New research suggests that relic black holes from before the Big Bang may still shape galaxies today. These black holes could explain dark matter , one of the biggest unsolved questions in cosmology. Generally speaking, black holes are regions of spacetime where matter is compressed into a tiny space. Dark matter , meanwhile, is matter that does not reflect or absorb light. We know it exists because of its gravitational influence on galaxies and other cosmic structures. It can be viewed as the "