The Depths to Which Scientists go...

... to find something that isn't known to exist. First, let's start with Dark Matter (<-- click here) for a primer on what? huh? *scratches head.* I particularly like the description: "It has been noted that the names "dark matter" and "dark energy" serve mainly as expressions of human ignorance." Well, if that's all it is, may I simply direct you to your politician of choice.

Sorry, I fell for the easy target.

Had I heard of Dark Matter before (or, recalled it - it sounds vaguely familiar), I might have named this Blog after it. But to be fair, not to politicians but rather to our use of diction, let's not be judgmental from "ignorance." From dictionary.com:

Ignorance: the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, learning, information, etc.

To be ignorant is not to be stupid, but rather to not be informed. Well, information is good, but pictures are even better! Hmm. The first image offered in a Google search for the illustrious "dark matter:"


Well, heck yeah! Cool stuff! Ah, but there's the accompanying footnote: "Figure 1: The distribution of dark matter obtained from a large numerical simulation."

Well, thank you for that, a numerical simulation of hypothetical, invisible (but dark) matter. Well, okay! It's still cool looking.

Back to the moral of our story. That would be the (literal, as it turns out) depths to which scientists will go to support a hypothesis, as presented in the "Wall Street Journal." <--- yep, click there. Let's see...YEARS beneath the surface, searching for evidence of things not known to exist using means of detection not known to work for... real money? Kids, this is why you get your Ph.D. It's a bit more schoolwork, but look at the rewards! You must use the little grey cells before you move on to Dark Matter. Okay, sure, I'm making light of the Dark Matter, but I'm not done yet. How can one ignore "Wimps?" Well, given the rather outstanding mathematical depiction of nothingness, I can't help but venture back to the image warehouse at Google for some help in this area! My expectation, as yours, no doubt, was that I would immediately find something akin to this:
Eh, an unfortunate candid photo, to be sure. But not so, gentle reader! Instead, the first image is this:


Pretty. Weekly Interactive Massive Particles. Once again, footnoted information:

• The WIMPS have a spherically symmetric distribution centered on the center of the galaxy.
• They are evenly spread out, not clumped.
• They provide much of the gravitational force that holds the visible part of the galaxy together.

I'm sure we'll hear more about this. The postulations are thought provoking, the need (though an unfortunate acronym) is evident, and the efforts underway are... well, you have to start somewhere.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not making light (antonym to dark not intended) of scientific pursuits in this field. At the same time, I have to allow that the convergence of the scientific and theological remains quite possible here. Chance seems such a wimpy player in all of this. It may not, after all is said and done, be the devil in the details, but God.