Dark Matter

Roughly 80 percent of the mass of the universe appears to be dark matter: an invisible material that seems to interact with ordinary matter only through gravity, without emitting light or energy. Scientists cannot detect dark matter directly and don't yet know what it's made of, but they track its influence based on the motions of stars and galaxies. The presence of dark matter is necessary to explain the universe's current structure.

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The galaxy cluster Abell 520, with suspected dark matter highlighted in blue.

Dark matter: should we be so sure it exists? Here's how philosophy can help.

By Antonis Antoniou published 9 June 22

More than 50 years since astronomers first proposed "dark matter," we have no idea what it is and nobody has directly seen it or produced it in the lab.

The Large Hadron Collider restarted after a three-year shutdown on April 22, 2022.

Large Hadron Collider hits world record proton acceleration

By Chelsea Gohd published 25 April 22

The newly-upgraded Large Hadron Collider just broke a world record with its proton beams.

Dark matter is invisible to scientists' current instruments.

Is the origin of dark matter gravity itself?

By Paul Sutter published 10 April 22

Did the graviton, the quantum mechanical force carrier of gravity, flood the cosmos with dark matter before normal matter even had a chance to get started?

If the universe has a twin and on that twin time runs backward, then scientists could explain dark matter.

Our universe may have a twin that runs backward in time

By Paul Sutter published 26 March 22

A mirror universe that runs backward in time sprouted up before the Big Bang.

An artist's representation of a supermassive black hole.

Could the secret of supermassive black holes lie in ultralight dark matter?

By Stefanie Waldek published 18 March 22

Though scientists know there's a supermassive black hole at the center of most galaxies, they can't explain how the gravitational giants formed.

A composite image of the Bullet Cluster, a much-studied pair of galaxy clusters that have collided head on. One has passed through the other, like a bullet traveling through an apple, and is thought to show clear signs of dark matter (blue) separated from hot gases (pink).

In the hunt for dark matter, are axions our best bet?

By Chelsea Gohd published 9 March 22

Scientists investigating the true identity of dark matter are finding new evidence to support one leading candidate: axions.

The eight toroid magnets of the ATLAS detector at CERN.

CERN pauses future research collaboration with Russia at Ukrainian scientists' request

By Tereza Pultarova published 8 March 22

CERN will not enter new cooperations with Russian scientific institutions following a request of Ukraine's scientists to halt partnerships with Russian science institutions.

A data visualization of particle collisions at the LHC at CERN.

The Large Hadron Collider will explore the cutting edge of physics after 3-year shutdown

By Chelsea Gohd published 4 March 22

Scientists are gearing up to once more push the boundaries of the cutting edge of particle physics with the reopening of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN after a three-year shutdown.

Computer simulations showed large galaxies may steal dark matter from smaller galaxies when they collide. The close-up views reveal two galaxies lacking dark matter, compared to the brighter regions in the image.

Cosmic robbery: New study explains how smaller galaxies lose their dark matter

By Samantha Mathewson published 14 February 22

Large galaxies may steal dark matter from smaller galaxies they nearly collide with, new research suggests.

Dark matter is distributed in the universe in a net-like pattern

What is dark matter?

By Nola Taylor Tillman published 28 January 22

Reference Roughly 80% of the mass of the universe is made up of dark matter, a material that scientists cannot directly observe. So why do scientists think it dominates?

An artist's conception of stellar streams orbiting the Milky Way.

Streams of stars orbiting the Milky Way shed light on galaxy’s dark matter

By Samantha Mathewson published 13 January 22

Stellar groupings orbiting the outskirts of the Milky Way shed new light on the elusive dark matter surrounding our galaxy.

An artist's impression of dark matter in the beginning of the universe.

We may finally be able to test one of Stephen Hawking's most far-out ideas

By Paul Sutter published 3 January 22

The recently launched James Webb Telescope should help determine if dark matter is made up of primordial black holes.

Observations of the diffuse galaxy AGC 114905 suggest the galaxy has no dark matter. The finding defies theories.

This weird galaxy is missing all of its dark matter and scientists can't explain it

By Tereza Pultarova published 7 December 21

Astronomers wonder what holds together a distant galaxy that appears to contain no trace of dark matter.

Elusive neutrino candidates detected in breakthrough physics experiment

By Chelsea Gohd published 29 November 21

For the first time ever, researchers have detected neutrino candidates produced by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN facility near Geneva, Switzerland.

This Hubble Space Telescope snapshot shows three magnified images of a distant galaxy embedded in a cluster of galaxies. These images are produced by a trick of nature called gravitational lensing. The galaxy cluster's immense gravity magnifies and distorts the light from the distant galaxy behind it, creating the multiple images. Two of the magnified images, shown in the pull-out at bottom right, are exact copies of each other. The two bright ovals are the cores of the galaxy. This rare phenomenon occurs because the background galaxy straddles a ripple in the fabric of space. This “ripple” is an area of greatest magnification, caused by the gravity of dense amounts of dark matter.

Mystery solved! Bizarre Hubble double galaxy caused by 'ripple' in space

By Rahul Rao published 19 October 21

Astronomers have solved a mystery that the Hubble Space Telescope first discovered nearly a decade ago. A pair of streaky objects actually appear that way thanks to a "ripple" in the fabric of space.

Is dark matter made of 'Fermi balls' forged in the Big Bang?

By Paul Sutter published 2 September 21

A new theory suggests dark matter may have come from quantum bags that got squished together in the early universe.

Quantum crystal could reveal the identity of dark matter

By Adam Mann published 31 August 21

By entangling the motion and quantum properties of a beryllium crystal, scientists have achieved unprecedented precision for measuring electromagnetic waves.

The Crab Nebula as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes in a composite view. The nebula is the aftermath of a brilliant supernova spotted in 1054.

Is there really a 'crisis' in cosmology?

By Paul Sutter published 26 July 21

You may have heard about the "cosmology crisis:" Different methods of measuring the age of the universe are giving different results, and cosmologists have no idea why.

10 wild theories about the universe

By How It Works magazine, Andrew May published 19 July 21

Why is the universe the way it is? Over the years, scientists have explored many ways to explain the cosmos, leading to some crazy-sounding ideas.

Dark matter particles might interact with each other.

Can we explain dark matter by adding more dimensions to the universe?

By Paul Sutter published 12 July 21

Dark matter could be even weirder than anyone thought, say cosmologists who are suggesting this mysterious substance could interact with itself in a higher dimensional universe.

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