Dark matter caused the demise of the dinosaurs?
Published: 13 December 2016 (GMT+10)
Dark matter has been invoked to solve many vexing problems in astrophysics and cosmology.1 Now it seems it has been invoked to solve the evolutionists’ problem of extinction of the dinosaurs.2
American theoretical physicist and cosmologist Dr Lisa Randall has developed a breakthrough five dimensional warped geometry theory. About two years ago she proposed a new hypothesis on dark matter which suggests the mysterious invisible substance that allegedly dominates the universe played a role in killing the dinosaurs.3 She even has written a book on it—Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs. In the book her new theory is summarised as follows.
[A]bout 66 million years ago, gravitational perturbations caused by a thin pancake-shaped disc of dark matter in the Milky Way galaxy dislodged icy comets in the Oort cloud at the very edge of the known solar system, resulting in the fiery meteoroid that eventually crash-landed in the Yucatan, leading to the mass extinction of more than 75 per cent of life on the planet in the process.3
Her radical new theory even posits mass extinctions every 35 million years or so.
“I am fully aware that it is speculative,” she says.4
I’d call it a fairytale, except that might be insulting to fairies. To believe that it could even be true takes a lot of faith, which apparently describes Randall. She is reported to be unfazed by the panoply of uncertainties that her new theory incorporates.4
Now let me spell this out. You have the dinosaurs wiped out by an alleged comet dislodged from an alleged Oort cloud, by an alleged perturbation in the gravitational fields near our solar system allegedly 66 million years ago by the action of an alleged disc of putative dark matter.
It is only by faith that someone would believe such a tale. There are almost no facts involved in the story. The only one I know is that the dinosaurs once lived on Earth and now do not.
Here you have a Harvard theoretical physicist playing to the media. Dinosaurs sell books and she has written a book that needs to be sold. What is most important is the message—getting the message out, do not get lost in the details. The successful evolutionists work with the media to sell their story. It does not matter about the details—the background story that evolution happened on Earth, and in the solar system and elsewhere is the main message.
Now dark matter—the hypothesised invisible matter that allegedly comprises 80% or more of the matter content of the Galaxy, yet never observed—has been invoked to solve another vexing problem: what wiped out the dinosaurs? Oh, that answers the question doesn’t it? No, not the majority of dinosaurs that were already extinct before the supposed impact, according to evolutionary ‘dating’ methods.5 That answers the big question in the cosmos: What is dark matter? Doesn’t it?
Well no! It does not! Nor does it tell us what happened to the dinosaurs. Noah’s Flood as the main cause of their demise is a far more reasonable explanation. The evidence is plain to see. No dark matter is needed.
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References and notes
- Hartnett, J.G., Why is Dark Matter everywhere in the cosmos?, creation.com, 31 March 2015; creation.com/dark-matter-everywhere. Return to text.
- Whigham, N., How dark matter killed the dinosaurs and why we shouldn’t be racing to colonise Mars, news.com.au, 13 November 2016. Return to text.
- Basulto, D., What killed the dinosaurs? Dark matter, says theoretical physicist Lisa Randall, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 December 2015. Return to text.
- Davis, N., Dark matter and dinosaurs: meet Lisa Randall, America’s superstar scientist, The Observer, 16 January 2016. Return to text.
- Geggel, L., Dinosaur decline started long before asteroid impact, livescience.com, 19 April 2016. Return to text.
Readers’ comments
Pretty fancy stuff, that DM.
If she herself says it is a speculative idea, then how can it qualify as a true scientific theory?
Evolutionists often criticise people for saying "But it's only a theory." In this case, it does seem that it is only a theory - and NOT a theory in the scientific sense of the word.
It seems evolutionists use the word theory to bolster their speculative ideas and make them more scientific and official sounding.
But in reporting on these so called "theories", wouldn't it be better to speak of them as a hypothesis as opposed to a theory?
Just wondering.
Thanks.
Dark matter? Oort Cloud? Really?! LOL!
Evolutionists are always falsely accusing us creationists of appealing to the God of the gaps when we don't have an explanation for a particular phenomenon. Then evolutionists in turn use said methodology to explain the problematic assumptions in their theories using dark matter which has never been observed. This theory, (and I say that with reservation) sounds like more dark matter of the gaps to me? "Speculative", doesn't quite describe my first reaction to her hypothesis, (I agree Dr. H there must be some fairies in there somewhere)?
Please explain to me how a single meteor or even many could bury millions of dinosaurs as well as all other living things under billions of tons of earth miles deep? I've been to the grand canyon and have observed the flat pancake like layers perfectly uniform without a single ecosystem in between. Those ecosystems are found in pockets throughout the earth in the form of coal and were obviously uprooted and carried to their present locations by water. Those layers were obviously laid down successively in a short period of time and I don't need a Phd. to see that! Does Dr. Randall want me to believe there were multiple floods that formed those layers over a long period?
Forgive me for being so blunt but this hypothesis is a joke among many other evolutionist just so stories, (And Dawkins calls me deluded)! Evolutionists are demeaning real professional science with their just so ridiculous stories but thank The Lord there are some voices of reason out there raised up by him!
God Bless.
Bad science irritates me if you couldn't tell!
Faith in science is taught to be infallible in our schools systems and that presents a problem. There are so many who believe that "settled science" is the truth and that it cannot be questioned. But even beyond what is considered settled, they have so much faith in the minds of scientist that the general public will believe any science article they read is fact. I would be willing to bet that if you put two opposing theories in a magazine, but you did not tell the general public they were opposing theories, most people would believe both of them. It would also appeal to their intellectual side and they would feel superior in their thinking simply for believing what a science article states.
Then you could take an article from someone that has spent years studying a subject. Like those here at CMI or at other creation research institutions and those same people would dismiss their articles without even reading them.
My point is, no matter how much creation research is done. The battle we are in is a spiritual one. Creation research is a great tool for those willing to hear, but we need to pray for God to open hearts and minds as only he can do.
What we actually know is that dinosaurs are no longer being fossilized as they were in the past. Also if they are still around they are confined to places which are not readily accessible and where they can most easily hide.
The rest of the story reported is not just speculative but fact free. It is clearly allowable for a 'scientist' to invoke a indeterminate number of hypothetical entities provided they are not supernatural. There is no scientific reason for this arbitrary ideological choice. There is however a very definite moral reason which is clearly stated in Romans chapter 1.
I've always been leery of the 'dark matter' theory, the existence of other solar systems and even the so-called 'light years' speculation.
The big question in all this web of astronomical fakery, is 'where's the Spider?'
I think you and I know the answer.
God bless you.
I can see clearly now - almost clear enough to see dark matter
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