Dark matter is the cause of dinosaurs extinction?

There are many different theories about the extinction of dinosaurs from tens of millions of years ago. And recently, Lisa Randall, a theoretical physicist from Harvard University, came up with a new theory.

Shocking cause of the extinction of dinosaurs

As for the question "Where do people come from?" Each person will have a different answer.

If we ask an astronomer, we will probably get the answer that humans form from chemical substances that originate from a big explosion in the vast universe.

That same question, evolutionary biologists will seek answers from the similarities between human and human primates' DNA, and come to the conclusion that humans are actually, evolved from gibbons. .

And Lisa Randall, a theoretical physicist from Harvard University, gave an extremely different and creative answer, in her latest book entitled "Dark Matter and Dinosaurs." .

Photo of Lisa Randall.

Lisa Randall is also the author of many other books, in which the worst is "Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Hidden Dimensions" published in 2005. At Harvard University, her research weak on particle physics and astronomy theory.

In her latest book, she thinks that the extinction of dinosaurs - one of the things that led to the emergence of humans - is related to dark matter.Dark matter , according to astronomers, is an invisible substance that accounts for 85% of our universe.

The extinction of this species, is the beginning of another species

Most paleontologists agree that, 66 million years ago, there was a large celestial body colliding with the Earth from outer space. As a result, 75% of all living organisms are destroyed - including dinosaurs and creatures that dominate the ground at that time.

What is the cause of dinosaurs extinction?

The lucky little primates are among 25% of the species that survived the great extinction. Over tens of millions of years, they differentiated, learned how to stand on two feet, develop consciousness, wisdom, and gradually, evolve into people as they are now.

But, what caused the terrible crash 66 million years ago? Maybe it was just a coincidence, but Miss Randall completely didn't believe it.

She explained in her book that the opportunity for primates to evolve into humans as they are now, most likely created by a dense mass of dark matter in our universe.

Cover of "Dark matter and dinosaurs".

In fact, dark matter has never been discovered directly. However, there is a lot of evidence to prove the existence of gravity because this material acts on the vast universe. Therefore, the majority of the scientific community agrees that dark matter is a mysterious substance that we are unable to see or touch, but are always full of stars.

In the view of most scientists, dark matter tends to concentrate into large rings around the galaxy. But Ms. Randall said that it is possible that even dark matter densely densely packed, between stars, as well as planets in the universe.

Caution with "dark plate"

If there is indeed a dense "disk" of dark matter like the one that Randall put forward, it is very likely that they will cause strong gravitational effects on objects around them - in That includes our solar system.

But, the key to Randall's hypothesis is that our solar system is not always near that "dark disk ". Because our solar system also orbits the center of the galaxy - similar to the Earth orbiting the sun.

Orange dots are our solar system, oscillating through the black "dark disk".

A team of astronomers performed calculations on the rate of solar system oscillation in the early 2000s and estimated that the solar system passes through the plane of the galaxy after every 32 million years. This also means that if the dark disk exists, then every 32 million years we will be affected by it once.

And coincidentally, there are many evidences that show that the great extinctions on Earth have taken place during this time frame, about 25 to 35 million years each. It was this coincidence that caused Randall and her colleagues to lay the foundation for the first hypotheses in the scientific report late last year.

Oort Cloud - the area that gathers billions of meteorite blocks with a diameter of at least 12 miles.

She hypothesized that, every time we pass through that "dark plate" , the gravitational pull from the dark matter will have a very strong impact on the galactic edge, which contains billions of rocks with diameter of 12 miles or more. If one of those rocks is affected by gravity from dark matter and collides with the Earth, there will be another great extinction.

So what is the truth?

The scientific and technical conditions now do not allow us to return to the past to find the correct answer about the cause of the extinction of dinosaurs. But, if it is possible to prove the existence of the "dark disk" , then Randall's hypothesis will have a much stronger basis.

Currently, she is trying to prove this by tracking the speed and direction of the stars in the galaxy. If there is a certain constellation that suddenly moves in a strange and difficult to explain way, it is more likely that they are affected by the dark matter.

Dark matter is described as a layer of mist among planets.

But that is not an easy task. In the galaxy, there are over 100 billion different stars. That is not to mention, it is very difficult to detect dark matter. Scientists have dozens of underground detectors in the ground, as well as in space, but no one can find even a single piece of dark matter.

At the end of his book, Randall writes:

"In a way, we all started from Chicxulub (where meteorites fell 66 million years ago). It's a historical mystery awaiting answers. But if this is true, what this book suggests means that dark matter not only changes our living world, but also is part of the reason that allows people to appear ".