The Hunt for Dark Matter with Dr. Theresa Fruth (474)
5/16/202628 min
What is the universe actually made of? Particle physicist Theresa Fruth join us at Shirtloads to explore one of science's greatest unsolved mysteries - dark matter! Making up roughly 85% of the universe, yet appearing in none of our known particles, dark matter is invisible, elusive and almost certainly the reason the universe (and us!) exist at all.
Theresa and her team are hunting for it anyway. Working 1.2 kilometres underground in a converted gold mine in regional Victoria, they're searching for WIMPs - weakly interacting massive particles - in one of the quietest, most interference-free environments on Earth. The lab is being built out now, and further experiments are on the horizon. We may be closer to one of the biggest discoveries in scientific history than we realise.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsDr Karl Kruszelnicki· Host0:00
I'm Dr. Karl, coming to you from the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first Australians and traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. [upbeat country music] Good day. Dr. Karl Schlatter of Science University of Sydney talking about dark matter. Yep, 80% of the universe or something. And, uh, or at least of the matter. And we're very lucky to have here Dr. Theresa. Now, that, that bit I've got right. How do I s- pronounce your surname?
Theresa Fruth· Guest0:34
Fruth.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki· Host0:34
Fruth.
Theresa Fruth· Guest0:35
Yeah.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki· Host0:35
So I'm guessing there's a bit of a Germanic sound there.
Theresa Fruth· Guest0:38
Yes.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki· Host0:39
In English it would be pronounced Fruth.
Theresa Fruth· Guest0:41
Yeah.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki· Host0:42
But in German, because you're German- Yeah ... where you just pronounce it Fruth.
Theresa Fruth· Guest0:46
Fruth, yeah.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki· Host0:47
Fruth.
Theresa Fruth· Guest0:47
Yeah.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki· Host0:47
And you're a physicist?
Theresa Fruth· Guest0:49
I am.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki· Host0:50
And you're working on this weird thing called dark matter.
Theresa Fruth· Guest0:53
Exactly.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki· Host0:54
Okay. So just a bit of a background. In the old days we thought that everything was just the four elements of earth, wind, fire, and something else- Hmm ... air. Um, and then we moved over into atoms after a while. That took a bit of thinking. And then around the 1930s, Zwicky, and then about half a century later, Vera Rubin, were coming up with the idea that there had to be dark matter. In other words, the stuff that we see with our telescopes, and we've got telescopes go- covering the whole band from, uh,