Dark matter: physicists are so mystified by the stuff that some of them doubt its very existence. But a new computer simulation from a British team of cosmologists has solved one of the key issues in the dark matter model, laying credence to the consensus that it really does exist.
Dark matter consists of 85 percent of all matter in the universe according to the Standard Theory of Cosmology, but since it doesn't interact with light in any way, we have no way of directly detecting it. However, dark matter is still matter and thus still has some of the same qualities as the conventional matter of which you and I are made. For instance, massive celestial bodies exert gravity strong enough to distort light that hits them in a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing — and gigantic dark matter objects do it too.
Not everyone is convinced, though. Gravitational lensing is a consequence of general relativity, which is not fully accepted by all physicists. But the simulation, performed by Durham University in the UK and published in the journal Physical Review Letters, suggests otherwise.
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