Dark matter: The matter we can't see - James Gillies

The Greeks had a simple and elegant formula for the universe: just earth, fire, wind, and water. Turns out there's more to it than that -- a lot more. Visible matter (and that goes beyond the four Greek elements) comprises only 4% of the universe. CERN scientist James Gillies tells us what accounts for the remaining 96% (dark matter and dark energy) and how we might go about detecting it.

Lesson by James Gillies, animation by TED-Ed.

[patrickroelant]

I love that the one thing we know is that we don't know it all

[KhaiNguyen-wyit]

scientists: 80% of the universe is dark matter
people: what is dark matter
scientists: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[BassDat]

too late to explore the world
too soon to explore the galaxy
just in time to watch ted ed vids

[JossAndJanik]

TED-Ed attempting to save me from an existential crisis at the end of the video...

[billyzleef]

1:21 Just a moment to appreciate this brilliant attemt at visually presenting the nature of electrons and their "movement" around the nucleus.

[simoncarlile]

If you were to give this information to someone from 500 years ago, even someone like Newton, it would basically be gibberish. Now imagine what a scientific talk from 500 years in the future will look like.

[dadon]

Apparently all the answers scientists can't seem to find have been hidden away in the YouTube comments section all along ...

[milasyt]

I think the ancient Greeks were probably thinking about the STATES of matter with their analogy.

Earth - Solid
Water - Liquid
Air - Gas
Fire - Light/Energy

For their access of knowledge, that's actually pretty brilliant.

[RevJamesCostello]

The fact that we are able to look at ‘all of this’ and say, ‘Wow, I know very little about this amazing universe, ’ is pretty bloody impressive if you ask me.

[eagleman]

"Beautiful is what we see...
More beautiful is what we know
Most beautiful by far is what we dont."

[shevetlevi]

The deeper you dive into physics and cosmology the freakier it gets. Says alot about the minds of scientists that much of what they derive is through indirect observation.

[this_mfr]

Dark Matter: "Do you even matter, bro?"

[kittyneng]

This quick explanation of string theory finally makes me understand what Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory keeps talking about

[derekhacault]

If the universe is expanding, then what is outside of it?

[dityanarayan]

Can we call the study of dark matter the Dark Arts pleease xD

[maryamfirdaus]

Why didn't we study all this in high school?!! X-(

[bigmilk_]

"you're living at the right time to see our understanding explode" Yeah well, it would've been great if i was born a few thousand years later, when we can be out exploring all of this stuff that we can only now dream about...

[satya]

I would love to mention few things. According to Hindu ancient scriptures, there are 5 elements: the fifth one is SPACE. Way back in ancient India, a scholar, Kanaad, had given the idea of tiny particle or atoms as the basic unit of any material. However, besides the matter content, there is Zero, which was later added in number system by Aryabhatta, another ancient scholar.
Intriguingly, today also in India, we worship Shiva, which (and not who) is indescribable and is present throughout, and Shakti (energy), which help shiva in creation.
Somehow, Indians could not pursue the research work started by ancient scholars. Having said that, it is good that the knowledge is unfolding now.

[iambored]

Dark Matter is just Massive Databases of Memes we are not ready for

[thatguymork]

What a great comment section. Really, I mean it. It's so very thoughtful...