21st century ether?
This ESO article (2001) does a pretty good job explaining the standard candles (Type 1a supernovae) and the possibilities that they may not hold up as we go farther back in time.
https://www.eso.org/~bleibund/papers/EPN/epn.html
Dark matter and energy were thrown in the mix to reconcile our theoretical understanding with ever more accurate observations. It is reminiscent of the introduction of "ether" to explain the actions of gravity before Einstein came along and made the need for it go away. Just like then, experiments alone may not be enough to get to the next level. We may need another such jump in understanding to get things going again.
https://www.eso.org/~bleibund/papers/EPN/epn.html
Dark matter and energy were thrown in the mix to reconcile our theoretical understanding with ever more accurate observations. It is reminiscent of the introduction of "ether" to explain the actions of gravity before Einstein came along and made the need for it go away. Just like then, experiments alone may not be enough to get to the next level. We may need another such jump in understanding to get things going again.
