Surprising Science — October 20, 2010

What Is Dark Matter?

The answer to this question is at the cutting edge of science, but one theory states that dark matter is nothing but ordinary matter in another dimension hovering right above us.

Michio Kaku

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Every Wednesday Michio Kaku will be answering reader questions about physics and futuristic science. If you have a question for Dr. Kaku, just post it in the comment section below and check back on Wednesdays to see if he answers it.

Today, Dr. Kaku addresses a question posed by David Hernandez: If subatomic particles can be in two or more places at once, could parts of us be travelling back and forth between parallel universes and could these particles be dark matter?

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Starts With A Bang

How a nearby supernova could reveal dark matter

The last naked-eye Milky Way supernova happened way back in 1604. With today’s detectors, the next one could solve the dark matter mystery.

Illustration of Mars with overlaid data graphs and lines, offering analytical representations that unravel the mysteries of dark matter.

Hard Science

A wobble from Mars could be sign of dark matter

Watching for changes in the Red Planet’s orbit over time could be new way to detect passing dark matter.

dark matter substructure intracluster light

Starts With A Bang

Does dark matter interact non-gravitationally at all?

In theory, dark matter is cold, collisionless, and only interacts via gravity. What we see in ultra-diffuse galaxies indicates otherwise.

A person is giving a presentation at a podium with a large abstract, colorful light pattern displayed on a screen behind them.

Starts With A Bang

Inflation and dark matter are not like string theory

Inflation, dark matter, and string theory are all proposed extensions to the prior consensus picture. But what does the evidence say?

Bullet Cluster separation mass gravity x-ray lensing

Starts With A Bang

Arguments against dark matter in the Bullet Cluster fall apart

The Bullet Cluster has, for nearly 20 years, been hailed as an empirical “proof” of dark matter. Can their detractors explain it away?

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

Wednesday Whatzits: Drilling still causing concern at Campi Flegrei, the hazards of volcanic air and the latest GVP report

Busy as I get back from Fall Break – and only a week and change until the Geological Society of America Meeting in Denver. If you haven’t check already, commenting […]