The Sun could be scooping up dark matter

A mystery that has puzzled scientists for some time now is the solar composition problem. The sun appears to have a much easier time transporting energy to the surface than standard models would predict based on traditional theories of its composition. While the exact reason why this happens has been unclear, what has been clear is that it likely has profound implications on the radiation received by Earth and hence life on our planet.

Now physicists at the University of Oxford have come up with a wild new theory to explain what's going on and to better characterize our solar system's star. Astroparticle physicist Subir Sarkar of the University of Oxford and his colleague Mads Frandsen claim in a new study that the sun acts as a vacuum cleaner, sucking up dark matter. This dark matter could be to blame for the energy transfer effects.