That dark matter has never been found is no deterrent to the
physicists who are looking for it. "Even if we don't know what
dark matter is, we know how it must act," said Eduardo Abancens,
a physicist at the University of Zaragoza in Spain and the
designer of a prototype dark matter detector. According to
physicists, only around 5 per cent of what makes up the universe
can presently be detected. The existence of dark matter is
inferred from the behaviour of faraway galaxies, which move in
ways that can only be explained by a gravitational pull caused
by more mass than can be seen. They estimate dark matter
represents around 20 per cent of the universe, with the other 75
per cent made up of dark energy, a repulsive force that is
causing the universe to expand at an ever-quickening pace.
Continue reading