About this episode

This episode discusses the potential discovery of dark matter particles by the LUX-ZEPLIN detector and its implications for physics.

Episode 395 Dark matter particles may have finally been spotted for the first time. LUX-ZEPLIN is the most sensitive dark matter detector on Earth - and what it’s discovered has the potential, if confirmed, to shake up all of physics. Despite making up about 85 per cent of the universe, dark matter has been notoriously difficult to spot. WIMPs, or weakly-interacting massive particles, are the leading theory to explain dark matter. That’s what this new, powerful detector has been built to search for. To explain how LZ works and what it means if its results are supported, Rowan Hooper is joined by space reporter Leah Crane. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Image Credits: Dark Matter illustration: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/J. Pinto, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 via Wikimedia Commons Dark matter gif: Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Rowan Hooper

Guest: Leah Crane

Topics covered

• dark matter
• physics
• WIMPs
• LUX-ZEPLIN
• particle detection
• space reporting

Keywords

• dark matter
• LUX-ZEPLIN
• WIMPs
• particle physics
• space reporting
• detection

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: LUX-ZEPLIN, New Scientist, RubinObs, NOIRLab, SLAC, NSF, DOE, AURA, Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey

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