http://homepages.xnet.co.nz/~hardy

It took a crackpot like Einstein to brush away the cobwebs after the 'aether' hypothesis failed and stalled cosmology for decades. I personally think it'll be a crackpot who banishes the current crop of failed scientists.

And it's pretty much a given that they'll cling to the orthodoxy like their lives depend on it (because at least their jobs do). Look how long it took Hawking to admit he was wrong about data escaping from a black-hole, even though he was PROVEN wrong a decade or more before!

There's hell to pay when you make a mistake in science, lost grants, lost jobs, lost tenure, lost prestige, lost face. Look at what the failure of the AGW hypothesis is doing to the climate science industry, it's completely ruined the scientific method and the ability to do real science!! Is cosmology any different?

sorry, I meant our sun contains 98% of our solar system mass. kinda makes fun of our puny Earth mass!

Since our solar system contains 98% of all it's mass, then why should we think otherwise for our host galaxy. Our sun is huge but please, occams razor says that our galaxy center is 102% bigger!!! That's fricking huge! Enough with this dark matter crap!

The LHC comes online soon – what happens if it verifies the predictions of supersymmetry? All of a sudden, we have new particles that are implied by the theory to exist in large numbers in nature, and all of a sudden dark matter theory is looking damn sexy. If not, then we find out some other way what is out there.

But let's not forget people – this is the way science works. People not involved in science rabbit on about speculation this and conjecture that, but this is the very essence of the scientific modus operandi! Science above all is a creative endeavour – we would still be living in the middle ages if people didn't start saying 'hmmm, maybe this result means that such-and-such is the case – let's try to find out'.

Of course dark matter represents a huge hole in our understanding – nobody would claim otherwise.The term 'dark matter' is really a euphemism for an effect that we observe. At the moment, we have no (reasonable; quacks don't count) physical theory that could remotely come close to explaining it. So we chose dark matter as a working hypothesis. We also have MOND as an alternative working hypothesis. The thing with a working hypothesis is, you assume it is true and then work through the implications. AKA – the scientific method. e.g. – the subject of this article.

I think many of the people that have commented here are much more sure of themselves than the actual scientists involved in the research are. And this, by the looks of things, tends to be based on…what? Gut feeling and intuition, it seems.

Anyway, like I said, science is relentless – we'll soon find out who the players are and who are just along for the ride.

Remember that recent article about dust all over the universe? Apparently it is dimming the light that we should get from stars and galaxies. Could dust cause red shift? If it does, then what does that mean for the big-bang and cosmology?

I believe that looking into this dust and its potential effects would be more fruitful that something we cannot observe.

Sorry, but I side with Occam's Razor. If you have to make up some extravagant bs to make your theory work, then it probably is not the right answer. (just happens to be my theory for religion too. No deity would need to kill)

“Assuming that the current theories of dark matter and dark energy exist as some scientists believe, …”

This great man's research results appear to be completely overlooked where dark matter, etc., by the Establishment, is blindly kept in the dark.

…so break the stagnation – enlighten us of your infinite wisdom…

… or perhaps some day dark matter will be proven to exists, and we will "shake our heads knowingly and laugh at your naivety"

That being said, i do however agree that dark-matter stars are quite far away into a theory that still dont have much experimental support, at best a few 'indications'. Clearly there are new physics here to be found, be it dark matter or another theory

Problem is that we don't know how much matter is out there, so how can we even attempt to 'account' for missing matter? Dark matter/energy will be the card that brings down cosmology's current house of cards just as 'aether' did more than a century ago.

A new cosmology will take the place of the current one and people will look back on the concepts of dark matter and dark energy and shake their heads knowingly and laugh at such naivety. May even in out lifetimes too, if we are lucky.

And this stagnant pond called cosmology will get some fresh water and new fish and be something to be proud of again…