In a new finding that could have game-changing effects if borne
out, two astrophysicists think they've finally tracked down the
elusive signature of dark matter. This invisible substance is
thought to make up much of the universe but scientists have
little idea what it is. They can only infer the existence of
dark matter by measuring its gravitational tug on the normal
matter that they can see. Now, after sifting through
observations of the center of our Milky Way galaxy, two
researchers think they've found evidence of the annihilation of
dark matter particles in powerful explosions. "Nothing we tried
besides dark matter came anywhere close to being able to
accommodate the features of the observation," Dan Hooper, of the
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., and the
University of Chicago, told SPACE.com. "It's always hard to be
sure there isn't something you just haven't thought of. But I've
talked to a lot of experts and so far I haven't heard anything
that was a plausible alternative." Hoo