the.com/darkness
not a thing but an absence, yet somehow it feels like a presence.
means The absence of light, ranging from literal nighttime gloom to figurative shades of evil, despair, or ignorance.
from From Old English 'deorc' (dark) plus the noun-making suffix '-ness,' which English loves to bolt onto adjectives to turn a quality into a thing — even a quality that is, ironically, the lack of one. The root 'deorc' has Germanic cousins but a murky family tree beyond that, which feels fitting: even the etymology of darkness is a little hard to see into.
- speed
- Darkness 'travels' faster than light can fill it
- deep sea
- Most of Earth's living space never sees sun
- brain trick
- Pupils dilate, then your mind invents shapes
- cosmic majority
- The universe is mostly empty black space
- healing
- Total darkness triggers melatonin and deep sleep
polar night — continuous darkness for months above the arctic circle, e.g., barrow, alaska has 65 days of winter darkness
carlsbad caverns — the big room chamber in new mexico reaches absolute darkness 750 feet underground with zero light penetration