Search for the universe’s mysterious dark matter begins a mile underground in South Dakota – By Seth Borenstein (Associated Press) / July 10, 2022
- Researchers have begun a five-year, $60 million experiment to search for dark matter.
- 250 scientists are involved in the project; the equipment is in a former gold mine in Lead, South Dakota.
- Physicists hope to detect dark matter, which holds galaxies together but until now hasn’t been found.
LEAD, S.D. – In a former gold mine a mile underground, inside a titanium tank filled with a rare liquified gas, scientists have begun the search for what so far has been unfindable: dark matter.
Scientists are pretty sure the invisible stuff makes up most of the universe’s mass and say we wouldn’t be here without it – but they don’t know what it is. The race to solve this enormous mystery has brought one team to the depths under Lead, South Dakota.
The question for scientists is basic, says Kevin Lesko, a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “What is this great place I live in? Right now, 95% of it is a mystery.”
