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Back Little Universes Save as PDF
Chapters (63)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. Part 1
  6. Mae
  7. Hannah
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. Part 2
  33. 25
  34. 26
  35. 27
  36. 28
  37. 29
  38. 30
  39. 31
  40. 32
  41. 33
  42. 34
  43. 35
  44. 36
  45. 37
  46. 38
  47. Part 3
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. 44
  54. 45
  55. 46
  56. 47
  57. 48
  58. Epilogue
  59. Mental Health Resources
  60. Acknowledgments
  61. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
  62. About the Author
  63. Newsletter Sign-up

Mad Matter: So, here’s the million-dollar question: If we can’t see dark matter, how do we even know it exists?

Dr. Winters: Well, mostly due to the gravitational effect dark matter has on distant galaxies. There has to be something creating these gravitational effects. For example, in Chile they discovered that the outermost stars in the Cosmic Seagull galaxy—which is 11.3 billion light-years away—race far too fast to be propelled by just the gravity of the galaxy’s gas and stars. Some invisible matter is interacting with gravitational force, giving them a push and keeping these galaxies from flying apart. Dark matter, bullying stars around. This is just one example.

We see that there’s this energy moving things—we see the effect of the energy—but not the energy itself. We don’t know what it’s made of, what it looks like. Or what it does beyond affect matter around it gravitationally. And yet most of the universe is made up of it. It’s as ineffable as, well, the idea of God. Except we don’t have actual proof of God. We do, however, have proof that dark matter exists. We just don’t know enough about it yet.

Mad Matter: The way many physicists and cosmologists talk about dark matter verges on the religious. Substitute God for dark matter, and you could be a priest.

Dr. Winters: I’ve always felt scientists and the faithful have more in common than we’ve ever given ourselves a chance to see. At the end of the day, we’re asking many of the same questions. I once traveled to India for an astrophysics conference and encountered scores of people on spiritual quests—yogis, meditators, all sorts. I felt like we were cotravelers on the same journey. We just had different guidebooks. They had the Bhagavad Gita, and I had A Brief History of Time. Not all scientists would agree with me on this one. [Laughs] I suppose I’m a misfit of sorts. All my favorite thinkers are.

Mad Matter: So how do you intend to get to the bottom of this mystery?

Dr. Winters: What we’re doing is searching for interactions of particles on the subatomic level. Tiny, tiny little buggers. This will help us understand the fundamental structure of the universe. For anything we theorize in modern physics to make a damn bit of sense—how gravity behaves, for example—we can’t move forward until we understand how these subatomic particles—these tiny buggers—interact with each other.

Mad Matter: And you do this by …

Dr. Winters: Smashing them. Forcing them to interact. Putting them together and saying, “Okay, now what? Now what are you gonna do when you can’t get away from each other?” Only when they’re together can we see what’s possible.

c’est la goddamn vie.

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