Dark matter

Dark matter is a form of matter called dark because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it doesn't absorb, reflect or emit electromagnetic radiation.

About 69 percent of the matter/energy (since matter and energy are interchangeable) in the universe is contained in dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 26 percent, atoms of hydrogen and helium make up about 5 percent, and higher elements, which make up the Earth and our own bodies, only make up a tiny 0.5 percent. So dark energy, which is pushing the galaxies away from us, is clearly the dominant force in the universe, much larger than the energy contained in the curvature of spacetime.

Type I civilizations find it to comprise of particles not hitherto detected in previous standard and therefore limited models of particle physics. Once discovered, the term "dark matter" was regarded in the same way as aether which was once thought to comprise most of the observable universe beyond earth.

See also:

Dark energy