Physicists Resurrect an Old, Strange Dark Matter Theory

New submitter rossgneumann writes: Dark matter might not be nearly as exotic as most theories suggest. Instead, it could be macroscopic clumps of material formed from common particles already found within the Standard Model of particle physics. This argument comes courtesy of physicists at Case Western University (PDF). Dark matter is usually thought of in terms of exotic, so-far undiscovered particles. The leading candidates are known as weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. But the Case Western theory suggests that there are no dark matter particles, at least none that exist outside of current knowledge. Instead, there are baseball-sized clumps of "regular" matter formed from unexpected combinations of Standard Model particles.

Comments

here's an analogy

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Oh look, a floating object in the sky. Logically, it must be:
1. a UFO driven by aliens
2. one of the millions of things we have flying around in the air these days

Oh look, all matter with light bouncing off it doesn't account for all the gravity we experience. It must be: 1. magical made up matter that hasn't been proven to exist
2. regular matter without light or other radiation bouncing off of it in a detectable amount.

Aren't scientists supposed to be smart? Then again, what gets hour long specials and their own show on the History Channel: people using sticks to move large blocks to build the pyramids or aliens building the pyramids. More Ancient Aliens right after the break!