[sandworm101]

>> dark matter seems to repeatedly rub people the wrong way today, more so than any other scientific concept I can think of.

Because, while interesting to a great many scientists, the practical implications of this knowledge are centuries away. Defining dark matter, understanding the backbone of our universe, isn't going to cure cancer. It isn't going to fix global warming. It isn't going to get us to Mars. So when people read of massive experiments throwing unending brainpower and money into the DM hunt, it is natural for them to react as they do. Astronomers give us pictures of far away places that satisfy our natural need to explore. DM hunters stare at numbers and statistics, generating papers and messy diagrams. They aren't fighting an uphill PR battle.

There are also a not-small number of people for whom the DM hunt represents a challenge to their fundamental beliefs. Talk of colliding galaxies billions of light-years away conflicts with the young-earth model that is part of their daily lives. Rather than criticize on that basis and appear ignorant, they lash out on other grounds.

[ISL]

The technology spinoffs from DM-hunting are notable for the broader community.

The high-power dilution refrigerator that ADMX uses is of the same sort that the quantum-computing industry needs more and more of. Indeed, the students and staff being trained by ADMX are finding homes in both academia and across industry.

The high-sensitivity detector technology developed for WIMP searches have alternative use in nuclear non-proliferation monitoring. Improved detector ideas may continue to rattle down into medical imaging in the long run, improving some combination of sensitivity and dose.

The real prize, however, is what happens when the nature of dark matter is understood. It is a long-game play, but the technological implications might be on par with subjects like electricity, nuclear physics, quantum mechanics, etc. We won't know until we get there.

[sandworm101]

I know this. We know this. The public does not. DM hunters never talk about such things. All the public gets is "we used a massive detector to look something in this narrow spectrum, didn't find it, and will try again next year with an even bigger detector."

Any new detector should be described in terms of the new technologies it will require and how those new technologies will be used elsewhere. That gives it value regardless of whether it detects anything or not.

[foobarbecue]

How do you know it won't cure cancer? Marie Curie checked out some invisible physics and discovered radioactivity. Now we use it to treat cancer.

I suspect that practical outcomes and technologies arising from understanding dark matter will be huge.

Also, I think you're missing the point of astronomy. "astronomers" today are generally astrophysicists or planetary scientists, and they are studying fundamental, mostly invisible, processes and substances.

[sanxiyn]

> I suspect that practical outcomes and technologies arising from understanding dark matter will be huge.

I doubt it. More than 50 years after discovery of neutrinos, we are yet to find any practical outcomes or technologies.

[cygx]

So you're saying a better understanding of nuclear reactions has not had practical implications? Just because the particle itself is 'useless' from a technological perspective doesn't imply the same is true for the accompanying theory...

[smallnamespace]

Maybe not neutrinos specifically, but muon detectors are now being used for archaeology.

[dwaltrip]

The neutrino is part of the standard model. The dark matter may easily be entirely new physics, outside of the standard model. The implications may be enormous.

Moreover, even if the dark matter itself doesn't itself lead directly to to new tech, it is very likely that subsequent discoveries will.

[cozzyd]

Neutrinos theoretically can be used for nonproliferation at least :).

[raverbashing]

Time from discovery of nuclear physics to nuclear devices was less than 50 years

Same for experimental planes to first commercial flights.

So it might take centuries, but it also might not.