Why Are Humans Obsessed with Dark Matter? [Thoughts After Dark]

Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Why Are We Searching for Dark Matter Underground?

There is a reason why scientists are studying dark matter underground – it helps to mitigate the “background radiation effects” of other particles zooming around us, like gamma rays. 

A capable dark matter detector will not only be sensitive enough to register a tiny bump of a dark matter particle interacting with a typical nucleus but also discerning enough to avoid picking up any other interactions. 

However, there also are tests being conducted above ground. 

Why Do We Want to Understand Dark Matter? 

“So far, no one has ever seen dark matter directly. You can’t see it, touch it, smell it, throw a net over it, or tag it in the ways physicists deal with ordinary particles,” said Meg Urry, the head of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics.  

If scientists ever identify dark matter particles, it will be a culmination of research that dates back almost 100 years. So, why do we care so much about understanding it? 

Now that we have the technology and capabilities to create super-sensitive detectors, the real hunt for dark matter can begin. While experiments taking place aboard the International Space Station and at Sanford’s Underground Research Facility have discovered very little so far, every year, we get closer and closer to creating the tool we need to finally “see” dark matter. 

Dark matter has captured the attention of scientists because it’s so different from anything we know. To understand dark matter is to uncover how space, time, and matter are really related. We have a periodic table of elements and textbooks full of information on what the world is made of, but along the way, researchers discovered that the universe is mostly made up of something unknown and, worst of all, invisible. 

But why is dark matter so much more interesting than “typical” matter, other than that it’s invisible? What’s so special about it? We don’t actually know that yet — and that’s likely where the curiosity lies. It could turn out that it’s not so special after all. 

In fact, while dark matter sounds a bit spooky, it may turn out to just be like radio waves or X-rays. These are things we can’t observe with our eyes, but have utilized to create things like television broadcasting and medical examinations.  

Read more Thoughts After Dark.