Dark matter might have triggered the mass extinction events that have plagued the Earth's history, including the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Even more frightening is that dark matter is accumulating at the Earth's core and producing extra energy that could potentially lead to another mass extinction event that will wipe-out humanity.

Like Us on Facebook

These terrible warnings about a form of matter that has only been surmised but never seen was put forward by Biology Professor Michael Rampino of New York University.

Dark matter has never been seen but is believed to account for huge gravitational effects in the universe. It keeps the planets, solar systems and stars in place. Dark matter is estimated to constitute 84.5 percent of the total matter in the Universe.

Because of its pervasiveness, dark matter changes the orbits of comets and leads to additional heating of the Earth's core that can trigger volcanic eruptions and mass extinction events, claims Rampino.

Rampino believes that at certain periods, the Earth passes through areas of dense dark matter that alter our planet's geology, biology and history.

He explains the Earth moves around the "galactic disc" once every 250 million years. The galactic disc is a region of the Milky Way where our solar system resides, and where there should theoretically be more dark matter.

The Earth's orbit takes it nearer to the crowded center of the disc every 30 million years. He discovered those 30 million year periods correlate with periods of comet impacts and mass extinctions on Earth such as the comet strike that destroyed the dinosaurs.

Rampino said the history of the Earth is marked by large scale extinction events, some of which we struggle to explain.

"It may be that dark matter - the nature of which is still unclear but which makes up around a quarter of the universe - holds the answer. As well as being important on the largest scales, dark matter may have a direct influence on life on Earth."

It's possible dark matter can accumulate at the Earth's core. Here, dark matter particles annihilate each other, producing tremendous heat. This extra energy could change the behavior of the Earth's molten core.

The effect of this additional heat could be catastrophic volcanic eruptions and magnetic field reversals, among others.

Rampino's research published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society could provide biologists with information regarding possible causes of past extinctions. It could also help astronomers chart concentration of dark matter throughout the Milky Way.

Based on the standard model of cosmology, the total mass-energy of the known universe contains 68.3 percent dark energy; 26.8 percent dark matter and 4.9 percent ordinary matter.