Dark Matter's Secret Force Does the Opposite of What Scientists Expected Dark matter, a mysterious substance thought to comprise about a quarter of the universe's mass energy budget, has long been a source of fascination and frustration for scientists.
Its invisible nature makes it impossible to directly observe, leaving researchers to infer its presence through its gravitational effects on visible matter.
A new study suggests that dark matter particles may interact with each other through an additional attractive force, but this extra attraction comes with an unexpected twist: it tends to slow the growth of cosmic structures rather than accelerate them.