What scientists find when they find nothing
Say you have a friend who asserts that they can smell water. This is because they want to defy the Standard Model, the best theory physicists have to explain the universe – and today’s null hypothesis. The result prompted suspicion – later confirmed by more data – that dark matter is made of a mysterious species of particles that physicists have neverencountered before. So in 2011, when the OPERA experiment in Italy reported finding neutrinos that seemed to exceed nature’s speed limit, its scientists were up against sound theoretical judgement as well as great empirical weight. The LHC churns out hundreds of papers on not finding evidence for new physics, while underground experiments seeking to trap dark matter particles have, for four decades and counting, only produced increasingly severe null results.
Discover Related
'Dark universe detective' telescope releases first data. See pics
Dutch scientists help discover mysterious particle with extremely high energy
China to find elusive ghost particles in a facility hidden 2,000 feet beneath a hill
Why dark matter's mysteries persist after decades of searching
Study in darkness shedding light on cosmos
Elon Musk wants to cut down on wasteful science. But that science has a point.
China's underground lab seeks answer to deep scientific riddle
Astronomer uncovers ‘direct evidence’ of gravity breaking down in the universe
A Minimalist Approach to the Hunt for Dark Matter
Dark matter from billions of years ago finally seen by scientists
Dark matter is ‘missing’ from galaxy and scientists don’t know why, new Nasa study finds
There is something strange about our universe, scientists find after mapping the cosmos
'Unexpected events' found during world's most sensitive dark matter experiment
Scientists share new details about mysterious ‘ghost particle’
Scientists hit back at dark matter skeptics who say it is is a myth
Scientists see the 'rarest event ever recorded' in attempt to solve dark matter mystery
CERN announces new experiments to search for dark matter
A Scientific Search For A Ghost (Particle)
Scientific breakthrough could be as simple as measuring the wobble of a muon
Physics Found Gravitational Waves. Now Come the Existential Questions
Most accurate measurement of elusive dark matter made
Scientists Are Not So Hot At Predicting Which Cancer Studies Will Succeed
'Ghost particles' could shed light on dark matter
Einstein's gravity theory could be wrong as new theory passes first test
Stunning new theory of gravity suggests there's no such thing as dark matter