Art Bell

Arthur William "Art" Bell, III (born June 17, 1945) is an American broadcaster and author known as one of the founders and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM. He also created and formerly hosted its companion show Dreamland. Semi-retired from Coast to Coast AM since 2003, he hosted the show many weekends for the following four years. He announced his retirement from weekend hosting on July 1, 2007, but occasionally served as a guest host through 2010. He attributed the reason for his retirement to a desire to spend time with his new wife and their daughter, born May 30, 2007. He added that unlike his previous "retirements," this one was permanent, while leaving open the option to return. Classic Bell-hosted episodes of Coast to Coast AM can be heard in some markets on Saturday nights under the name Somewhere in Time. He started a new nightly show, Art Bell's Dark Matter, on Sirius XM Radio that began on September 16, 2013 and ended six weeks later (on November 4, 2013). He returned to radio on July 20, 2015 with a new show, Midnight in the Desert, available online, via TuneIn, and on some terrestrial radio stations. He retired yet again on December 11, 2015, citing security concerns at his home. He and his family were subject to repeated intrusions on his property in Pahrump. In fear for his family's safety, he opted to leave the air, and ostensibly, public life, as he believed the intruder or intruders wanted him off the air.

Dark matter

Dark matter is a hypothetical substance that is believed by most astronomers to account for around five-sixths of the matter in the universe. Although it has not been directly observed, its existence and properties are inferred from its various gravitational effects: on the motions of visible matter; via gravitational lensing; its influence on the universe's large-scale structure, and its effects in the cosmic microwave background. Dark matter is transparent to electromagnetic radiation and/or is so dense and small that it fails to absorb or emit enough radiation to be detectable with imaging technology.

Estimates of masses for galaxies and larger structures via dynamical and general relativistic means are much greater than those based on the mass of the visible "luminous" matter.

The standard model of cosmology indicates that the total mass–energy of the universe contains 4.9% ordinary matter, 26.8% dark matter and 68.3% dark energy. Thus, dark matter constitutes 84.5% of total mass, while dark energy plus dark matter constitute 95.1% of total mass–energy content.

Art Bell's Dark Matter

Art Bell's Dark Matter was an American radio talk show hosted by broadcaster and author Art Bell. Dark Matter primarily focused on paranormal and scientific topics. The program was exclusive to Sirius XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service. Dark Matter debuted on September 16, 2013 and aired live Monday through Thursday from 10 p.m. ET to 2 a.m. ET on Sirius XM Radio's Indie Talk Channel 104. Dark Matter was the first program hosted by Art Bell full-time since his departure from regularly hosting Coast to Coast AM in 2003. On November 4, 2013, Bell announced that he was abruptly ceasing the production and airing of Dark Matter following a dispute with Sirius XM Radio regarding Sirius XM customers experiencing technical difficulties streaming his show live via the internet.

Background and development

Art Bell was the creator and former host of the late night radio talk show Coast to Coast AM, from which he ceased being its regularly scheduled host in 2003. Bell subsequently continued to host occasional shows of Coast to Coast AM, although due to events in his family and conflicts with Premiere Networks and the show's management team, he undertook a series of hiatuses from the show. Bell's final appearance on Coast to Coast AM was in 2010 when he hosted the program's annual Halloween show, "Ghost to Ghost." Despite his departure, Premiere Networks continues to rebroadcast archival shows of Coast to Coast AM hosted by Bell entitled Somewhere in Time with Art Bell, albeit against Bell's wishes.

Matter

Before the 20th century, the term matter included ordinary matter composed of atoms and excluded other energy phenomena such as light or sound. This concept of matter may be generalized from atoms to include any objects having mass even when at rest, but this is ill-defined because an object's mass can arise from its (possibly massless) constituents' motion and interaction energies. Thus, matter does not have a universal definition, nor is it a fundamental concept in physics today. Matter is also used loosely as a general term for the substance that makes up all observable physical objects.

All the objects from everyday life that we can bump into, touch or squeeze are composed of atoms. This atomic matter is in turn made up of interacting subatomic particles—usually a nucleus of protons and neutrons, and a cloud of orbiting electrons. Typically, science considers these composite particles matter because they have both rest mass and volume. By contrast, massless particles, such as photons, are not considered matter, because they have neither rest mass nor volume. However, not all particles with rest mass have a classical volume, since fundamental particles such as quarks and leptons (sometimes equated with matter) are considered "point particles" with no effective size or volume. Nevertheless, quarks and leptons together make up "ordinary matter", and their interactions contribute to the effective volume of the composite particles that make up ordinary matter.

Darkness

Darkness, the polar opposite to brightness, is understood to be an absence of visible light. It is also the appearance of black in a colored space.

Humans are unable to distinguish color when either light or darkness predominate. In conditions of insufficient light, perception is achromatic and ultimately, black.

The emotional response to darkness has generated metaphorical usages of the term in many cultures.

Scientific

Perception

The perception of darkness differs from the mere absence of light due to the effects of after images on perception. In perceiving, the eye is active, and that part of the retina that is unstimulated produces a complementary afterimage.

Physics

In terms of physics, an object is said to be dark when it absorbs photons, causing it to appear dim compared to other objects. For example, a matte black paint does not reflect much visible light and appears dark, whereas white paint reflects much light and appears bright. For more information see color.

Light cannot be absorbed without limit. According to the principle of the conservation of Energy, energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be converted from one type to another. Consequently, most objects that absorb visible light reemit it as heat. So, although an object may appear dark, it is likely bright at a frequency that humans cannot perceive. For more information see thermodynamics.