"THE 70-year-old dark matter puzzle is close to resolution," says Michael Turner of the University of Chicago. And he's not alone in thinking so. Rumour has it that a European space experiment has discovered a telltale signature of the dark matter that makes up 90 per cent of the mass in the universe.
Earlier this month, the team working on the experiment, the Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics, released preliminary data at the International Conference on High Energy Physics in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. PAMELA has spotted more antimatter than expected in our galaxy - one of the signs that dark matter particles are being annihilated. Though the team does not claim to have discovered dark matter, and will not discuss the results any further before they are published, other physicists are deeply intrigued, as they add to a growing list of satellite and balloon experiments that have found ...
