Dark Matter - Chung-Pei Ma (SETI Talks)

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A startling discovery in science in the past few decades is most mass in the universe is in "dark matter"- some very clever form of matter capable of speeding up the motion of stars and galaxies while eluding direct detection at the same time. Dr. Ma will summarize the evidence for the existence of dark matter, discuss what it can and cannot be, and describe ongoing research on this mysterious component of the universe.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• chung-pei ma
• dark matter
• berkeley
• seti
• astronomy

[dgumbrecht]

Awesome lecture, thanks for uploading. SETIinstitute is my favorite subscription on youtube.

Also, glad that SETI@Home finally got back online, glad to be crunching WU's again.

[setiinstitute]

@dgumbrecht Thanks - glad you're enjoying the Series!

[polymath7]

@setiinstitute No new talks in a while, what's the deal? Your channel is one of the precious few reasons why what Newton Minnow said of television cannot quite be said of Youtube.

Oh, and by the way, how's your funding situation at the moment?

[setiinstitute]

@polymath7 Hi Polymath, actually we've been posting talks every week - you can just check back in at youtube.com slash setiinstitute any time to see the latest talk that's been uploaded. Funding at SETI is challenging at the moment due to the GFC, but we're excited by some new opportunities that might come to fruition this year - stay tuned! If people are interested in following these things more closely, we'd suggest becomeing a TeamSETI member at the seti.org site.

[polymath7]

Yes, I realized my mistake -to my delighted relief- immediately after posting that comment. Your funding difficulties upset me as much as you.

I recently read a perceptive article by Gregory Benford about how (in his judgment) certain onerous economic constraints -and ergo altruistic motives- must be assumed on the part of any civilization willing to broadcast a signal powerful enough to reach Earth for any sustained period of time. It's well worth reading if you've not done so.

[setiinstitute]

@polymath7 Can you give us a link to the Benford article (you can't use slashes here, but put in 'slash' instead). Thanks for the support!

[999JPETZ]

cool beans dude!

[RobRoyal06]

Brilliant and fascinating lecture. Chung-Pei Ma is a great communicator. Bravo!

[washmlakid]

Wouldn't it seem reasonable to think that dark energy would be the majority of the mass-energy in our Universe? There is much more empty space than space which is occupied by mass. If dark energy turns out to be 'vacuum energy', that would appear to make sense.

[sbergman27]

@alivemo4 Seeking a deeper understanding of the Universe (or Multiverse) in which we live out our 80 or so yrs *is* fun. And rewarding in the most profound possible way. On my deathbed, I likely won't have any final answers. But neither will I feel regretful for not taking the time to try to understand. I guess most people are satisfied with the fairy tales in their religious texts and feel they don't need think any further. But that seems awfully shallow. Then again, lots of people are shallow.

[alivemo4]

@sbergman27 If you put it that way ( "inconsequential being on a tiny planet, etc" ) maybe you should just be trying to have as much fun as possible, rather than racking your brains over dark matter!

[sbergman27]

@alivemo4 To me, the question is not "why are we here?". That would be a "Follow God on Twitter" question, I agree. I would like to know as much as possible about how I, an inconsequential being on a tiny planet, in an easily forgettable area of an unremarkable galaxy, fit in, for maybe 80 years, into a Universe (or, as it is beginning to seem, a Multiverse) that looks like it will likely endure for more than a trillion trillion years. We, all of us, are incredibly privileged.