Scientists detect mysterious signal nearly 1 mile underground in South Dakota
Scientists at the Sanford Underground Research Facility have detected a mysterious particle interaction that could potentially be evidence of dark matter. While the signal is an outlier that researchers cannot currently explain, they caution that it is not yet conclusive proof.
Why it matters
Confirming the nature of dark matter would fundamentally change our understanding of the universe's composition and physics.
Nearly a mile beneath South Dakota, scientists conducting an experiment detected a particle interaction unlike anything else they have seen.
One possibility has researchers particularly intrigued: It could be dark matter.
Dark matter is thought to make up roughly 85% of the mass in the universe, according to NASA , yet scientists still do not know exactly what it is. Researchers around the world have spent decades designing experiments to detect dark matter and learn more about it, but a direct detection has remained elusive.
The unusual signal was recorded by the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment, also known as LZ, which operates nearly 1 mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. The experiment is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and includes about 250 scientists and engineers from around the world.
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