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Question
I don't know much about "dark" matter, but does it give new hopes for astrobiology?
Probably not. Dark matter is actually one of the most poorly understood phenomena in the known universe. In fact, we don’t even know how much of it is in the universe. While most scientists tend to agree that it may comprise as much as 90% of interstellar space, they have no idea what this "matter" may be. Candidate theories presently include "MACHOS" (MAssive Compact Halo Objects, for example: brown dwarves or massive planets) or "WIMPS" (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), or neutrinos. For more information on dark matter, see http://www.pbs.org/wnet/hawking/strange/html/strange_dark.html Given this mystery, dark matter is probably not relevant to astrobiology as of yet. Until we better understand the nature of dark matter, we probably cannot make a direct connection between dark matter and potential biochemistry elsewhere in the universe.
April 30, 2002
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