91av

Space

Dark matter could meet its nemesis on Earth

By Stuart Clark

24 February 2010

91av. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Spinning out a solution

(Image: LSST)

Editorial: Bringing dark matter down to Earth

A SPINNING disc may be all that is needed to overturn Newton’s second law of motion – and potentially remove the need for dark matter.

The second law states that a force is proportional to an object’s mass and its acceleration. But since the 1980s, some physicists have eyed the law with suspicion, arguing that subtle changes to it at extremely small accelerations could explain the observed motion of stars in galaxies.

Stars move at speeds that suggest that galaxies have far more mass than is visible, which…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with 91av events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, today with our introductory offers

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop