Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe

Lisa Randall, a particle physicist and author of Warped Passages and Knocking on Heaven's Door, explores the connections between cosmic phenomena and life on Earth through her research into dark matter. Sixty-six million years ago, a city-sized object from space struck Earth, causing a catastrophic extinction event that killed the dinosaurs and three-quarters of other species. Randall proposes this object was a comet dislodged from its orbit as the Solar System passed through a disk of dark matter within the Milky Way—suggesting dark matter may have been responsible for the dinosaurs' extinction. The book examines the background and consequences of this proposal, presenting current findings about dark matter's nature and role, the origin of the Universe, our galaxy, Solar System, and life, and how scientists develop and test new concepts. Randall traces the history of the cosmos and Earth together, revealing the deep relationships between them and the connections between the furthest reaches of space and life on our planet.