NEWS: Nuclear Emulsions for WIMP Search

In the field of direct Dark Matter search a different and promising approach is the directionality: the observation of the incoming apparent direction of WIMPs would in fact provide a new and unambiguous signature. The NEWS project is a very innovative approach for a high sensitivity experiment aiming at the directional detection of WIMPs: the detector is based on a novel emulsion technology called NIT (Nano Imaging Trackers) acting both as target and tracking device. In this paper we illustrate the features of a NIT-based detector and the newly developed read-out systems allowing to reach a spatial resolution of the order of 10 nm. We present the background studies and the experimental design. Finally we report about the time schedule of the experiment and the expected sensitivity for DM searches. (paper)