Scientists detect tones in the ringing of a newborn black hole for the first time

Results support Einstein's theory and the idea that black holes have no "hair."

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If Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity holds true, then a black hole, born from the cosmically quaking collisions of two massive black holes, should itself "ring" in the aftermath, producing gravitational waves much like a struck bell reverberates sound waves.

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NASA observes a black hole feasting on a star

The TESS satellite captures rare images of a cataclysmic event in a faraway galaxy.

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  • TESS, a NASA planet-hunting satellite takes images of a black hole shredding apart a star.
  • This phenomenon, called a tidal disruption event, is very rare.
  • The star was the size of our sun.
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Apparently even NASA is wrong about which planet is closest to Earth

Three scientists publish a paper proving that Mercury, not Venus, is the closest planet to Earth.

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  • Earth is the third planet from the Sun, so our closest neighbor must be planet two or four, right?
  • Wrong! Neither Venus nor Mars is the right answer.
  • Three scientists ran the numbers. In this YouTube video, one of them explains why our nearest neighbor is... Mercury!
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Stephen Hawking: "There is no God. No one directs the universe."

Hawking, who died in March, answers questions like "Is there a God?" and "Is time travel possible?" in his final book, which is available today.

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  • Hawking's final book is geared toward a popular audience.
  • Each of the book's 10 chapters is posed as a question, such as "How did it all begin?"
  • Hawking claims there is no God, time travel could be possible and intelligent aliens exist.
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3 stunning ways Earth and spacetime could be destroyed

A well-known cosmologist comes out with very stark warnings about particle accelerators.

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  • Respected astrophysicist Martin Reese has serious misgivings about the safety of the Large Hadron Collider.
  • The collider could destroy us in 3 different ways, warns Reese.
  • Despite the dangers, innovation should continue but with caution.
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