A number of the largest black holes in the universe may be even bigger than previously thought, researchers say. “Ultramassive black holes — that is, black holes with masses exceeding 10 billion solar masses — are probably not rare; several and even dozens of these colossal black holes may exist,” said Stanford astrophysicist Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo….
A new map that divides the world’s vertebrates into 11 biogeographic realms is the biggest update to a 19th century version, and one of the most important maps for our understanding of global biodiversity. The map was published online in the journal Science. The original map was created by naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in 1876. He divided the…
We’re about to get a better grasp of one of the biggest ideas in the universe: inflation. The first maps of the cosmos from the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite are due out in early 2013. They should help us to hone descriptions of how, after the big bang, the universe grew from smaller than…
Even when they are very young, orangutans may start to form ideas about their world — specifically, how and when to use certain tools. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which indicates that ape cultural traditions may not be that different from our own. Like humans, orangutans have behavioral traditions that vary by region….
Astronomers have discovered what may be five planets orbiting Tau Ceti, the closest single star beyond our solar system whose temperature and luminosity nearly match the sun’s. If the planets are there, one of them is about the right distance from the star to sport mild temperatures, oceans of liquid water, and even life. Don’t…
While it is a painful truism that brutality and violence are at least as old as humanity, so, it seems, is caring for the sick and disabled. And some archaeologists are suggesting a closer, more systematic look at how prehistoric people — who may have left only their bones — treated illness, injury and incapacitation….
The pursuit of knowledge is now a global enterprise. Scientific American and Nature have teamed up on this special report on how this trend is changing the way science is done, and how it informs the world.
NASA concluded its Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) moon mission by crashing two probes into the lunar surface — on purpose. The goal of the mission is to map the moon’s gravitational field. To do this, NASA launched two washing-machine-size probes to orbit the moon in September 2011. After both craft achieved orbit, they…
A new study challenges the notion that the force of an exploding star forced the formation of the solar system. University of Chicago researchers Haolan Tang and Nicolas Dauphas found the radioactive isotope iron 60 — the telltale sign of an exploding star—low in abundance and well mixed in solar system material. As cosmochemists, they…
Bending a black hole can juice it up. In extra dimensions, a black hole behaves like a fluid and a solid at the same time, and flexing the solid form may generate an electric field. Although these effects exist only in the theoretical realm, the underlying equations could help us puzzle out some of the…