It could also cast light on the mystery of dark matter, a substance that pervades the universe in vastly larger quantities than familiar, visible matter, but whose existence can be inferred only by watching its gravitational effect on visible matter.

ECONOMIST: Particle accelerators

Cosmologists reckon that at least a quarter of the universe is composed of dark matter, a mysterious substance that neither emits nor absorbs light.

WSJ: New Data Boosts Case for Higgs Boson Find

So do candidates for the particles that make up dark matter, a shadowy substance whose presence can be deduced from its gravitational pull (see article) but which does not interact much via the three Standard-Model forces.

ECONOMIST: The hunt for physics��s most elusive quarry is over

Perhaps a more upbeat story is the news that in about two weeks, a scientific paper could provide the first evidence of dark matter -- the mysterious substance said to account for much of the mass of the universe.

ENGADGET: Alt-week 2.24.13: Mapping the brain, discovering dark matter and our inevitable, grizzly end

Aerial photographs from the descent show drainage channels apparently flowing off land into what seems to be a dark ocean, possibly composed of some tarry substance.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Titan mission 'resounding success'

Initial calculations suggest that the previously unsuspected dark energy actually accounts for two-thirds of the substance of the universe.

ECONOMIST: Cosmology

Yet the third go-round conventionalizes its hero by throwing him into repetitive struggles with his dark side. (Clothes and the man make each other here, since the black symbiotic substance that's responsible for his darkness and alarming arrogance turns his costume from red and blue to jet black.) And the script traps him and M.

WSJ: Film Review