
Universe’s ‘missing matter’ finally found in the space between galaxies - novalis78
https://news.ucsc.edu/2020/05/missing-matter.html
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jasonshell
The found missing matter doesn’t include dark matter, which scientists still
do not have an answer for.

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7thaccount
For the layman, is this "discovery" legitimate? Does this mean dark matter is
erroneous? What are the cosmological implications? Is somebody getting a nobel
prize for this?

~~~
jbotz
No, the dark matter is still dark, and was never missing, because we know it's
there from its gravitational effects. We just can't _see_ it (hence "dark")
and don't know _what_ it is, really. But whatever it is, it's definitely
there. Well, actually there are some who say it's an illusion, but nobody says
it's missing.

The missing (baryonic, i.e. ordinary) matter on the other hand, is matter that
theory predicts should be somewhere but we didn't know _where_ it was, i.e. it
was missing. This research says that it's in intergalactic space, which
everybody kind of thought but wasn't sure. Now, using their techniques of
looking at the way frequencies from fast radio bursts spread out they can
basically "see" it, so it's not missing anymore.

A Nobel is not likely for this work, because it doesn't change our
understanding of the Universe in any significant way... but it's pretty cool,
anyway, they deserve a toast, and "found the missing matter" will look really
good on their resumés.

~~~
chongli
_because it doesn 't change our understanding of the Universe in any
significant way_

It’s a shame, really. This is a very significant piece of the puzzle. It may
be incremental progress but it’s still important. Nevertheless, your
assessment has reminded me of an Alpha Centauri quote I’m rather fond of:

 _There are two kinds of scientific progress: the methodical experimentation
and categorization which gradually extend the boundaries of knowledge, and the
revolutionary leap of genius which redefines and transcends those boundaries.
Acknowledging our debt to the former, we yearn nonetheless for the latter.

\-- Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "Address to the Faculty"_

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aaron695
Could someone explain why this wasn't 2000 points on HN a few days ago when it
came out?

The news articles are implying something huge.

Is it? Or is this a hyped rehash of what we knew?

[Edit]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23335794](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23335794)

