Dark matter - what we're really made of | Michelle Thaller | TEDxBinghamtonUniversity

Assistant director for science communication and higher education, NASA Sciences and Exploration Directorate, and specialist in the lifecycles of stars.
www.binghamton.edu/
www.binghamton.edu/tedx/
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[@gblake5560]

She's one of my fav science presenters. I love how she has such enthusiasm and makes topics so accessible to all.

[@williamhellriegel2740]

I agree. I really like her way of talking. Very engaging and interesting. It seems she really enjoys presenting.

[@julian1858]

You're not the only one on this boat. I love her, I really do. I love the way she explains everything about science and her enthusiasm when she's explaining about university

[@jonathanbyrdmusic]

Just here to agree.

[@Gregvogel888]

She is a brilliant person. Love listening to her

[@MrPhoenix6666]

my god, i so wish i had a teacher like her growing up, if classes are even 10% as interesting and charming and intriguing as this TED talk i would be hermione

[@frasercain]

What I really like about this is how we're seeing a scientific theory unfold. So many mysteries have already been solved, but this is one that scientists are still in the middle of trying to figure out. You can see science work in real time.

[@christophvolar3481]

this is a great comment to see right after watching a bunch of videos on disproving dark energy/matter. sure unfolded! i didn't like this theory anyway, it seemed like magical thinking.

[@geoden]

Science doesn't ''figure out'' theories, it creates them, tests them and refines them over and over again if necessary until they agree with reality.

[@eliehulin1]

@@geoden So wait , are you saying that when the Science community is in agreement that it's a Fact !?

[@jezer8325]

@@eliehulin1 When the theory is in agreement with reality, not when scientists agree with the theory

[@XRP747E]

Michelle is so enthusiastic and infectiously entwined in her subject, it's hard not to be enthralled by her presence. Michelle you are simply amazing.

[@dontworry9372]

Incredibly accessible presentation on the actual frontier of astronomy and physics. Wow well done.

[@corazoncubano5372]

Very informative and Ms Thaller's presented what could be very hard to understand information, in an easily understandable and lively fashion.

[@beastmode5581]

I am only in 5th grade and i am just getting intersting facts to stick in my head.DARK MATTER IS SO COOL :)

[@Macaroth1]

I hope you are just as interested in science as an 8th grader :)

[@sertank735]

Amen

[@geoden]

@@sertank735 It's good you're interested, but I advise you to forget about dark matter ''coolness''!

[@MrAyananta]

I so wish to get to meet her one day. She’s just brilliant!

[@StaticBlaster]

I love her. She's an amazing astronomer/scientist.

[@Jay-xw9ll]

I see highly paid ppl on TV every day that can't get through one sentence without tripping over their words. This brilliant talk was virtually flawless.

[@itsscience]

I always love watching Dr. Thaller

[@balpro888]

She is very expressive and knowledgeable A fine presentation she would make a very good narrator💯🥰👍

[@fortuner123]

Really good. I am always impressed by the cleverness of these scientists. It is absolutely marvellous that they are engaged in trying to find out the origin of it all. The level of technology and reasoning is stunning.

[@divyamarkande35]

What a supremely-engaging talk! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

[@Faskimy3344]

Great presentation, one of the most clear explanations on dark matter I found so far. Thanks

[@halweilbrenner9926]

Love your enthusiasm, style & Clarity.

[@2010sunshine]

One of the best TED talks I have ever seen. 👌👍

[@Dawn_Aramoana63]

10 years late, but it could be 20 years late, i will always be awed by thie inspirational Dr. Michelle Thaller.

[@skunkape1960]

First I must say, to see such an attractive woman that is so unbelievably intelligent is so refreshing. You have such a wonderful way of explaining your expertise. Thank you so much for making my life better

[@paullazarro4295]

Michelle is the BEST !

[@bruceyredburn]

Whenever I come across Michelle Thaller, on tv or internet, or, if I'm lucky enough, in person. I stop to listen intently. She's great!!!!

[@donniedonnie3527]

The only thing NASA or Michelle ever put onto space is your imagination. The Earth is not a spinning globe.

[@JeoshuaCollins]

I have often wondered, what if Dark Matter and Dark Energy are not particles or some exotic "stuff", but just crests and eddies and waves in the fabric of space-time?

[@seansoblixe9711]

like standing waves,or presure waves

[@asherswing]

best ted talk ever

[@dancingwithczars]

Very interesting video. It studies not only dark matter, but also provides an example of the physical mechanics of expansion and contraction. Excellent presentation!

[@williamhommel4252]

+dancingwithczars Well played, Sir or Madam! Pun fully intended!

[@timefororbit]

This is a brilliant TedTalk, great speaker, terrific presentation and mind blowing subject. I spent half the night thinking about this thanks to this video. It's going to be an enduring mystery for a long time to come.

[@matanjamin6546]

Hey, would like to know how I can contribute by translating and adding subtitles independently to the video (: If anyone can explain it would be great! Thnx

[@RobertsAdra]

Great presentation Ms. Thaller. Thank you.

[@rhbeadlejr]

Finally, an explanation I could understand!

[@GenXer82]

I always wondered if dark matter and dark energy were really some type of "spiritual force" holding the scaffold of the universe together...especially since it's unseen and "moves through" other particles. Food for thought...

[@ulalaFrugilega]

GenXer82 same here. Someone called it the God Particle, but if that was a scientist or the combined inspiration of Shpongle, I do not recall.

[@GenXer82]

@@ulalaFrugilega In an article from Forbes, scientists hypothesize that the God particle...Higgs Boson "will decay into a photon and two gravitinos, hypothetical particles that proponents think are the stuff of dark matter." May that might shed some light.

[@GenXer82]

@@ulalaFrugilega Or, maybe astrophysicists "do" suspect that there is some "spiritual reality" involved but are hesitant to say anything, until beyond reasonable doubt. I know that some "gurus" believe that dark matter/dark energy is "chi" or life-force energy.

[@ibralj1760]

I honestly don’t think so it’s something mysterious that we didn’t find it reason yet. It’s like what people thought when they sow birds flying or sow how the sun raises from the same place everyday

[@geoden]

''Spiritual force'', an unusual description for a purely cosmological entity, please describe exactly what you mean by that?

Such an interesting talk....i like to think that dark matter is, perharps, other dimensions from the string theory with whom we cant interact but actually require each other to agregate matter and create galaxies all along.

[@turgonnaish]

Awesome work lads, keep these ones coming!

[@markmh835]

The female Carl Sagan. Michelle is an outstanding explainer of astronomy.

[@CarolineHekate]

A brilliant presentation about dark matter. This woman is not only very intelligent and charismatic but also a goddess... She has all these people under her nature given spells... hehe!

[@s_anandsurya]

There's even the idea that what is dark matter to us might as well be matter in another dimension, since it passes through the observable matter of this dimension without sustaining any influence.

[@sandrakarwel]

So much fun to learn. Great presentation.

[@clintwolf1557]

Thanks for this very interesting talk.

[@EmilCohenblackrose]

Fascinating, what a subject... a vast area of dark, gravitational creativity of galaxies.... Humans are used to using their hands to form an item with play dough... yet here... an invisible force is creating - big time, without using any "hands".. just fascinating. No wonder the mega investments into the hedron collider.

[@sheester21]

She is the best, I've love watching her explanations! She mentioned they watched dark matter pass right through regular matter & it didn't even enteract with it. That should tell them it doesn't exist. The reason they made up the idea of dark matter in the first place, is to account for the energy holding these systems together. They're calling that energy gravity, as they do with all the centripetal flowing energy. That dark matter that they seen pass through matter, should've enfluenced that matter, just as any strong gravitational field responsibile for holding the galaxy together, would. The fact that it didn't, proves this isn't what is holding the galaxies together.

[@einarclausen]

Wonderful in every way. Thank you.

[@sartajdhillon4943]

The simulation @ 17:54 mostly shows galaxies/matter crashing into each other and often combining, probably into super clusters but aren't they supposed to be accelerating away instead? Informative lecture btw, keep it up.

[@RobD2000]

1.) One of my favorite Ted lectures ever. 2.) Ive watched it several times and Im sure to watch it more. 3.) And Ive yet to turn on the volume.

[@charlesdp]

Michelle Thaller is the best!

[@Javierm0n0]

great talk, confirms some of my own thought experiments as well :)

[@aniljagat4822]

i love your speech about dark energy

[@paynehooper6276]

Im going to watch it over and over untill I understand.

[@BartoszChmura]

I know this is a rather naiive thing, but : we say that the universe expansion is accelerating based on how fast the galaxies are moving away with respect to their distance... yet looking deeper in space means also looking deeper in the past. So - how exactly is that taken into account? - for undoubtedly it is.

[@MrStevieJStewart]

I'm glad people are finally opening up to the idea that Space is not just a vacuum. Space is a matter in itself, it is the surface upon which all matter travels on. Gravity doesn't bend light, light bending is the result of space being bent by gravity, that's why light doesn't escape black holes, black holes are sucking space up... Space being the surface of which everything travels on... duh.

[@jameseverett4976]

Hey that's a cool theory. Isn't that what Einstein was saying all along?

[@Drkwll]

What's the particle for space then? Graviton?

[@Jason-gt2kx]

My hypothesis that Dark Matter is not a weakly interactive massive particle (WIMP), but maybe is a deformation of space-time by which the curvature of space-time itself is the cause of the gravitational effect. Gravity is the consequence of the curvature of space-time when mass is present. It may be possible that the structure of space-time itself could be warped without the presence of mass. So, how did this warping occur? We believe this warping of space-time occurred during the extreme conditions present during inflation. Space-time has been shown to react like a fabric by warping, twisting, and propagating independent of mass. These properties have been proven with observations of gravitational lensing, frame dragging, and now gravitational waves. Fabrics can be stretched, pressured, and/or heated to the point of deformation. Such extreme conditions were all present during inflation, so it is plausible that space-time’s elastic nature could have hit its yield point and permanently deformed. Therefore, if gravity is the consequence of the warping of space-time, and fabrics can be permanently deformed, then a deformation could create a gravitational effect independent of mass. Thus, the unidentified dark "matter" that seems to be so elusive to modern science may not be matter at all but merely warped deformities causing gravitational effects. We have a prediction using gravitational lens mapping to prove Dark Matter isn’t a weakly interacting massive particle, but instead is a floating fixed pocket of warped geodesics in space-time geometry causing gravity wells.

[@Drkwll]

Who is we? Just you? Can I see references?

[@ptmarkoviitanen]

Very nicely put. This is exactly what I have been thinking as well. Instead of bending space and time, it would be more like stretching it.

[@jonathankelley542]

What then, of the neural/web-like structure? Is this just how spacetime happened to warp?

[@GelebFlamebringer]

yes great presentation indeed

[@KaliFissure]

Dark matter might be the mis application of Friedman equation using a perfect fluid. The traditional method. This was the easiest calculation. A fluidic solid essentially. Space is not like this. Space is more viscous in places and extremely watery, thixotropic even in others. One could argue that gravity itself is a demonstration of this irregular character. Not a continuous field until destination. Instead it is an ever steeper hill one plummets unless you can find something lowlier to stand on. This correction to the choice of curve on the matrix rather than a simple diagonal is imho interesting.

[@JeffersonVillacisZ]

Love her!

[@sanjayraj7704]

She is brilliant

[@Nayslav]

I cant even get dark matter on cod

[@vijayvarman6830]

That's an eye-opener

[@deepee1988]

Brilliat! . BRILLUANT! !

[@BothHands1]

omg, these comments are cancer... 51% of humans have 'em, it's nothing to worry about. Go get 'em girl

[@Jason-gt2kx]

And I am working on artificial gravity for NASA. Involves mostly neuroscience because it my concept makes astronauts dizzy, it wont be used..www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2017_Phase_I_Phase_II/Turbolift/

[@007lutherking]

What do you mean 51% I think 100% is more accurate

[@MrAyananta]

Too good!

[@revfunk8823]

Michelle is awesome 🤗

[@DennisMurphey]

God Bless Michelle she is such a good explainer.

[@Bazua15]

Interesting video!!

[@Pezuzzu]

Can gravity affect matter in this dimension from a higher dimension? Is it possible that some exotic mass actually exists in a higher dimension and we can only detect it's gravity?

[@robertarisz8464]

"It takes a lot of energy to actually accelerate an entire universe" 3.10 It is in the same tone of voice as when we tell kids "water expends when it freezes" but just let that one sink in. I absolutely love the understatement of that sentence when it comes out of the mouth of Michelle.

[@thelastamerican7519]

I saw her on History channel's 'The Universe' show.

[@rehaanjulka5578]

"How the universe works" on Discovery Science

[@spandyman256]

I agree she prob knew it too looking into monitor. Honestly i think it added to the fascination of the subject and her voice is pleasing to me. Not that id ever have a shot but too bad she married (think she made a point of it during one those history channel episodes she said take my wedding ring for example the carbon in the diamond formed inside a star ....)

[@Legend89850]

It's growing.

[@wizardmori]

I put self in actual spot. Devote myself practically and show presence. Win a reputation, make a name for oneself, in the society. Be steady honest conscientious self. 実地に身を入れ存在感を示していく。社会に名を為す。実直自身であれ。

[@007lutherking]

She seems like a reasonable person which is all that matters

[@Payin_Attention]

Can't get the video to play. :(

[@corygeertgens]

I love her

[@winston2015]

12:25 How could "two clusters of galaxies be colliding into one another" if the universe is expanding, theoretically, from a central point outward? Ill look up the bit on why it's accelerating, which blew my mind... A fascinating lecture,. thank you !

[@sertank735]

Thank you for pointing out the errors in Einstein’s theories. There is no cosmological constant, no dark matter, no dark energy, just a “darkness” in our own understanding. One love.

[@DonnaBrooks]

THIS VIDEO WON'T LOAD FOR ME!! I've tried Firefox and Chrome, have emptied the FF cache, and the other videos work fine, so WTF is the problem with this one??

[@discovermajid]

same problem here I think there is no way for us to see dark matter so kinda makes sense

[@chalupa501]

Use a 19 mm wrench.

[@MrTimjd123]

"I am "that" I am"

[@Junker-kr4sd]

why isn't the video playing for me? a black screen just comes up.. :P

[@AriesAndPisces]

Stanman121 lol your funny lol wont work for me either

[@server1ok]

+Junker1599 (.)(.) hehe

[@marksusskind1260]

I have noticed that it seems to happen when a pre-roll ad has some kind of runtime error with it, but ad-blocking software could also make that happen. I usually use adblock-plus, but I turn it off for youtube videos. +Junker1599

[@benkehler6415]

+3waybar Lol! the physics Chick finally gets her gawks! I apologize but it's been a very nice laugh and break from the seriously cold subject.

[@jesuswest6479]

3waybar u

[@TazManiac008]

Actually the total amount of energy in the universe is zero. Truly mind blowing I know.

[@sweiland75]

I wonder why there are not more women in science then I read comment sections like this.

[@MKTElM]

Nice pleasant talker . More of a mother type. A home maker and bringer upper of little children than someone in the know about the mysteries of dark matter and the new physics. She is very easy to listen to and follow , her charm is that she appears to be not in the least bit self conscious .

[@wlhgmk]

If you look at a far away galaxy from the top, it is likely a few hundred light years thick. A star in the foreground will shade out the light of a star that is directly behind it in our line of sight. So we are only seeing the light of the stars that are nearest to us in the galaxy we are looking at. This we use to estimate the mass of the galaxy. How do scientists estimate how much matter is in the galaxy that we don't see due to this shading. Could this explain some of the missing matter that results in the galaxy rotating faster than we think it should based on the amount of light we see.

[@ZFlyingVLover]

Summary of vid. What is dark matter? Dark matter is some stuff that doesn't emit light or interact electromagnetically with the universe but has mass and and it's gravitational contribution is what is needed to keep spinning galaxies from flying apart. Also, from calculations it must represent the missing %90 or matter that is needed to explain why spinning galaxies don't fly apart. 5 or 6 different experiments are presented and discussed as well as their observations and conclusions proving dark matter must exist. Can we detect it? Only indirectly. That is it. I just saved you 20 mins.

[@augustq161]

+ZFlyingVLover Thanks.

[@josephgolding6985]

Thank you :)

[@fuzzballs77]

Your the real MVP

[@marleyjanim5033]

👍👍👍

[@Rekcoj]

not quite, she actually teached you something you seem to not be aware of that she did in the last minutes. first she made clear that we know nothing about the dark matter other than it must have mass. secondly she showed examples of how they proved that this dark matter exist, which is the conclusion in your perspective. thirdly, the actual conclusion, whatever this stuff is, it seems to be the very foundation, the "3D Blueprint", the universe build itself upon all the while nothing seems to be capable to actually interact with it. this uncovers a ton of further questions, while we still don't really know anything about dark matter.

[@s_anandsurya]

The dark matter scaffoldings, seem similar to neurons that lay the path for impulses (information) to converge. Is matter information and dark matter the pathway to relay and put this information together?

[@jonathankelley542]

You got it, kid.

[@CandideSchmyles]

Despite the unfortunate distractions this was an extremely lucid and fluid summation of the current consensus on the cause of the extra gravity apparent in observations at the larger scale. But just because it is the current best explanation does not mean that it is right. Given that the battery of experiments set up to detect wimps have all been spectacular failures I really feel let down that the astrophysical community seems to be doing so little to consider alternative explanations. Scientific establishments have often been guilty of seeking mutual approval through spurious consensus and this subject surely reeks of that. I am no physicist so the weight of my thinking is far from dark on the periodic table of relevance. However even I can posit or repeat a number of alternative hypotheses and whether or not they be eventually proved right or wrong in time I feel it is dishonest of the astrophysical community to be so latched onto one theory that has little or no hard proof to support it. My own personal "hunch", which yes I do realise has no proof either, is that what we are seeing in the structure of the cosmic web is not the gravity of some exotic matter in 3d space/time but the signature of an additional dimension(s) with an illusory filament-like structure as observed by us. Such dimension(s) may be far vaster than they appear within our 3d plane and contain enough phase shifted ordinary matter to account for the observed gravitational effects. As I am rarely right about anything I do not expect a nobel any time soon for my hunch, (and in respect and honor of Richard Feynman's great regret I would refuse it anyway), yet the point remains there is no proof for the theory this video expounds. And I hope fervently that more physicists admit this to themselves and start thinking more independently and a bit further outside the box. For it is there, surely, the real answers lay.

[@lotoex]

I do like the idea of the 4 dimension (or maybe even higher ds). Also thinking that most likely we live in a 4d shaped universe. This thinking is based on that things don't go on forever and they eventually curve in on them selves. Example 1d line curves to make a 2d circle. 2d universe curves to make a sphere. Also to notice these curves you would need to see a large portion of the universe a the same time. So a 3d universe might curve to make a 4d shape. A good way to test this might me to calculate how much mass an object gains when it gains a dimension. 1d might get only the diameter.(plus sense all 1d worlds slightly curve in on themselves making them 2d, but at an almost un-noticeable rate without looking at a large portion of the universe.) You could calculate (very roughly) how much more massive that 2d object is on that 1d world. (My guess would be somewhere in trillions times more matter then what they could see). Same for the 2d world with a sphere in it. he sphere's mass would be several trillions times ( I know i'm under estimating this) higher then the calculated 2d circle mass that they can see. Example they see the Earth and best case scenario they can see the circumference of the Earth and think its 1 atom think. Messing up how much the pull Earth's gravity would have on their 2d galaxy by a ludicrously large factor. If we are looking for a 4d object that accounts for only about 96% everything, you might as well say your looking for a baseball some where in the milky way. However I still think its worth looking in to.

[@lauramattocks6854]

woo!!!

[@robertgamble7497]

Doesn’t e=mc^2 apply to dark energy and dark matter? If not, why not?

[@daganhaddad]

vid doesn't open or start 4 me

[@awuma]

13:30 The gas smacked up, but the galaxies did not! The stars of the galaxies and the dark matter carried on through.

[@mickbrenner8597]

any dense matter causing space to bend will attract more quatum or dark matter to itself,and cause a rise in tempreture, matter at the edge of the curve will lose amounts of same causing a tempreture loss,and there fore less resistance to its own trancit,causing an increase in speed, wich may or may not allow edge of curve matter to escape the pull of the curve totally or for a period of time.

[@YESHUA_is_king_21]

We are the cosmos

[@armadica10]

Hi, idiot here. Is it possible electromagnetic repulsion and attraction may play a larger role than we had previously thought.

[@Drkwll]

In what context?

[@garyttomo2506]

I'm sure some people watched this great informative talk just hoping on the off chance she said "god did it"

[@hidgik]

If you are just looking at the universe as it looked billions of years ago, how are you sure it still there today?

[@ahikernamedgq]

People really shouldn't talk about Dark Matter like it's not a theory, or a conjecture. We don't have proof or evidence of Dark Matter. It's an intelligent theory (like the "Caloric Theory"), but there's no evidence of it. I think it's far more likely that human understanding of physics is still in its infancy, and there are just things we don't understand. I wish we had more humility in our discussion.

[@pratikraut6354]

She said that some of the galaxies are 12 billion old. Our Universe came into existence around 13.6 billion years ago according to Big Bang Theory. So, these galaxies we see might actually be the very first galaxies that are formed after the Big Bang. Thats just incredible. And another thing, in the Pie diagram where's the anti matter.

[@rshuffty1207]

She made two good points

[@senselessmonkee]

@celio Are you speaking of dark energy or dark matter when you talk about the Orange theory. Or both since they are a bit difficult to define and possibly to separate at this point. There is still much to learn about what they even consist of.

[@atw007]

The presentation seems very interesting but I barely can understand the words due to very low audio. Why is the audio quality so bad ?

[@jonathand3044]

My take is every landholder in the EU should install solar panels and batteries to power not only their homes or holdings, but to act as a supplier to CERN. Am I wrong? I would love USA to adopt this idea too.

[@jamesvick1085]

Dark matter is CONSCIOUSNESS...

[@seventoned9820]

This is a universe of 2-way motion of the One Universal Substance, Light. If we see the universe as expanding on the South it is also contracting on the on the North. Matter is concentrated light, so dark matter is dark (concentrated) light, I doubt that, instead it is light in opposing motion as we're are used to "normal" motion of light (matter).

[@lordkibagami]

If galaxies are hitching a ride on dark matter through space, and dark matter doesn't interact with any force (not even itself if, like she showed, the two blue patches of dark matter went right through each other), then what is making the dark matter move through space? Something like extra-dimensional gravity, or even dark energy? The plot thickens...