  The modification of Einstein gravity at high energies is mandatory from a
quantum approach. In this work, we point out that this modification will
necessarily introduce new degrees of freedom. We analyze the possibility that
these new gravitational states can provide the main contribution to the
non-baryonic dark matter of the Universe. Unfortunately, the right ultraviolet
completion of gravity is still unresolved. For this reason, we will illustrate
this idea with the simplest high energy modification of the Einstein-Hilbert
action: R^2-gravity.
