Searchers in the Dark Over Dark Matter

No sooner had Sean Carroll published his essay in Nature¹ that dark matter proves how insignificant we are, that Geoff Brumfiel tells us in Nature Science Update that researchers can’t find the stuff.  The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search II is four times more sensitive than previous searches, but came up empty.  Carroll had just reiterated the common statistic that “About 70% of our current Universe is dark energy and 25% is dark matter.  This leaves all the stuff we have directly observed at a paltry 5% of the whole Universe.”  We see the light; where is the dark?

¹Sean Carroll, “Insignificance,” Nature 429, 27 (06 May 2004); doi:10.1038/429027a.

Cosmologists love dark matter rather than light because their deeds are evolutionary.  And you thought the pillar of science was observation.