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Does dark matter still matter?
CrowdScience
Jan 21, 2022

Scientists have been searching for dark matter for decades, and think there’s six times more of it in the universe than the stuff we can actually see, like stars and planets. But they still don’t know what it is. So how can we be sure dark matter really exists? And why does it matter, anyway? Back in 2018, armed with a boiler suit, hard hat and ear defenders, Marnie Chesterton travelled over a kilometre underground into a hot and sweaty mine to see how scientists are valiantly trying to catch some elusive particles – in the hope of settling things once and for all. Several years on we return to the problem, tackling a few more CrowdScience listeners’ questions about dark matter, and hearing whether we’re any closer to uncovering its mysteries. We’re joined in our quest by Dr Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, physicist and author of The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred.

With Professor Malcolm Fairbairn, Dr Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Dr Chamkaur Ghag and Professor Katherine Freese.

Presented by Marnie Chesterton

Produced by Graihagh Jackson and Cathy Edwards

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When will the next super-volcano erupt?

Is the world sitting on a ticking time bomb? CrowdScience listener Christel recently watched a documentary about a volcanic eruption in 536 AD that left her native Sweden under a cloud of ash for three years. It got her thinking, do we know when this could happen again?

With more than 300 volcanoes – and 24 of them listed as currently active – the Philippines is a country where trying to predict eruptions has huge real world consequences.

Presenter Anand Jagatia travels to Manila to meet the scientists at PHIVOLCS, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, including the head of their Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division, Mariton Antonia Bornas, to find out how they try to predict volcanic activity in the country and help make sure communities are evacuated out of harm’s way.

He travels with the team to Taal volcano, which experienced violent eruptions in 2020 and has been active again this year, to visit the observatory monitoring for signs of future activity and to hike to the main crater of the volcano with resident volcanologist Paolo Reniva.

He also speaks to Dr George Cooper from Cardiff University in the UK about what makes a volcano a supervolcano, and to ask the all important question of if we know when this will happen again.

Presenter: Anand Jagatia

Producer: Dan Welsh

Editor: Ben Motley

(Photo: Smoke Emitting From Volcanic Mountain Against Sky - stock photo -EyeEm Mobile GmbH via Getty Images)


29min 05sec




Does dark matter still matter?

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