I am no expert on this in a hundred and one different ways. But I feel kinda sorry for the DAMA group. Certainly, at 8-sigma, it is easy to accept that there is modulation. But is this modulation proof of Dark Matter? Astronomers in general are extremely suspicious of any yearly modulations, as we have learnt from hard experience that it is an extremely common source of systematic error. Essentially, the Earth is a poorly calibrated detector, and it has diurnal and annual cycles, and these invariably show up in everything. So when the signal you are looking for goes exactly like the first thing you try to catch and eliminate, what price statistical significance?

We are organizing a competition specifically targeting the statistics and computer science communities. The challenge is to measure cosmic shear at a level sufficient for future surveys such as the Large Synaptic Survey Telescope. Right now, we’ve stripped out most of complex observational issues leaving a pure statistical inference problem. The competition kicks off this summer, but we want to give possible participants a chance to prepare.

The website www.great08challenge.info will provide continual updates on the competition.