior within the CISF, reducing stigma around mental health and creating a healthier, more resilient environment for our personnel. This cultural shift is critical for those entrusted with safeguarding the nation’s critical infrastructure.”

Mrs. Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson of Mpower, ABET emphasized the broader implications of this collaboration, saying “Our partnership with CISF demonstrates how public-private partnerships can institutionalize mental health support not only in the workplace but also in high-stress professions like paramilitary services. By integrating mental health as a core component of resilience-building, we can equip personnel to thrive under pressure while fostering emotional strength. The 40% reduction in suicide rates within the CISF highlights the tangible impact of our initiatives by the Mpower team. Working in a collaborative manner has resulted in a customized step-by-step approach to address the mental health of a large community service workforce and creating stigma-free space for mental health conversations for an audience who were hesitant to seek help.”

Looking ahead, Mpower aims to expand its support with family engagement workshops, movement therapy programs, and specialized stress management training for CISF personnel. Mpower is also driving multiple initiatives across India for a large-scale community service workforce to drive acceptance of recognising and seeking help for mental health. This effort reinforces a growing openness in India toward seeking mental health support, mirroring trends in Western nations.

Revolutionizing Hip Replacement Surgery: The Direct Anterior Approach

Jan 10, 2025, Bengaluru, India

According to Dr Abhinandan S Punit, Consultant – Orthopaedic Surgeon, Robotic Joint Replacement Surgery & Sports Medicine at Narayana Health City, Bangalore, hip replacement surgery has long been a transformative solution for individuals suffering from debilitating hip pain and impaired mobility. Over the years, surgical techniques have evolved to enhance patient outcomes, with the Direct Anterior Approach (DAA) emerging as a groundbreaking method in recent times. This minimally invasive approach is redefining the landscape of hip replacement surgery, offering a range of benefits that prioritize patient recovery and comfort without compromising the effectiveness of the procedure.

Dr. Abhinandan S Punit, Consultant – Orthopaedic Surgeon, Robotic Joint Replacement Surgery & Sports Medicine Elite Orthocare & Multispeciality Clinic, Bangalore

The Direct Anterior Approach is distinct in its methodology. It allows surgeons to access the hip joint through natural spaces between muscles and nerves at the front of the hip. By preserving critical muscle groups, this technique minimizes trauma to the surrounding tissues, reduces pain, and supports a quicker return to mobility. For patients, the difference is tangible from the moment they begin their post-operative recovery journey.

A key advantage of the DAA is its role in quick recovery. With the muscles left intact, patients experience significantly less discomfort and regain mobility sooner. It is not uncommon for individuals to begin walking with assistance as early as the day after surgery and to resume routine activities within a few weeks. This rapid recovery is particularly beneficial for younger or more active patients eager to return to their normal lifestyles.

Another notable benefit is the reduced risk of hip dislocation. Dislocation, a potential concern in hip replacement, is significantly minimized with this approach due to the preservation of muscles and ligaments that naturally stabilize the joint.

It is often misunderstood that the DAA is only beneficial for certain age groups. In reality, it can be advantageous for older patients with good bone quality as well as for those leading active lives, regardless of their age. Such patients often find the minimally invasive nature of this surgery highly appealing, given its focus on faster recovery and reduced complications.

The minimally invasive nature of the DAA is evident in the surgical incision, which is typically smaller, measuring around 3-4 inches. This results in less scarring, reduced blood loss, and a lower risk of infection. Additionally, the use of advanced imaging technologies during the procedure allows surgeons to achieve remarkable precision in implant placement. Tools such as intraoperative fluoroscopy or robotic-assisted systems enable better alignment of the hip components, ensuring both the longevity and functionality of the artificial joint.

The field of orthopedic surgery has witnessed exciting advancements that enhance the efficacy of the DAA. Robotic-assisted systems, for instance, have become a game-changer, allowing surgeons to achieve unparalleled precision during implant placement. Preoperative planning software has also improved surgical preparation, enabling surgeons to use 3D imaging to simulate the procedure and customize their approach to the patient’s specific needs. Innovations in pain management protocols, such as regional anesthesia and multimodal analgesia, further reduce discomfort and speed up recovery. Additionally, the advent of customized implants, tailored to fit the unique anatomy of each patient, adds another layer of precision and personalization to hip replacement surgeries.

The Direct Anterior Approach is more than a surgical technique; it is a reflection of the broader shift in medicine toward minimally invasive procedures that prioritize patient-centric care. For the healthcare system, this approach translates to shorter hospital stays, lower post-operative complications, and reduced overall costs. For patients, it means faster recovery, greater comfort, and the ability to return to a fulfilling and active life.

As an orthopedic surgeon, I have witnessed firsthand the transformative impact of the DAA on my patients. Individuals who once struggled with chronic pain and limited mobility are now able to reclaim their independence and embrace life with renewed vigor. For many, the procedure is not just a solution but a turning point, marking the beginning of a pain-free chapter in their lives.

The future of hip replacement surgery lies in continued innovation and refinement, and the Direct Anterior Approach stands at the forefront of this evolution. As technology advances and more surgeons adopt this technique, the DAA promises to set new benchmarks in surgical excellence and patient outcomes. For those considering hip replacement surgery, the DAA offers a compelling path forward—one that combines the best of modern medicine with a commitment to enhancing quality of life.

California Office of Traffic Safety Awards dollar1 Million Grant to the UC Irvine School of Medicine for Youth Thriving in Life Transitions with Transportation Program

Jan. 9, 2025 — UC Irvine School of Medicine announced today that it has received a $1 million grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to support its Youth Thriving in Life Transitions with Transportation Program. The program, working in the heart of Santa Ana, California, will promote safe driver education and practices for Latino youth and emphasize the critical role of safe transportation in their health, education and employment as they move into young adulthood. The program will bring together unique collaborations between Santa Ana communities and UC Irvine transportation safety and science partners. The grant program runs through September 2025.

“We are excited to receive this grant, which will allow us to significantly expand young driver safety partnerships and prevention activities for Latino youth,” said Dr. Federico Vaca, professor and executive vice chair of emergency medicine at UC Irvine’s School of Medicine. “By focusing on young driver safety with a lifespan perspective, namely health, education and employment, we aim to help reduce crashes, prevent injuries and expand future opportunities for our youth. We’re working hard toward guiding youth into an early adulthood where they can be safe and flourish.”

Grant funds will support various activities focused on young driver safety, behavior and instruction, including:

• Develop and implement a novel curriculum focused on the “how” and “why” of Youth Thriving in Life Transitions with Transportation.
• Leverage new traffic safety educational exposure and experience among youth to enhance their driver safety knowledge and behavior.
• Provide community and school education presentations and participation in community partnership events.
• A professional drivers’ training course that further exposes and educates youth to safe driving behaviors.
• Youth- and parent-focused messaging about transportation safety and transportation science regarding health, education and employment.

 “The Office of Traffic Safety is proud to support programs that empower young drivers with the knowledge and skills to make safe choices on the road,” OTS Acting Director Jessica Chan said. “This partnership highlights the importance of addressing the unique challenges Latino youth face, fostering safer communities, and creating a foundation for lifelong success. Together, we are investing in the safety and well-being of the next generation.”

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Lung Health Experts Warn of Dangers of Wildfire Smoke Exposure

Dr. Alison Lee, American Thoracic Society

Dr. Laura Myers is based in northern California at Kaiser Permanent. She is an expert in air quality and lung health. Myers, Laura – Kaiser Permanente Division of Research

Dr. Alison Lee is chair of the Environmental Health Policy Committee at the American Thoracic Society. Dr. Lee is also an Associate Professor of Medicine with tenure and pulmonologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Dr. Lee is an NIH-funded investigator whose research examines the impact of prenatal and early childhood environmental exposures, including ambient and household air pollution and climate sensitive variables such as heat and precipitation, on life course health.

Following the release of the 2023 Health of the Air Report, led by the ATS and Marrone Institute of Urban Management at NYU, Dr. Lee interviewed study author and Marrone Institute Program Director, Kevin Cromar, PhD about the report’s findings on wildfires.

Electrifying Your Workout Can Boost Muscles Mass, Strength, UTEP Study Finds

Jan. 10, 2025– If building strength and muscle mass is part of your New Year’s Resolution, you may want to add a new routine to your workout.

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), or electrical muscle stimulation for short, uses electrical currents to contract muscles. The stimulation devices are easy to use and widely available on the market, according to Sudip Bajpeyi, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at The University of Texas at El Paso, but he has often wondered, “Can these stimulators offer any benefits when used during resistance training? What does the research say?”

Well, the results are in — and they are promising. In a new meta-analysis study published this month in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, Bajpeyi found that using NMES while doing resistance training leads to greater muscle mass and strength compared to resistance training alone.

Bajpeyi and his team conducted the meta-analysis comprising more than a dozen studies that used NMES and reviewed their results.

“A meta-analysis provides more comprehensive evidence on studies that explore the same research question,” Bajpeyi explained. “This approach allows us to move beyond the limitations of individual studies and make more informed, evidence-based conclusions.”

Co-authors on the study are Gabriel Narvaez, a recently graduated master’s student in kinesiology, and Jehu N. Apaflo, a doctoral student in interdisciplinary health sciences.

The team specifically analyzed research that combined NMES with resistance training.

The analysis focused on studies where participants performed traditional resistance exercises, such as bench presses or squats, while using NMES devices. That’s when you do about eight to 12 repetitions of one weight training exercise, rest and repeat, Bajpeyi said.

The studies compared the results of participants using electrical stimulators while exercising to those who did the exercises with no electrical stimulation. Participants’ muscle mass and strength were assessed at the beginning and the end of each study. Training periods for participants ranged from two to 16 weeks, with longer durations yielding better results.

“Under normal conditions, the brain activates muscles by sending signals through the nervous system.” Bajpeyi said. “NMES mimics this process by delivering external electrical currents to the nerves, causing the muscles to contract, without input from the brain. Think of it as though your muscles are contracting involuntarily.”

Bajpeyi is the director of the Metabolic Nutrition and Exercise Research (MiNER) lab at UTEP, where his team studies how NMES or other interventions can improve physical and metabolic health.

Funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, Bajpeyi is currently investigating how NMES might help regulate blood glucose levels and reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes.

“Exercise is medicine, but not everyone is able or willing to engage in traditional exercise” he said. “NMES has great potential for improving metabolic health by building muscle mass, which can help the body process blood glucose more effectively.”

MSU Researcher Connects Change in DNA to Cleft Palate Phenomenon

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Cleft lip and cleft palate are some of the most common birth defects in people, affecting roughly one in every 700 babies in the world. Cleft lip — when the upper lip is split — is more common than cleft palate — when the roof of the mouth (palate) is split — except in Finland, where cases of cleft palate are so common they flip the ratio of cleft lip to cleft palate.

Researchers have identified a likely culprit: a change in DNA variant near a specific gene. Previous studies showed that DNA changes in this gene cause and contribute to risk for both cleft lip and cleft palate. Surprisingly, in this new study, published in Nature Communications, researchers found the effect of this DNA variant only increases risk for cleft palate.

Brian Schutte, geneticist, associate professor and co-director of the D.O.-Ph.D. Physician-Scientist Training Program at the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, along with scientists from FinnGen, AbbVie Inc., the University of Helsinki, the University of Washington School of Dentistry, the Estonian Genome Center and other key collaborators, tie this change in DNA, which is found only in Finland and Estonia, to Finland’s high frequency of cleft palate. The team also connects this DNA change to Finland’s statistically significant geographic distribution of cleft palate cases, which become more frequent from the southwest to the northeast. This regional distribution of cleft palate has not been observed anywhere else in the world.

In next steps, Schutte will work with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to genotype blood samples from Michigan’s BioTrust. These samples will come from babies born with cleft palates from Ontonagon, Houghton, Schoolcraft, Marquette and Chippewa counties, where a significant number of Michiganders with Finnish ancestry live.

“If we find the DNA change in those Michigan samples, but the frequency of cleft palate is not high like it is in Finland, that would suggest an environmental or other component that makes cleft palate less common in Michigan than in Finland, despite the genetic connection between the people,” Schutte said. “That has clinical, risk and public health ramifications.”

Penn Medicine Launches a Pioneering Project to Study the Human Virome Puzzle

PHILADELPHIA – For over a decade, scientists have studied the microbiome, the environment of microorganisms that live on and in the body, and how it affects health and disease. Much less is known about a part of the microbiome called the virome, the universe of viruses residing within our bodies. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have set out to identify, quantify, and classify those viruses so that future research can uncover how they affect human health. Ultimately, that could lead to new treatment and ways to prevent disease.

The endeavor, in collaboration with Penn Dental Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), is part of the National Institutes of Health’s Human Virome Program and includes a $20-million grant to the research team spread over 5 years. The scientists, led by Ron Collman, MD, a professor of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care at Penn, and Frederic Bushman, PhD, the William Maul Measey Professor in Microbiology at Penn, will focus on viruses within 4 distinct areas: the gut, the upper-respiratory system and lungs, the mouth, and blood.

“This massive project will give the scientific community a solid foundation on which to build research,” said Collman. “We can’t begin to understand the interplay of these viruses with each other and other systems in the body until we have a full picture. Otherwise, it’s like trying to put a puzzle together without all the pieces.”

Viruses can live for a short period of time within our bodies, like influenza or SARS-CoV-2, or infect cells for years, like HIV and the varicella-zoster virus (which causes chickenpox and shingles). Both the short-lived (acute) and persistent viruses can cause symptoms, or they can be asymptomatic. But researchers agree that, since there are so many viruses present, some we know already and some we don’t, there is a high probability that many viruses play a role in human health or disease even if they don’t directly cause symptoms, said Collman. For example, a virus called cytomegalovirus (CMV) can be present in a person’s body but usually causes no symptoms. However, research has shown that this virus plays a role in the aging process of the immune system.

“Our body is full of ‘hitchhikers’ like CMV that typically don’t make us ill, but may play an important role in our biological processes,” said Collman.

Beyond the viruses that live in human cells, the human body is also host to innumerable viruses that live in cells of the human microbiome, Collman said. How those viruses affect the microbiome human health is even less studied.

To track changes to the virome over time, researchers will use new samples as well as older samples from biobanks at Penn and CHOP.

Research into the microbiome accelerated rapidly over the last 15 years, said Bushman. He and his colleagues were among the first to paint a clear picture of the gut microbiome including its developmental stages in newborns. But, compared to viruses, bacteria are a lot easier to study, he said.

“Virome research lags behind microbiome research,” said Bushman. “Bacteria are much bigger than viruses, and until recently, we did not have the technology, sequencing tools, and computational capacity to study viruses in the same way.”

Argonne to Lead Two Microelectronics Research Projects Under U.S. Department of Energy Initiative

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory is managing two microelectronics studies that will support multidisciplinary co-design of hardware and software and enable processing of vast quantities of data at unprecedented speeds. Argonne is a premier research institution in microelectronics, the tiny devices that power and control computers, smartphones, electric vehicles and other information processing equipment and leads the projects as part of DOE’s Microelectronics Science Research Centers.

In December 2024, DOE’s Office of Science announced $160 million in funding to establish the research centers, which are being implemented through the historic CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. The centers will focus on microelectronics technologies for computing, communication, sensing and power. Researchers in the microelectronics field seek transformative advances in energy efficiency and/or resilience in extreme environments.

One of the Argonne projects, ​“Ultra Dense Memory: Atom Scale Material Dynamics and Systems Consequences,” will be led by Supratik Guha, senior adviser to Argonne’s Physical Sciences and Engineering directorate. The University of Chicago, Purdue University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Chicago State University are academic partners, and IBM and Micron Technologies are industrial collaborators.

The project will focus on future generations of extreme-scale memories — architectures and technologies designed to handle massive amounts of data at exceptionally high speeds, needed for tomorrow’s high performance computers and sensors — and their synthesis for on-chip and off-chip applications. This project is part of DOE’s Extreme Lithography & Materials Innovation Center.

The other project, ​“BIA: A Co-Design Methodology to Transform Materials and Computer Architecture Research for Energy Efficiency,” will be led by Argonne Distinguished Fellow Valerie Taylor, Mathematics and Computer Science division director. Laboratory and university partners are Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, The University of Chicago, Northwestern University and Rice University.

Named for Bia, the Olympian goddess of force and energy, the BIA project includes an industry advisory board with representatives from AMD, Enosemi, Lam Research, Northrop Grumman and NVIDIA. BIA’s goal is to develop a codesign methodology for microelectronics that considers the relationships between vertically stacked, integrated electronics.

Codesign for microelectronics requires a multidisciplinary team consisting of researchers in materials design, devices, computer systems and applications such as high energy physics, working together to address the unique application needs. BIA is part of the Microelectronics Energy Efficiency Research Center for Advanced Technologies.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

International Team Analyzes the Universe’s First Light at South Pole Telescope

Data from the South Pole Telescope has provided support for the standard model of the Big Bang universe and new insights for an ongoing scientific puzzle known as ​“the Hubble tension.”

Roughly 400,000 years after the Big Bang, the universe cooled just enough to allow photons to escape from the primordial cosmological soup, an opaque cloud consisting of a plasma of electrons and nuclei. As stars and galaxies formed over the next 14 billion years, these ancient photons — the universe’s first light — continued traveling. This relic light is known as the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

In a new study, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory joined a large team to analyze observational data on the CMB, collected from the South Pole Telescope (SPT). Situated at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, the SPT provides high-precision measurements crucial for cosmological investigations. At the heart of this telescope is its third-generation (SPT-3G) camera, equipped with 16,000 detectors — 10 times more than its predecessor. It was installed in 2017 after development by several universities and an Argonne-led team of national laboratories.

“Many mysteries remain about the origin and early history of the universe, and this work provides an important step forward in solving them.” — Amy Bender, Argonne physicist

The team for the present project, led by researchers from the University of California, Davis, aimed to explore the theoretical underpinnings of the standard cosmological model of the Big Bang. The model describes the history of the universe, including its expansion and the growth of large-scale structures over the past 14 billion years.

“We have a largely coherent, detailed and successful model describing these 14 billion years of evolution,” said Lloyd Knox, the Michael and Ester Vaida Endowed Chair in Cosmology and Astrophysics at UC Davis. The study, based on high-precision measurements of the CMB and its polarized light, adds further support to the veracity of the standard cosmological model.

“Our results are kind of crossing a threshold where what we are learning from the polarization maps of the CMB is comparable to what we are learning from the CMB intensity maps,” Knox added. ​“What we are concluding from polarization is also consistent with what we are concluding from intensity.”

“This is the culmination of many years of work,” said Argonne Physicist Amy Bender. ​“We are the host lab for the SPT-3G experiment, and our role was to build the detectors used in the telescope and make the measurements of the CMB polarized light. We were thrilled to find the information in the map for polarization matched that for the intensity of the CMB light.”

A polarizing and winding journey across the universe
In the study, the researchers analyzed two years of polarized light data collected by the SPT in 2019 and 2020. The study’s observations cover 1,500 square degrees of sky and the collected data enabled the researchers to create a large-scale map of the mass in the universe.

Most natural light is unpolarized, composed of a random collection of light waves, each oscillating (waving up and down) with no preferred direction. But when light is reflected it can become polarized, the light oscillating in a preferred direction.

This happens when sunlight reflects off water, or the ground, and is the reason polarized sunglasses can be so helpful for reducing glare. It also happened as the CMB photons underwent their final scattering events in the primordial plasma as it began to disappear 14 billion years ago.

“The light from the CMB is partially polarized,” Knox said. ​“We’re measuring at each location in our sky map the degree to which it’s polarized and the orientation of the polarization.”

After that last scattering, the slightly polarized CMB light streamed across open space. Gravitational forces distort the paths of these light rays. Light from different regions is also distorted differently, resulting in a warped image — an effect called gravitational lensing.

To discover both what the polarized image would look like in the absence of gravitational lensing and also the map of the mass causing the lensing, the team used computers at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) in Berkeley.

“What we essentially do at a really high level is we have this data, and we send it over to this supercomputer at NERSC,” said Marius Millea, a project scientist with Knox’s research group. ​“And the computers are testing this idea, ​‘If this were how the real universe looked, would it produce a map that looks like what we saw?’”

“We have the data, but we also need to have a model that produces or predicts these kind of observables,” added Fei Ge, a graduate student with Knox’s research group and the study’s first author.

The Hubble tension
The team’s research directly addresses a conundrum in the cosmological community known as ​“the Hubble tension.” In essence, scientists can’t come to an agreement on the rate of the expansion of the universe, which varies depending on the methodology used to measure it.

In one method, astronomers use the standard cosmological model, combined with observations of the CMB, to predict how rapidly the universe is expanding today.

In another method, they use observations of stars, and stellar explosions called supernovae, to measure the expansion rate more directly. Measurement from this method comes in higher — a faster rate of expansion — than the standard model predictions. This is the Hubble tension, one of the major puzzles in contemporary cosmology. The origin of the discrepancy is unknown.

The team’s new prediction is precise enough to be discrepant with the supernova measurements at very high statistical significance. It aligns more with the rate of expansion predicted by the standard cosmological model and CMB intensity method. The study thus reveals one more hoop that any solution to the Hubble tension will have to jump through.

“Many mysteries remain about the origin and early history of the universe, and this work provides an important step forward in solving them,” Bender noted.

In addition to Bender, Argonne team members include Lindsey Bleem, Clarence Chang, Zhaodi Pan, Florian Kéruzoré and Wei Quan.

This project received funding from the NSF’s Office of Polar Programs and DOE’s Office of Science High Energy Physics.