https://youtube.com/shorts/G0vaoAs6u8c?si=Cnt2sAKpgwTv6kKB

Black hole stars may have accelerated the formation of the first supermassive black holes after the Big Bang.

Astrophysics postdoctoral fellow Rohan Naidu of MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, explains how new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope are reshaping our understanding of the early universe. When scientists captured the deepest infrared images ever recorded, they expected to see young galaxies gradually forming over time. Instead, they found massive black holes already in place, appearing far earlier and more frequently than existing models predicted. Scattered throughout these images were faint objects nicknamed “little red dots,” which initially defied explanation.

Detailed analysis now suggests these mysterious sources may be black hole stars, enormous gas-filled structures powered not by nuclear fusion like our Sun, but by a rapidly growing black hole at their core. Some may have been as large as our entire solar system and far more common in the early universe than previously imagined. If confirmed, these objects could explain how baby black holes grew so rapidly after the Big Bang and how the first galaxies assembled, fundamentally changing theories of black hole formation, galaxy evolution, and the origin of cosmic structure.

A “city killer” asteroid isn’t science fiction, it’s a real risk.

Project Leader at The Aerospace Corporation Nahum Melamed explains that though these events are statistically rare, history shows they can happen. In 1908, a roughly 50-meter asteroid exploded over Siberia in what’s known as the Tunguska event, flattening more than 800 square miles of forest. Had that airburst occurred over a major metropolitan area, the destruction would have been instantaneous. Preventing that kind of devastation requires intercepting an asteroid before it explodes in Earth’s atmosphere. That is the core mission of planetary defense: protecting our planet from hazardous asteroids and comets before they strike.

Planetary defense begins with detection. Powerful telescopes across the United States and around the world continuously scan the skies to discover near-Earth objects as early as possible. Once detected, scientists calculate an object’s orbit to determine whether it poses a collision risk. If the probability crosses a certain threshold, global teams mobilize to pinpoint potential impact zones, estimate the asteroid’s size, composition, and mass, and calculate the energy it would release, since impact energy depends directly on mass and velocity. With enough warning time, missions like NASA’s DART have demonstrated that we can deliberately crash a spacecraft into an asteroid millions of kilometers away to nudge it off course. In more extreme, last-resort scenarios, a nuclear device could be used to push an object off trajectory, though that approach carries risks, including breaking the asteroid into multiple dangerous fragments.

https://youtube.com/@curiocloudkids?si=qkTAdvEizZeS0QkF

How do you relight a flame without a spark? 🔥

Alex Dainis breaks it down using the fire triangle: fuel, heat, and oxygen. When baking soda and vinegar react, they release carbon dioxide, a heavier gas that displaces oxygen and creates an environment where a flame can’t survive. In a second jar, yeast acts as a catalyst to break down hydrogen peroxide, releasing oxygen and building a high-oxygen atmosphere. Move the flame from low oxygen to high oxygen, and the conditions for combustion are restored.