Contrary to a previous report, there’s no evidence of an intermediate-mass black hole in Omega Centauri, the Milky Way’s most massive and luminous globular star cluster, a new study finds. Instead, a hive of much smaller black holes diving into and out of the tightly packed star cluster’s center can explain the movement and distribution … Read more
One of the farthest known quasars seems to have shut down the creation of new stars in all the galaxies within its vicinity. A quasar is a powerful source of light, created by torrid gas orbiting a gargantuan black hole at the center of a galaxy. The intense radiation from one quasar, named VIK J2348-3054, … Read more
They say that going to space changes you. Often, what’s being referenced is a shift in mindset, a renewed sense of perspective that comes from seeing our world from above, a phenomenon that’s been called the overview effect. But it seems unlikely that rocketing off into the atmosphere, experiencing powerful g-force acceleration followed by a … Read more
The time is nigh for nuclear clocks. In a first, scientists have used a tabletop laser to bump an atomic nucleus into a higher energy state. It’s a feat that sets scientists on a path toward creating the first nuclear clock, which would keep time based on the inner workings of atomic nuclei. The advance … Read more
Lightning and the sun — Science News, June 22, 1974 The latest addition to the growing list of meteorological phenomena which have been linked with solar activity is lightning…. Using data from 1930 to 1973, [a researcher] reports in the May 24 Nature that “in spite of year-to-year variations in the incidence of lightning, there … Read more
The orbits of a trio of stars can be so chaotic that it’s impossible to precisely calculate the stars’ future trajectories. That’s the real science behind the name of the hit Netflix show, 3 Body Problem. Much of the sci-fi show’s action hinges on a variety of other physics concepts. But in service of the … Read more
What’s dumped into a landfill is supposed to stay there, but a new study finds that toxic “forever chemicals” are wafting from the waste into the air. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, have been detected in the gas exuded by some Florida landfills in quantities comparable to or even greater than in the liquids … Read more
A summer wave of COVID-19 is rising. “There’s clearly a bump,” says William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. The medical center has seen a steady increase of hospital admissions for COVID-19 over the past three weeks, Schaffner says. “That was entirely expected, I’m afraid.” Each year, peaks of … Read more
Somewhere in the not-too-distant universe, a galaxy named SDSS1335+0728 is waking up. Over the past four years, astronomers have been able to watch the supermassive black hole in SDSS1335+0728’s center go from dim and quiet to bright and active, the first time such a transition has been observed in real time, researchers report June 18 … Read more
For the first time in nearly a century, physicists have identified a brand new type of magnetic material. Crack open a physics textbook and you may read that scientists classify magnetic materials into two main types: ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. Ferromagnets are what most people think of when magnets come to mind. These materials possess a … Read more