natural sciences
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Astrophysicists May Have Found a Rare Species of Black Hole in the Andromeda Galaxy
A team of astrophysicists believe that a glob of stars in our next-door galaxy is hiding an intermediate-mass black hole, a type predicted to exist but that has never been observed for certain.
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Freaky Deep-Sea Anglerfish Casts Light in Two Distinct Ways
In May 2021, a Pacific footballfish washed ashore at Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Beach, California. Still in good condition, the rarely seen fish featured spikes along its body, sharp teeth, and a bioluminescent lure. But as scientists would go on to discover, it also had biofluorescent tissue, a characteristic never seen before in…
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Blue Flash in Space Known as ‘The Cow’ May Have Been a Black Hole Being Born
Two years ago, evidence of a big cosmic burst reached Earth in the form of bright blue flash. Nicknamed “the Cow,” it looked like a supernova — a star’s dramatic death — but it happened even quicker than known star deaths. Now, a team of astronomers believe they’ve narrowed down the list of cosmic suspects…
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The Helium in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons Could Power Some Sweet Science
The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City uses roughly 400,000 cubic feet of helium gas in total to inflate its iconic giant balloons. Besides being lighter than air and nonflammable — hence its practicality for balloons — helium is incredibly useful as a superconducting agent, making it crucial to many scientific and…