Over the last few decades, the Standard Model has been considered to be the gold standard for the description of all of the particles which are found in the universe.
In the Standard Model there are twelve named particles with mass, six of these are classified as quarks and the other six as leptons. There are also the anti-particle counterparts of each of the twelve particles.
According to the Standard Model, forces experienced by particles arise by the exchange of what are called force mediating particles. These particles include the W (plus and minus) and the Z gauge bosons that are supposed to mediate the weak interactions. These are claimed to be massive. Furthermore, researchers resort to the use of yet another kind of particle, the virtual particle, to explain many things. Also, it is held that the photon is supposed to mediate the electromagnetic forces experienced by charges.
A nucleus of an atom is said to be comprised of two smaller units, quarks and gluons. The quarks carry the familiar attributes of mass, charge, spin and perhaps other things.
The gluons are supposed to mediate strong interactions between some of the quarks. Gluons are massless.
The Standard Model views the neutrino as a particle which travels at the speed of light and does not interact at all with mass or charge. However, the Standard Model, in this respect, has been shown to be wrong. It is now commonly held that the rest mass of the neutrino is not zero. Therefore, the neutrino does not move at precisely the speed of light; it actually moves somewhat more slowly. The neutrino essentially does not interact with charge and the interaction with mass is very small. Nevertheless, there are lots of neutrinos out there. It could well be that the sum of the rest masses of the neutrinos account to a great extent for the dark matter and dark energy that has been discussed recently so vigerously.
It is not my intention to state here that the Standard Model is wrong. Rather, this author has chosen to present a different model for the nature of the components of the universe. All that I ask is that the reader examine what I say, and determine for himself how well that what I have said explains what is observed.