The astrophysicist searching for the Universe’s ‘dark stars’

Much of the Universe is made up of a strange substance that bears no resemblance to the atoms that make up life, the planets and our stars. What is this dark matter – and how do we find it? Astrophysicist Katherine Freese explains in the cinematic, mind-expanding video above.

It is the ultimate detective story.

The suspect is the basic matter that makes up as much as 25% of the Universe. It is part of the very web of all that we live in. And yet because it is not made of even the most basic building blocks of the atoms that create stars and life itself, it remains invisible. It doesn’t even interact with light.

The search for the dark matter particle has been a quest for scientists since the 1930s. Today, there are more than 100 teams around the world grappling with how we can prove it exists.

Astrophysicist Katherine Freese is one of those who have dedicated their lives to trying to find the answer. Thirty years ago, her theories on the existence of dark stars which exert an invisible influence on the Universe led to the building of particle accelerators underground. In the video above, she explains how we might find these stars – and how their discovery might change everything we know about the Universe we live in.

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