Mysterious 'Dark Matter' killed The Dinosaurs - and could strike again

A scientist has fingered a new culprit for the annihilation of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago – mysterious, invisible ‘dark matter’.

Other scientists also believe it could strike again. 

‘Dark matter’ – invisible to our telescopes – is thought to lurk in huge clouds in our galaxy, and Lisa Randall, author of Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, believes the dinosaurs may have been wiped out as Earth passed through the dark matter in the Milky Way’s disc.

The mysterious particles can trigger rains of comet impacts by influencing gravity - and perhaps triggered the huge impact which wiped out 75% of life on Earth 66 million years ago. 

Dark matter accounts for 85% of matter in the universe - but is invisible, interacting with ordinary matter only via gravity. 

Randall likes the effect to a celebrity walking down a street, saying, ‘Even if you don't see George Clooney directly, the disruptive traffic generated by the waiting crowd armed with cellphones and cameras suffices to alert you to a celebrity's proximity.

‘Though you detect the presence only indirectly, through George's substantial influence on everyone else around, you can nonetheless be confident that someone special is near."

A biology expert, Michael Rampino, believes that life on Earth has been repeatedly wiped out by dark matter in cycles triggered by Earth’s passage through the Milky Way – and we could be entering the ‘danger’ zone’

Rampino said, ‘The last time we were at the mid-disc position was only three million years ago, so we are essentially there now. Several scientists have suggested that we are at present in a comet shower.’