The Dark Side of Cosmology: Dark Matter and Dark Energy

As successful as the current consensus cosmology is, it holds that 96\% of the Universe exists in the form of unexplained dark matter (24\%) and mysterious dark energy (71\%). Unraveling the puzzles of dark matter and dark energy is at the top of cosmology's ``to do'' list and key to a deeper understanding of our universe. A host of experiments -- from the LHC to the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope -- are poised to shed light on the nature of the dark matter, and ongoing and upcoming observations of supernovae, galaxy clusters, weak lensing, and large-scale structure should illuminate dark energy.