The elusive particle: Scientists embark on a quest to find dark matter
In a former gold mine a mile underground, inside a titanium tank filled with a rare liquefied gas, scientists have begun a search for what so far has not been able to find: dark matter. Scientists are pretty sure invisible objects make up most of the mass of the universe and say we wouldn’t be here without them – but they don’t know what they are. The race to solve this great mystery has taken one team to the depths beneath 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.” The idea is that a mile of dirt and rock, a giant tank, a second tank, and the world’s purest titanium will block out nearly all of the cosmic rays and particles that glide around – and penetrate – all of us every day. But dark matter particles, scientists say, can avoid all those obstacles. They hoped someone would fly into a vat of liquid xenon in the inner