Most of the matter in the universe may be made out of particles that possess an unusual, donut-shaped electromagnetic field called an anapole. This proposal, which endows dark matter particles with a ...

We tend not to dwell on the fact that we exist in three dimensions. Forwards-back, left-right, up-down; these are the axes on which we navigate the world. When we try to imagine something else, it ...

Dark matter may be far more complicated than scientists once believed. A new study suggests it could consist of at least two different kinds of particles that slowly separate over time, with heavier ...

Maybe dark matter talks to itself, according to a new proposal, and that might just explain two cosmological mysteries at once. Dark matter is the name astronomers give to the mysterious substance ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. When it comes to understanding the fabric of the universe, most of what scientists think exists is consigned to a dark, murky domain.

Readers of this paper will probably need no reminder that most of the universe is missing. The atoms and light you see—from people to planets, stars and galaxies—make up just 5% of the universe. The ...

This new map is not only the most detailed view of the universe’s invisible scaffolding to date, it also allows astronomers to look deeper into cosmic history. Reading time 3 minutes Dark matter—the ...

Dark matter is some kind of substance that has gravity—it holds galaxies together—yet cannot be directly seen with any instrument yet created. We know it’s out there because of the effects it has on ...

Most of the matter in our universe is invisible. We can measure the gravitational pull of this “dark matter” on the orbits of stars and galaxies. We can see the way it bends light around itself and ...

Something invisible holds the universe intact. It outweighs everything you can see—every star, every gas cloud, every galaxy—by a factor of five. We call it dark matter, and for decades, the standard, ...