Taking the aether out of the EU universe

Until the late 19th century, scientists around the world believed that the vast space between the universe's stars and planets was filled with a mythical and mysterious substance called aether.

Aether, so the story went, was the carrier of light through the vacuum of space, the "quintessential" material without which the sun's energy could not reach Earth and which penetrated and permeated everything.

The theory made a lot of sense, it was beautiful, even poetic. Its only proble...