Phil Plaitt has written a fascinating article on the latest thinking about dark matter.

Dark matter, to re-interpret Obi Wan Kenobi, surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together. At least that’s what a new scientific study seems to show. Dark matter appears to stretch well beyond the visible limits of galaxies, flowing through and filling even the vast, previously-thought empty space between galaxies. The researchers, led by Shogo Masaki of Nogoya University, used computer simulations to model how dark matter behaves over time as it helps form galaxies, and found that while it’s concentrated in and around galaxies, it doesn’t fade away into nothing with distance. It does get thinner, but still exists to a measurable degree well outside of galaxies.

There is a strong temptation to find a way to tie dark matter into the concept of our identity. However, as I pointed out in the book, all attempts to define ourselves as “this thing” or “that thing” seem to end in failure. And yet we exist. The conclusions is that we must be the fundamental underlying substrate if the universe – or, we might as well say, “I am the universe”. This would automatically include all forms of matter and energy, including dark matter. Everything in the universe (that we know about) is made up of bosons, thermions and perhaps, now, we add axions?