It seems to all depend on what the programmer expects and programs for, not what may actually be detected.
Just like tomographs are only as good as the base data the programmer works with.
Have I confused everybody as bad as I confused myself ?
The point I'm trying to make is: How good is the interpetive data ?
Well, I addressed that to a certain extent in my first post. Here's what they do know: at a small number of specific sample points in the universe, they can measure the extinction function of x-rays, and find that there is a large amount of non-luminous matter in the universe in that direction. That's it. The statistical behavior and amount of extinction agree with what is predicted for gaseous (correct spelling this time) stream of a certain size, density and composition.
The headline of this story is misleading, and is almost certainly not how the scientists couched it in their publication. They probably said something like, "gaseous streams of a certain description are predicted by theory; we have now tested some of these predictions, and they have passed."