"Almost a Mile Below South Dakota, A Race to Find Dark Matter" from Popular Science read a lot like the Apple article in the sense that it took a topic that is difficult for laypeople to understand – namely the concept of dark matter, an unproven physical phenomenon – and successfully communicated it to people not in the field. That's exactly what Popular Science's job is, even implied in its name, so that should come as no surprise. But I always think it's neat when journalism can be used to take something technical and make it not only accessible but engaging for people who wouldn't necessarily be interested in it at face value.
Structurally, "Dark Matter" read a lot more like an extended newspaper feature than most of the articles we've read this semester. The lead is historical, but not particularly scene-setting or "cutesy," like so many of the stories we read get away with. The story then goes through and basically just tells the story of this mining town and its unusual present circumstance. There's no real scenes, and if there's sections, it's just where the writer takes time away from telling the story to provide additional science and background on dark matter. It's an interesting story, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to say about it from a structural perspective.
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