What is the value of knowing the nature of matter and energy, particularly the nature of dark matter and dark energy

Knowing and understanding the nature of matter and energy, particularly dark matter and dark energy can allow us to better understand the relationship between things such as gravity, time, and space. This knowledge can allow us to unlock the secrets of the universe.

The nature of this dark energy is a matter of speculation. It is known to be very homogeneous, not very dense and is not known to interact through any of the fundamental forces other than gravity. Since it is not very dense, it is hard to imagine experiments to detect it in the laboratory. Dark energy can only have such a profound impact on the universe, making up 74% of universal density, because it uniformly fills otherwise empty space.