Beware of heavy jargon usage: ghosts are necessary in certain gauges... Fadeev-Popov ghosts are necessary in practical calculations. Of course, this is different from the ghosts you had in mind, and this has also nothing to do with dark matter ;)

I like the new 'Stoner' approach. It's more practical it seems to me, and cheaper. It reminds me of how scientists used to do physics without all the fancy equipment used today. (Well, the rock experiment would still require fancy equipment, but it's normal by today's standards.)

It is indeed very cheap. We can just use existing boreholes, and the necessary microscopes are also somehow standard.