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Abstractions blog

An illustration of a bright blue flash in space.
astrophysics

New Kind of Space Explosion Reveals the Birth of a Black Hole

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
March 10, 2021
Read Later

A supernova-like explosion dubbed the Camel appears to be the result of a newborn black hole eating a star from the inside out.

A house of cards propped up by a letter i, the unit of imaginary numbers.
quantum physics

Imaginary Numbers May Be Essential for Describing Reality

By Charlie Wood
March 3, 2021
Read Later

A new thought experiment indicates that quantum mechanics doesn’t work without strange numbers that turn negative when squared.

Photograph showing cirrus clouds in a blue sky above an expanse of flat, snow-covered ice.
Abstractions blog

Cloud-Making Aerosol Could Devastate Polar Sea Ice

By Max Kozlov
February 23, 2021
Read Later

An overlooked but powerful driver of cloud formation could accelerate the loss of polar sea ice.

Black holes on a blue swirly background.
Abstractions blog

Growing Inventory of Black Holes Offers a Radical Probe of the Cosmos

By Thomas Lewton
February 17, 2021
Read Later

One black hole is nice, but astrophysicists can do a lot more science with 50 of them.

An abstract black ball on a blue background.
Abstractions blog

In Violation of Einstein, Black Holes Might Have ‘Hair’

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
February 11, 2021
Read Later

A new study shows that extreme black holes could break the famous “no-hair” theorem, and in a way that we could detect.

Abstractions blog

Undergraduates Hunt for Special Tetrahedra That Fit Together

By Kevin Hartnett
February 9, 2021
Read Later

A group of MIT undergraduates is searching for tetrahedra that tile space, the latest effort in a millennia-long inquiry. They’ve already made a new discovery.

A drawing of a piece of folded paper going back and forth between paper airplane and paper bird shapes.
Abstractions blog

Some Proteins Change Their Folds to Perform Different Jobs

By Viviane Callier
February 3, 2021
Read Later

Unusual proteins that can quickly fold into different shapes provide cells with a novel regulatory mechanism.

Historical star chart of the constellation Monoceros.
Abstractions blog

‘Unicorn’ Discovery Points to a New Population of Black Holes

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
January 27, 2021
Read Later

Small black holes were nowhere to be found, leading astronomers to wonder if they didn’t exist at all. Now a series of findings, including a “unicorn” black hole, has raised hopes of solving the decade-long mystery.

Close-up photograph of a soap bubble with a spot on it that looks as though it must have come from a collision.
Abstractions blog

Physicists Study How Universes Might Bubble Up and Collide

By Charlie Wood
January 25, 2021
Read Later

Since they can’t prod actual universes as they inflate and bump into each other in the hypothetical multiverse, physicists are studying digital and physical analogs of the process.


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