What is dark matter? Mary Westover investigates, featuring insights from Dr. Joe McLaughlin and Dr. Marcello Messina. She visits the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy to understand how a research lab sunk deep into a mountain and holding a giant tank of liquid Xenon holds the promise of evidence for this most elusive substance. From the lab's mountain setting to the complex physics involved, this episode provides a deep dive into one of physics’ most perplexing questions.

This episode is a practical project submitted by Mary Westover as part of her UCL degree, MSc Science Communication. She wrote, researched, produced, and starred in the production.

For more about UCL’s Science Communication MSc, visit:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/taught-degrees/science-communication-msc

Featuring

Interviewer and researcher

Mary Westover

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mary-westover

Interviewees

Joseph McLaughlin

https://www.hep.ucl.ac.uk/people/mugshot.shtml?id=joemcl

Marcello Messina

https://www.gssi.it/people/professors/lectures-physics/item/12461-messina-marcello

Host

Professor Joe Cain, UCL Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology

https://ucl.ac.uk/sts/cain

Music credits

Mary used copyright-free music from Pixabay.

WeAreSTS Music credits

“Rollin At 5,” by Kevin MacLeod

https://filmmusic.io/song/5000-rollin-at-5

Podcast information

WeAreSTS is a production of the Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at University College London (UCL). To find out more, or to leave feedback about the show:

https://ucl.ac.uk/sts/podcast