In one of the bizarre quirks of the universe, the “ordinary” matter that we encounter in our daily lives only accounts for a small amount of all the stuff out there in the cosmos. Significantly more of that stuff is dark and mysterious, something scientists refer to as dark matter. In this video, Physics World’s James Dacey introduces the theory of dark matter and some of the ways that scientists are trying to detect dark-matter particles using direct and indirect methods.

This video is the first in a new series of animated videos called Physics World Explains. Look out for more in the coming months.