Sibbers
Earthling
Thanks Sibbers, it is very interesting. I've been fascinated by fundamental physics (essentially the question, "what are we made of?") since I was a young boy. The experiment I'm working on over the Summer is one of many that are searching for dark matter. And I'm just one of several hundred researchers involved in this experiment. It's an epic endeavour with all these scientists, engineers, project managers etc. working for years on something that might, at the end of the day (around 2020), produce a null result, albeit a highly informative one. That's why I mentioned humility in my earlier post.
Anyway, if you're interested, this article is a good overview of the field:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20130718-in-the-hunt-for-dark-matter-promises-to-keep/
The image at the beginning is the detector that will be used in the experiment I'm working on.
I really love these questions and am constantly amazed at the progress that is made despite the lack of funding. Such a shame that money has the be at the route of why we do everything these days rather than the pursuit itself, so hats off to those that go do something worth while and yet not riddled with money.