Cosmic Thursdays - Demystifying Dark Matter

Welcome to Cosmic Thursdays! This is a series of free, public lectures on astronomy. The lectures are designed with the general public in mind, and are fun, easy to understand, and engaging. Today's lecture will be given by Prof. Simeon Bird, an astronomer and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCR. Dark matter pervades the universe, yet its nature remains mysterious: while it gravitates it does not otherwise interact with normal matter. In this lecture, Prof. Bird will summarize what we know about dark matter, how we know it, what we don't know, and some of the possible options. He will also talk about the possibility that dark matter could be black holes.