Most of the matter in our universe is invisible. Everything we can see – every star, every galaxy, every glowing cloud of gas – accounts for only about 15% of it. The other 85% is Dark Matter: It has a mass, and we know it’s there because we can feel its gravity, but it gives off no light at all, and it’s always passing straight through us.
In “Seeing the Unseeable: The Hunt for Dark Matter at Berkeley Lab,” learn how Berkeley Lab researchers are leading three world-class experiments in the search for Dark Matter: the LUX-ZEPLIN Dark Matter Experiment (LZ), TESSERACT (which stands for Transition Edge Sensors with Sub-EV Resolution And Cryogenic Targets), and the CAL-Pathfinder Axion Detector.
This short film was first presented at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, CA, on October 31, 2026.
View the full playlist on YouTube:
- Section 1 – Introduction to Dark Matter (0:00-1:53)
- Section 2 – WIMPS and LZ (1:53-4:28)
- Section 3 – Light DM & Tesseract (4:29-6:02)
- Section 4 – Axions & CAL-Pathfinder (6:03-7:48)
- Section 5 – Conclusion (7:48-9:04)
Credits:
- Produced by Thor Swift, Creative Services, Berkeley Lab
- Co-Produced and Written by Emily Perry and Daniel Kodroff, Physics Division, Berkeley Lab
- Narrator – Emily Perry, Physics Division, Berkeley Lab
- Narration Audio Production – Robinson Kuntz, Creative Services, Berkeley Lab
- Photography and Video Recording (unless otherwise noted): Thor Swift and Robinson Kuntz, Creative Services, Berkeley Lab; and Marilyn Sargent, Strategic Communications, Berkeley Lab
- Special Thanks: Marsha Fenner, Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille, Anthony Spadafora, Berkeley Lab Creative Services Office, and the Berkeley Lab Physics Division
- © The Regents of the University of California / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory unless otherwise noted
