Letter: A dark matter shortage threatens our streets

From Robert Hastings, Jamestown, Colorado, US

You tell us that dark matter makes up 84 per cent of the mass in the universe (29 October, p 9). A mere 23 pages later, dark matter accounts for only 27 per cent of the universe (p 32).

At that rate, by the next issue we would have run out of dark matter. Physicists who study it will be jobless, and out on the streets causing untold mischief.

The editor writes:

We should have used a few more words: dark matter makes up 84 per cent of the matter in the universe, but only 27 per cent of the universe as a whole if you include “dark energy” .