Universe's Missing Matter Found!

For decades, scientists have searched for the universe's 'missing' ordinary matter, accounting for 5% of the universe. Researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Caltech have used fast radio bursts (FRBs) to solve the mystery: over three-quarters of ordinary matter resides in hot, low-density gas between galaxies. FRBs slow down when traversing intergalactic gas; measuring this slowdown reveals the gas density. This study provides the first detailed measurements of ordinary matter's distribution, confirming cosmological simulations and illustrating matter's movement across the universe. It also highlights the efficiency of intergalactic feedback mechanisms.