PICK a word to describe dark matter. Mysterious? Elusive? Invisible? One you're not likely to use is "found". But after 80 years of hunting for it, that may be about to change. Several experiments deep underground have recently seen signs of something that might – just might – be dark matter. In space, too, detectors are tracking radiation that could signal the very same dark particles colliding and annihilating in our galaxy. Is it just coincidence, or could these faint fingerprints really all be from the same dark hand?
Explore our interactive map: "Around the world with dark matter"
Dan Hooper, a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of Chicago, believes that we may already have glimpsed dark matter. "I happen to be in the relatively rare minority of my colleagues who think we probably have," he says. "I'm not certain – I just think it's likely." If ...
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