Dinosaurs Done In By... Dark Matter?

bmahersciwriter writes "Theoretical physicists propose that the Sun periodically crosses into a dense layer of dark matter sandwiching the Milky Way. The gravitational push and pull that this creates disturbs debris in the Oort cloud sending deadly comets and asteroids ricocheting around the solar system. This passage happens, their admittedly speculative model suggests, every 35 million years, which jibes somewhat with evidence on impact craters. Take it with a dino-sized grain of salt."

Comments

Statistical analysis of craters

[Daniel Dvorkin]

I understand why they're getting a weak signal here on Earth, where most craters will have long since been erased by erosion and surface remodeling. But I'll bet we could get a much stronger signal from the Moon, particularly the far side. Do we have the ability to get dates for craters there from orbiting probes, or is that something we'd have to collect physical samples to do?

Re:magic

[denis-The-menace]

Remember folks:
Dark Mater is a THEORETICAL stuff that weighs a lot or is all over the place to explain why entire solar systems don't fly out of the Galaxy as they spin.

What if there was no Dark matter and Gravity could distorts time in a way that would explain it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Look to the geological record

[wjcofkc]

If you look over the past 500 billion years, the geological record shows that there is a mass extinction event roughly every 62 million years. Even though there is some give and take, on that timescale it's almost like clockwork. Since this discovery, scientists of many disciplines have been trying to figure out what could be causing it. While I admit that it could be a cosmic coincidence, if not, then somewhere a culprit is lurking. There are also lesser extinction events every 26 - 35 million years.

For more on the 62 million year problem

More on mass extinction events in general