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What Is Dark Matter? The Answer to Universe’s Greatest Mystery Could Be Axions

The saga of how an odd hypothetical particle became a star dark matter candidate.

Physics is permeated by conundrums, and in a sense, that’s what keeps the field going. These mind-bending puzzles foster a race toward truth. But of all the dilemmas, I’d say two of them unquestionably fall under priority A.

First off, when scientists look up at the sky, they consistently see stars and galaxies traveling farther from our planet, and from each other, in every direction. The universe kind of looks like a bubble blowing up, which is how we’ve come to know it’s expanding. But something doesn’t make sense.

Space doesn’t seem to have enough stuff floating around in it — stars, particles, planets and all else — for it to inflate so swiftly. In other words, the universe is expanding way faster than our physics says it can, and it’s even picking up speed as you read this. Which brings us to problem two.

Per experts’ best calculations, galaxies are spinning so incredibly quickly as everything zips around that we’d expect the spirals to behave like out-of-control merry-go-rounds flinging metal horses off the ride. There doesn’t seem to be enough stuff in the universe to anchor them together. Yet the Milky Way isn’t drifting apart.

So… what’s going on?

As blanket terms, physicists call «missing» stuff pushing the cosmos outward dark energy, and pieces holding galaxies together — presumably in a halo-like form — dark matter. Neither interacts with light or matter we can see, so they’re essentially invisible. Combined, dark matter and dark energy make up a whopping 95% of the universe.

Zeroing in on dark matter’s portion, the authors of a recent review, published in the journal Science Advances, write that «it may well consist of one or more types of fundamental particle … although part or all of it might consist of macroscopic lumps of some invisible form of matter, such as black holes.»

Black holes or not, dark matter is totally elusive. In an effort to decode its secrets, scientists have picked a handful of suspects out of the cosmic lineup, and one of the most wanted particles is an odd little speck called the axion.

The wide-eyed hypothesis of axions

You might’ve heard of the Standard Model, which is pretty much the holy grail, ever-strengthening handbook of particle physics. It outlines how every single particle in the universe works.

However, as the Science Advances review points out, some «particle physicists are restless and dissatisfied with the Standard Model because it has many theoretical shortcomings and leaves many pressing experimental questions unanswered.» More specifically for us, it leads right into a paradox regarding a well-established scientific concept dubbed CPT invariance. Aha, the physics puzzles continue.

Basically, CPT invariance states that the universe must be symmetrical when it comes to C (charge), P (parity) and T (time). For that reason, it’s also called CPT symmetry. If everything had the opposite charge, was left-handed instead of right-handed and traveled through time backward instead of forward, it states the universe should remain just the same.

For a long while, CPT symmetry seemed unbreakable. Then 1956 came around.

Long story short, scientists found something that violates the P part of CPT symmetry. It’s called the weak force, and it dictates things like neutrino collisions and element fusion in the sun. Everyone was shocked, confused and scared.

Nearly every foundational concept of physics relies on CPT symmetry.

About a decade later, researchers discovered the weak force violating C symmetry, too. Things were falling apart. Physicists could just hope and pray that even if P is violated… and CP is violated… maybe CPT still isn’t. Maybe weak forces just need the trio to uphold CPT symmetry. Thankfully, this theory seems correct. For some unknown reason, the weak force follows total CPT symmetry despite C and CP blips. Phew.

But here’s the issue. If weak forces violate CP symmetry, you’d expect strong forces to as well, right? Well, they don’t, and physicists don’t know why. This is called the strong CP problem — and precisely where things get interesting.

Neutrons — uncharged particles within atoms — abide by the strong force. Plus, allowing for simplification, their neutral charge means they violate T symmetry. And «if we find something that violates T symmetry, then it must also violate CP symmetry in such a way that the combination CPT is not violated,» the paper states. But… that’s weird. Neutrons don’t because of the strong CP problem.

And so the idea of the axion was born.

Years ago, physicists Roberto Peccei and Helen Quinn suggested adding a new dimension to the Standard Model. It involved a field of ultralight particles — axions — that explained the strong CP problem, thereby relaxing the conditions for neutrons. Axions appeared to fix everything so well that the duo’s idea became the «most popular solution to the strong CP problem,» the paper states. It was a miracle.

To be clear, axions are still hypothetical, but think about what just happened. Physicists added a new particle to the Standard Model, which outlines specks of the entire universe. What might that mean for everything else?

The key to dark matter?

Per the Peccei-Quinn theory, axions would be «cold,» or very slowly moving through space. And… the study researchers say «the existence of [dark matter] is inferred from its gravitational effects, and astrophysical observations suggest that it is ‘cold.'»

The paper also states, «there are experimental upper limits on how strongly [the axion] interacts with the visible matter.»

So, basically, axions that help explain the strong CP problem also seem to have theoretical properties that align with those of dark matter. Extremely well.

The European Council for Nuclear Research, better known as CERN, which runs the Large Hadron Collider and is leading the charge for antimatter studies, also underlines «one of the most suggestive properties of axions is that, in a natural way, they could be produced in huge numbers soon after the Big Bang. This population of axions would still be present today and could compose the dark matter of the universe.»

There you go. Axions are among the hottest topic in physics because they seem to explain so much. But once again, those sought-after bits are still hypothetical.

Will we ever find axions?

It’s been 40 years since scientists began hunting for axions.

Most of these searches are «mainly exploiting the action field interaction with the electromagnetic fields,» say the authors in that recent review published in Science Advances.

For instance, CERN developed the Axion Search Telescope, a machine built to find a hint of the particles produced in the sun’s core. Inside our star, there are strong electric fields that could potentially interact with axions — if they’re really there, that is.

But the quest has so far faced a few pretty big challenges. For one, «the particle mass is not theoretically predictable,» the authors write — that is, we have very little idea of what an axion might look like.

Right now, scientists are still searching for them while assuming a vastly wide range of masses. Recently, however, researchers offered evidence that the particle is likely between 40 and 180 microelectron volts. That’s unthinkably small, at about 1 billionth the mass of an electron.

«In addition,» the team writes, «the axion signal is expected to be very narrow … and extremely feeble due to very weak couplings to Standard Model particles and fields.» In essence, even if minuscule axions try their very best to signal their existence to us, we might miss them. Their cues could be so weak we’d barely notice.

Despite these hurdles, the axion search marches on. Most scientists argue that they must be out there somewhere but they seem too good to be true when it comes to fully explaining dark matter.

«Most experimental attempts assume that axions compose 100% of the dark matter halo,» the study authors emphasize, suggesting that perhaps there’s a way to «look into axion physics without relying on such an assumption.»

Though they may be the star of the show, what if axions are just one chapter of dark matter history?

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, July 12

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for July 12.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s one of those long Saturday puzzles, and a few clues are tricky.  Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue:  Havana’s home
Answer: CUBA

5A clue: Last word in many bowling alley names
Answer: LANES

6A clue: Lots and lots
Answer: SOMUCH

7A clue: Left-leaning social media site
Answer: BLUESKY

8A clue: Hepburn of «Breakfast at Tiffany’s»
Answer: AUDREY

9A clue: Word after «break» or «banana»
Answer: BREAD

10A clue: Car loan figs.
Answer: APRS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: They always shoot their shot
Answer: CAMERAS

2D clue: Brand-new
Answer: UNUSED

3D clue: Woman with «the good hair,» in a famous Beyoncé lyric
Answer: BECKY

4D clue: In need of moisturizer
Answer: ASHY

5D clue: «We can’t hear you back here!»
Answer: LOUDER

6D clue: Drink noisily
Answer: SLURP

7D clue: ___ ghanouj
Answer: BABA

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for July 12, #292

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for July 12, No. 292

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition has one of those classic purple categories, where you probably won’t figure it out before you’ve answered all the others. Need help? Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.  

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Show Me State.

Green group hint: Old Line State.

Blue group hint: Gridiron greats.

Purple group hint: Names begins with a certain creature.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Missouri teams.

Green group: Maryland teams.

Blue group: Hall of Fame football coaches.

Purple group: Sports people or terms starting with an animal.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is Missouri teams. The four answers are Blues, Cardinals, Chiefs and Royals.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is Maryland teams.  The four answers are Maryland, Navy, Orioles and Ravens.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Hall of Fame football coaches. The four answers are Levy, Madden, Noll, and Shula.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports people or terms starting with an animal. The four answers are batter, Catchings, Cowherd and dogleg.

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Technologies

CNET Daily Tariff Price Tracker: I’m Watching 11 Key Products for Changes, Here’s What’s Happened

The deadline for the start of Trump’s heaviest tariffs has been delayed until next month, leaving consumers stuck with more uncertainty over prices.

For the last three months, tariffs have been a hot topic, leaving consumers and businesses alike worried: Will they hike prices and by how much? It’s a question more relevant than ever this week, as President Trump punts another major deadline down the road and price-slashing Amazon’s Prime Day sales wind down as the week ends.

Amid those worries, I’ve been tracking prices every day for 11 key products likely to be hit by tariff-induced price increases, and the answer I’ve come to so far is this: Not so much, at least not yet. The winding road of tariff inflation still stretches before us into an uncertain future, so the threat of price hikes continues to cloud the horizon.

To date, I’ve seen two noteworthy price increases, one for the Xbox Series X and the other for a popular budget-friendly 4K TV. Some other products — including Apple’s popular AirPods and printer ink — have gone on sale for brief periods. 

CNET Tariff Tracker Index

Above, you can check out a chart with the average price of the 11 products included in this piece over the course of 2025. This will help give you a sense of the overall price changes and fluctuations going on. Further down, you’ll be able to check out charts for each individual product being tracked. 

We’ll be updating this article regularly as prices change. It’s all in the name of helping you make sense of things, so be sure to check back every so often. For more, check out CNET’s guide to whether you should wait to make big purchases or buy them now and get expert tips about how to prepare for a recession.

Methodology

We’re checking prices daily and will update the article and the relevant charts right away to reflect any changes. The following charts show a single bullet point for each month, with the most recent one labeled «Now» and showing the current price. For the past months, we’ve gone with what was the most common price for each item in the given month. 

In most cases, the price stats used in these graphs were pulled from Amazon using the historical price-tracker tool Keepa. For the iPhones, the prices come from Apple’s official materials and are based on the 128-gigabyte base model of the latest offering of the iPhone 16. For the Xbox Series X, the prices were sourced from Best Buy using the tool PriceTracker. If any of these products happen to be on sale at a given time, we’ll be sure to let you know and explain how those price drops differ from longer-term pricing trends that tariffs can cause.

The 11 products we’re tracking

Mostly what we’re tracking in this article are electronic devices and digital items that CNET covers in depth, like iPhones and affordable 4K TVs — along with a typical bag of coffee, a more humble product that isn’t produced in the US to any significant degree. 

The products featured were chosen for a few reasons: Some of them are popular and/or affordable representatives for major consumer tech categories, like smartphones, TVs and game consoles. Others are meant to represent things that consumers might buy more frequently, like printer ink or coffee beans. Some products were chosen over others because they are likely more susceptible to tariffs. Some of these products have been reviewed by CNET or have been featured in some of our best lists.

Below, we’ll get into more about each individual product, and stick around till the end for a rundown of some other products worth noting.

iPhone 16

The iPhone is the most popular smartphone brand in the US, so this was a clear priority for price tracking. The iPhone has also emerged as a major focal point for conversations about tariffs, given its popularity and its susceptibility to import taxes because of its overseas production, largely in China. Trump has reportedly been fixated on the idea that the iPhone can and should be manufactured in the US, an idea that experts have dismissed as a fantasy. Estimates have also suggested that a US-made iPhone would cost as much as $3,500.

Something to note about this graph: The price listed is the one you’ll see if you buy your phone through a major carrier. If you, say, buy direct from Apple or Best Buy without a carrier involved, you’ll be charged an extra $30, so in some places, you might see the list price of the standard iPhone 16 listed as $830.

Apple’s been taking a few steps to protect its prices in the face of these tariffs, flying in bulk shipments of product before they took effect and planning to move production for the US market from China to India. A new Reuters report found that a staggering 97% of iPhones imported from the latter country, March through May, were bound for the US. This latter move drew the anger of Trump again, threatening the company with a 25% tariff if they didn’t move production to the US, an idea CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly shot down in the past. This came after Trump gave a tariff exemption to electronic devices including smartphones, so the future of that move seems in doubt now.

Duracell AA batteries

A lot of the tech products in your home might boast a rechargeable energy source but individual batteries are still an everyday essential and I can tell you from experience that as soon as you forget about them, you’ll be needing to restock. The Duracell AAs we’re tracking are some of the bestselling batteries on Amazon.

Samsung DU7200 TV

Alongside smartphones, televisions are some of the most popular tech products out there, even if they’re an infrequent purchase. This particular product is a popular entry-level 4K TV and was CNET’s pick for best overall budget TV for 2025. Unlike a lot of tech products that have key supply lines in China, Samsung is a South Korean company, so it might have some measure of tariff resistance. 

After spending most of 2025 hovering around $400, this item has now seen some notable upticks on Amazon, most recently sitting around $450. This could potentially be in reaction to Trump’s announcement of 25% tariffs against South Korea this week.

Xbox Series X

Video game software and hardware are a market segment expected to be hit hard by the Trump tariffs. Microsoft’s Xbox is the first console brand to see price hikes — the company cited «market conditions» along with the rising cost of development. Most notably, this included an increase in the price of the flagship Xbox Series X, up from $500 to $600. Numerous Xbox accessories also were affected and the company also said that «certain» games will eventually see a price hike from $70 to $80.

Initially, we were tracking the price of the much more popular Nintendo Switch as a representative of the gaming market. Nintendo has not yet hiked the price of its handheld-console hybrid and stressed that the $450 price tag of the upcoming Switch 2 has not yet been inflated because of tariffs. Sony, meanwhile, has so far only increased prices on its PlayStation hardware in markets outside the US.

AirPods Pro 2

The latest iteration of Apple’s wildly popular true-wireless earbuds are here to represent the headphone market. Much to the chagrin of the audiophiles out there, a quick look at sales charts on Amazon shows you just how much the brand dominates all headphone sales. For most of the year, they’ve hovered around $199, but ahead of Prime Day sales this week they are currently on sale for $149.

HP 962 CMY printer ink

This HP printer ink includes cyan, magenta and yellow all in one product and recently saw its price jump from around $72 — where it stayed for most of 2025 — to $80, which is around its highest price over the last five years. We will be keeping tabs to see if this is a long-term change or a brief uptick. 

This product replaced Overture PLA Filament for 3D printers in this piece, but we’re still tracking that item.

Anker 10,000-mAh, 30-watt power bank

Anker’s accessories are perennially popular in the tech space and the company has already announced that some of its products will get more expensive as a direct result of tariffs. This specific product has also been featured in some of CNET’s lists of the best portable chargers. 

Bose TV speaker

Soundbars have become important purchases, given the often iffy quality of the speakers built into TVs. While not the biggest or the best offering in the space, the Bose TV Speaker is one of the more affordable soundbar options out there, especially hailing from a brand as popular as Bose. You can currently get this model at a healthy discount for Prime Day, down to $200 from $280.

Oral-B Pro 1000 electric toothbrush

They might be a lot more expensive than their traditional counterparts but electric toothbrushes remain a popular choice for consumers because of how well they get the job done. I know my dentist won’t let up on how much I need one. This particular Oral-B offering was CNET’s overall choice for the best electric toothbrush for 2025.

While this product hasn’t seen its price budge one way or another most of the year, there is a $10 coupon listed on Amazon right now.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook

Lenovo is notable among the big laptop manufacturers for being a Chinese company making its products especially susceptible to Trump’s tariffs.

Starbucks Ground Coffee (28-ounce bag)

Coffee is included in this tracker because of its ubiquity —I’m certainly drinking too much of it these days —and because it’s uniquely susceptible to Trump’s tariff agenda. Famously, coffee beans can only be grown within a certain distance from Earth’s equator, a tropical span largely outside the US and known as the «Coffee Belt.» 

Hawaii is the only part of the US that can produce coffee beans, with data from USAFacts showing that 11.5 million pounds were harvested there in the 2022-23 season — little more than a drop in the mug, as the US consumed 282 times that amount of coffee during that period. Making matters worse, Hawaiian coffee production has declined in the past few years.

All that to say: Americans get almost all of their coffee from overseas, making it one of the most likely products to see price hikes from tariffs.

Other products

As mentioned, we occasionally swap out products with different ones that undergo notable price shifts. Here are some things no longer featured above, but that we’re still keeping an eye on:

  • Nintendo Switch: The baseline handheld-console hybrid has held steady around $299 most places — including Amazon — since it released in 2017. Whether that price will be affected by tariffs or the release of the Switch 2 remains to be seen. This product was replaced above with the Xbox Series X.
  • Overture PLA 3D printer filament: This is a popular choice on Amazon for the material needed to run 3D printers. It has held steady around $15 on Amazon all year. This product was replaced above by the HP 962 printer ink.

Here are some products we also wanted to single out that haven’t been featured with a graph yet:

  • Razer Blade 18 (2025), 5070 Ti edition: The latest revision of Razer’s largest gaming laptop saw a $300 price bump recently, with the base model featured an RTX 5070 Ti graphics card now priced at $3,500 ahead of launch, compared to the $3,200 price announced in February. While Razer has stayed mum about the reasoning, it did previously suspend direct sales to the US as Trump’s tariff plans were ramping up in April.
  • Asus ROG Ally X: The premium version of Asus’s Steam Deck competitor handheld gaming PC recently saw a price hike from $799 to $899, coinciding with the announcement of the company’s upcoming Xbox-branded Ally handhelds.
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