Modified gravity theories: Alternatives to the missing mass and missing energy problems

Modified theories of gravity are examined and shown to be alternative possibilities to the standard paradigms of dark matter and dark energy in explaining the currently observed cosmological phenomenology. Special consideration is given to the relativistic extension of Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) in supplanting the need for dark matter. A specific modification of the Einstein-Hilbert action (whereby an inverse power of the Ricci scalar is added) is shown to serve as an alternative to dark energy.