News Headlines and Dark Matter

On BBC News tonight (5th February 2015) much was made of the latest escapades into the cosmos and the revelations to come therefrom about the formation of the first stars. They say (who are we to argue?) that the Universe came into being as a Big Bang and all that filled the instantly available space were neutrinos. For a long time the space was dark, cold and lifeless, until Stars began to form, which looked nothing like the stars we see now. They were bigger and lighter and much more volatile, but from them came the first oxygen and nitrogen. So, the two gases we depend on for our survival were formed at the very beginning of Light in the Universe. And stars came from neutrinos.......!

Also hot on the block is the news that Dark Matter may be coming from the Sun in the form of axions (some reference was made to the Axion theory at the Invisibles conference two years ago (July 2013 blog entry will tell more). At one and the same time, the suggestion that neutrinos might actually be Tachyons is again playing in the scientific chamber. Robert's at it again - Arxiv pundits can read more here. Tachyons were long held to be imaginary particles, only there for the convenience of certain mathematical equations and not really real at all. Arguments rage on - 'faster than light' is forbidden by lovers of Einstein's boundaries (which caught up even with him in the end) so the merry-go-round spins on. 
I had something to say about Tachyons quite a long time ago. 

If you're anything like me, you'll be curious about all this. Suddenly we find that the babyhood of the Universe is making news headlines, the Sun is responsible for a whole lot more than we gave it credit for, and imaginary particles might actually be there after all, right under our noses, only we didn't know because - well - there were so many of them, and they just keep changing from one thing to another at a moment's notice, and the speed of light might - heaven forbid - be in question here, so let's not think about it too deeply. Hard for us humans to keep up. 
"Get along, there, people! No time to waste, you know! Remember you're quantum units! Now, out of that probability well you've got yourself stuck in, Sargeant, and look sharp. Quantum leap on the count of three...."