95% of the universe is invisible. Here's why that should fill us with wonder

"I wonder how many of you have reflected on this phenomenon: everything anyone has ever seen, or ever will see, makes up less than 5% of what is out there in the universe. All the people, all the faces, all the mountains, the moon, the stars, the galaxies, supernova-everything we've ever seen-is less than 5%. The rest is in the form of dark matter and dark energy, as yet unknown."

"And the "dark" phrasing is a misnomer. The dark energy is in this room right now. It fills the room. The dark matter is coursing through you right now. They're not dark; they're invisible. I wonder-and maybe you've wondered yourself-what is all this dark stuff? Where does it come from? What is it? Or maybe you study astrophysics and you actually build detectors deep in mines, waiting patiently for years for one dark matter particle to strike your detector."

"Consider the visible universe: you can see your hand because the atoms in your body scatter light, your eyes absorb that light, and that light triggers an electrical impulse along nerve endings. That ignites in your mind an image, the qualia of the visual world. You can feel your fingertips because atoms interact. You can smell and taste because of chemical interactions. Your heartbeat is regulated by electrical impulses from specialized cells."

Less than five percent of the universe consists of everything ever seen; the remainder exists as dark matter and dark energy of unknown nature. Dark energy pervades space, while dark matter moves through ordinary matter, remaining invisible to detection. Experimentalists build deep underground detectors and wait for rare particle interactions, but dark matter has not revealed itself. Humans and luminous structures are effectively invisible to the dark sector and vice versa. Sensory experience arises from atomic interactions with light, triggering electrical signals and qualia. The familiar visible world is governed by electrical and magnetic phenomena and consists of atoms and light.

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