Black hole butterfly? The James Webb Telescope discovered dozens of black hole “cocoons” in the early universe.
Scientists may have finally determined the nature of some of the most mysterious objects in the night sky. In a new study, researchers investigated what the “little red dots” are. These mysterious objects from the early Universe have characteristics of both galaxies and supermassive black holes, but they don’t quite fit either description. A new […]
Woolly rhinoceros meat pulled from ancient wolf stomach provides clues to Ice Age giant extinction
Scientists analyzed the genome of a 14,400-year-old woolly rhinoceros found in the stomach of an ancient wolf pup. The results give experts insight into the rapid extinction of the woolly rhinoceros, likely due to climate change. Tissue from the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) was found inside the mummified remains of a wolf cub, which was […]
“One of the rare ‘wow’ moments”: A rainbow shockwave that shouldn’t exist occurs on a zombie planet near Earth
Stunned astronomers discovered a zombie star relatively close to Earth. The zombie star inexplicably emits a persistent rainbow-like shockwave as it speeds through the Milky Way. The remains of this undead star are currently consuming its companion star, leaving researchers puzzled. All the stars in the Milky Way are constantly rotating around a supermassive black […]
18 of Earth’s largest deltas, including the Nile and Amazon rivers, are sinking faster than global sea levels are rising.
Many of the world’s largest deltas, including the Nile, Amazon and Ganges rivers, are sinking faster than global sea levels are rising, a new study has found. This means that land subsidence is becoming a major cause of land loss, coastal flooding and salt water intrusion in deltas, exceeding the effects of sea level rise […]
James Webb Telescope unravels the mystery of a strange, ‘starving’ galaxy that died a ‘thousand deaths’ in the ancient universe
New observations of a strange galaxy show it was slowly starved to death by its own black hole. Two telescopes peer deep into space at the galaxy GS-10578, dubbed “Pablo’s Galaxy” after the astronomer who previously studied it. The galaxy is large for its age, with a mass about 200 billion times that of our […]
MIT’s chip-stacking breakthrough could reduce energy usage in power-hungry AI processes
MIT engineers say stacking circuit components on top of each other could be a solution to creating more energy-efficient artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Logic and memory components each perform calculations and store data. These components can transfer data more easily when they are in direct contact than when they are separated. The research team created […]
The most complete Homo habilis skeleton ever discovered dates back more than 2 million years and retains ‘Lucy’-like features
Paleoanthropologists have unveiled the world’s most complete skeleton of Homo habilis, an ancestor of humans who lived in northern Kenya more than 2 million years ago. Collection of fossil bones revealed unusually strong arms that distinguish H. habilis from later species. The bones were first discovered in 2012 by a team of researchers led by […]
Diagnostic dilemma: Man’s sudden attack was caused by Sudoku
Patient: 25-year-old male living in Germany Symptoms: During a ski trip in November 2008, a man was knocked unconscious by an avalanche and was buried under snow for 15 minutes. While trapped, his body tissues became starved of oxygen, causing a condition called hypoxia. Berend Feddersen, a neurologist at the University of Munich in Germany […]
Largest crowdsourced search for alien information, data from collapsed Arecibo Observatory reveals 12 billion “signals of interest”
With the help of more than 2 million citizen scientists and the legendary Arecibo Observatory, one of the largest searches for alien information in history is nearing completion. Launched in 1999, the SETI@Home project enlisted the help of millions of volunteers around the world to identify anomalous radio signals in data from the Arecibo Observatory, […]
Giant iceberg A23a, once the world’s largest iceberg, finally dies after 40 years at sea, turning into a bright “blue mush”
New satellite images show that once the world’s largest iceberg, A23a, has turned into a beautiful mass of striped “blue mush”, signaling its imminent demise. This moribund ice mass, until recently three times the size of New York City, is one of the oldest ice masses on record and is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary. […]