Searching for an Elusive Particle, Physicists Take a Shot in the Dark [News]

Earlier this month, Italian researchers made a claim that, if taken at face value, would earn them a place in scientific history. The DAMA (DArk MAtter) collaboration, based at the University of Rome, announced at a scientific meeting in Venice that it had directly detected dark matter--the invisible, nigh undetectable stuff believed to give added heft to galaxies.

Although other researchers in the field place little confidence in the report, which clashes with their own experimental results, it does highlight the progress and challenges in searching for an elusive quarry that may not actually exist. The efforts of dark-matter hunters are much like the shadowy stuff itself: easily overlooked, but exerting a slow and steady effect.

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