Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Witches, goblins and the quest to solve the mystery of dark matter
This Halloween, scientists across the globe will celebrate the mysterious material they believe holds the universe together
Robin McKie
Sat 20 Oct 2018 16.37 EDT
Lovers of the dark and the unseen will soon have a new cause to celebrate. They will be able to honour, on Halloween, the hunt for dark matter, the mysterious, invisible material that is thought to permeate space and hold galaxies together.
Across Britain, the US and Europe, talks, demonstrations and parties highlighting this great astronomical search will be held on 31 October – which has been designated Dark Matter Day by scientists who are seeking to discover the make-up of this elusive material.
“I don’t think you could pick a better date to celebrate a hunt for something that is as ephemeral and mysterious as dark matter,” said physicist Chamkaur Ghag, of University College London. “We can see its effects, but cannot detect it directly. It is the ultimate in ghostly phenomena.”
The existence of dark matter has become one of the most controversial and frustrating issues in modern physics. Its existence is inferred from the behaviour of galaxies that appear to rotate too quickly to hold themselves together.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/20/dark-matter-day-scientists-hunt-ghost-particle
