Dark Matter in Science Fiction Versus Scientific Fact

Dark matter can't be detected even though it is all around us

The best explanation of dark matter I have heard is from the podcast Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe. This podcast is described as "a fun-filled discussion of the big, mind-blowing, unanswered questions about the Universe." In the episode What is Dark Matter?: How dark matter was discovered, and what it might be, they provide the simplest explanation for one of the most fascinating cosmological phenomenons.

 

What the Heck Is Dark Matter Anyway?

Dark matter is matter that cannot be detected directly. Scientists infer its existence because of the gravitational influence it has on normal matter. It bends space just like normal matter bends space. Think of dark matter as a ghost knocking over vases and pushing down piano keys in a haunted house. The ghost is invisible, but you know it's there because you see the effects of its actions. So what is dark matter?

Even CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research), the entity that operates the largest particle physics lab in the world and home to the Large Hadron Collider, calls it an unknown entity. In their explanation of dark matter they say: 

"Here's a sobering fact: The matter we know and that makes up all stars and galaxies only accounts for 5% of the content of the universe!"

Dark matter isn't stuff that's far away in space. It's all around us. It is called dark because it doesn't interact with the electromagnetic field. Because of this, it doesn't absorb, reflect, or emit light. Astrophysicist Dr. Becky Smethurst is a science popularizer with a popular YouTube channel called Dr. Becky. In her book aimed at people in a hurry, Space at the Speed of Light: The History of 14 Billion Years for People Short on Time, she describes dark matter as pervading everything. 

"there's about two protons' worth of dark matter in every teaspoon of space."

Astronomer Vera Rubin discovered the discrepancy between the predicted and observed angular motions of galaxies when she was studying galactic rotation. Vera expected to find that stars rotate at slower speeds at the edges of galaxies than near the center. That's not what she found. Speeds turned out to be constant. This indicated that most mass in galaxies isn't at the center as expected but on the outskirts, even though most stars (visible matter) are located in the center.

CERN explains that without dark matter, there isn't enough gravity to hold galaxies together.

"Galaxies in our universe seem to be achieving an impossible feat. They are rotating with such speed that the gravity generated by their observable matter could not possibly hold them together; they should have torn themselves apart long ago."

Dark Matter in Science Fiction

Given how strange dark matter is, it's not surprising that it's a popular idea in science fiction. It's the title of a 2015 Canadian sci-fi show about a group of individuals who wake up from stasis aboard the starship Raza with no memory of who they are. Dark matter serves as more than a cool title in other television shows and in several video games.  

In the Final Fantasy games, it is a very rare item with special properties, although it serves different functions in different releases of the game. In the Kirby video games, dark matter is a single-eyed race that invades planets and covers them in darkness. Because they are made of dark negative energy, some are weakened by light and positive energy. Roblox has a Dark Matter Reactor.

Several Star Trek episodes have encounters with dark matter. In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Commander Sisko and his crew try to hide in a dark-matter nebula. In Star Trek: Voyager, the crew encounters a dark matter lifeform in one episode and a dark matter asteroid in another. In Star Trek: Discovery, a Dark Matter Anomaly (DMA) is a highly destructive planet-destroying gravitational anomaly. It behaves like a wormhole surrounded by an accretion cloud consisting of debris and massive amounts of dark matter. 

In The Flash on the CW, a particle accelerator explosion expels dark matter into Central City, causing mutations that create metahumans with extraordinary powers. The crew of The Orville encounters a dark matter storm. In the Netflix series Dark, it is dark matter that makes time travel possible. In His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, dark matter is referred to as shadows.

Dark matter, as it is portrayed on television and in video games, bears little resemblance to dark matter as it exists in reality. Instead of being stuff that is all around us, dark matter has almost magical properties in science fiction, and those magical properties are used to create weapons and energy. Dark matter is popular in fiction and video games because it sounds cool. But alas, other than holding galaxies together, it has no practical uses that we are aware of. 

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