Melanin, The Perfect Candidate to Be the Dark Matter

Abstract

Everything scientists can observe in the universe, from people to planets, is made of matter. Matter is defined as any substance that has mass and occupies space. But there’s more to the universe than the matter we can see. Dark matter and dark energy are mysterious substances that affect and shape the cosmos, and scientists are still trying to figure them out. Invisible dark matter makes up most of the universe (96 %) – but we can only detect it from its gravitational effects. Galaxies in our universe seem to be achieving an impossible feat. They are rotating with such speed that the gravity generated by their observable matter could not possibly hold them together; they should have torn themselves apart long ago. The same is true of galaxies in clusters, which leads scientists to believe that something we cannot see is at work. They think something we have yet to detect directly is giving these galaxies extra mass, generating the extra gravity they need to stay intact. This strange and unknown matter was called “dark matter” since it is not visible. The melanin of living beings and the dark matter of the universe share the same physical/chemical characteristics, including the unsuspected ability to transform the power of light into chemical energy, by dissociating water molecules, as in plants.