Two black holes collide, lab-grown organs, world's first climate visa
A climate crisis, a ballot, and a chance at a new life in Australia
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The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Stunning space snap hides rare ‘one-in-a-thousand' secret – and it may be the first time it has ever been seen by humans
A STUNNING photo has captured a rare secret among the stars - and it could be the first time the phenomenon has ever been seen. Astronomers believe they have photographed the first ever birth of a supermassive black hole. While experts have gained an understanding of what these supersized giants are, they previously didn't know how they were created. A supermassive black hole weighs millions, to tens of billions, of Suns, and form the centre of almost every galaxy. It forms the gravitational centre for everything else - including stars and planets - to revolve around. However, scientists now believe they have seen a supermassive black hole being formed for the first time ever. 1 This could provide valuable insight into the space wonder. The process was captured in a pair of galaxies whose light has travelled for 8.3 million years according to Science Alert. The discovery was made by a Yale-led astronomy team, in a galaxy they've called "Infinity". Its name comes from its figure-eight shape, as three supermassive black holes can be seen as the galaxies collide. Within each galaxy a supermassive black hole can be seen at its nucleus, with a third glowing at their overlap. The team used a James Webb Space Telescope to observe the two recently-collided galaxies. CLOSE CALL 'It was a sign' - Clare girl, 10, spots surprise comet that 'shines brighter than Venus' Within the cloud of gas at its centre, they identified a supermassive black hole. Unusually, the black hole was not located at the nucleus of the vast galaxy, but rather in the middle of where they were colliding. This gave them an indication that they might be witnessing an unprecedented event. Yale astonomer Pieter van Dokkum said: "We think we're witnessing the birth of a supermassive black hole - something that has never been seen before." There are currently a number of theories regarding the formation of black holes. This includes the "light seeds" theory, in which small black holes are believed to have been formed when stars' cores collapsed and exploded. These smaller black holes are believed to have then merged into the supermassive versions. However, this theory has been somewhat debunked by research that found supermassive black holes that were born too early for this long-term merging to have taken place. Instead, the "heavy seeds" theory has been favoured by some astronomers. This argues that larger black holes can form when large clouds of gas collapse, although typically this is known to form stars. The Infinity galaxy could support the "heavy seeds" theory by showing how, in extreme conditions, a gas collapse could create a black hole. The team is pursuing ongoing research to confirm the findings.
BBC News
12 hours ago
- BBC News
Kew Gardens opens exhibition focused on supporting the planet
A new attraction opened at Kew Gardens on Friday, featuring 6,500 new plants and 35 Carbon Garden shows how carbon helps to sustain life on Earth, the scale of the climate crisis and how nature can be used to combat it. It aims to inspire visitors to take actions in their everyday lives to support the planet and educate them about how plants and fungi act as "natural allies in climate repair" by capturing carbon and restoring said the attraction was one of its most ambitious garden projects in recent years. Work to build it was carried out this year, after Richmond Council approved the scheme in 2024. The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said visitors with a ticket to Kew Gardens can enter the garden at no extra cost and will see a colourful display of plants reflecting the dramatic rise in average global temperatures over is a fungi-inspired pavilion in the centre of the garden, with a sloping canopy directing rainwater into the rain garden and sheltered space to host school visits and community activities.A feature also shows layers of soil, a rocky outcrop and a layer of coal in the Earth's crust with fossilised plants revealing the hidden world of carbon underground, the LDRS Wilford, designer of the Carbon Garden and manager of garden design at Kew, said: "The Carbon Garden offers a unique opportunity to showcase our ongoing research, combining scientific insight with thoughtful design and beautiful planting to highlight the role of carbon in our lives, how it moves through the environment and how plants and fungi can help us tackle climate change."We hope the Carbon Garden inspires visitors to act and join us in shaping a more sustainable, resilient future for life on our planet."
The Guardian
15 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Ignoring hot flushes is wrong': study challenges assumptions about perimenopause symptoms
Almost 40% of women going through perimenopause experience moderate to severe hot flushes and night sweats but have no treatment options, new research has found. The study, published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, explored differences in symptom prevalence by menopausal stage among women aged 40-69 years. More than 8,000 participants who self-identified as a woman completed the Australian women's midlife years (AMY) study. After excluding women on medication or those who had undergone a procedure that would affect their hormones or symptoms, Monash University researchers analysed the remaining 5,509: 1250 were classified as pre-menopausal, 344 early perimenopausal, 271 late perimenopausal, and 3,644 postmenopausal. Senior author, Prof Susan Davis, said while vasomotor symptoms (VMS) – such as hot flushes and night sweats – were already known to be typical of menopause, the study found moderate to severe VMS symptoms to be the most defining symptom of perimenopause, the time period leading up to the final menstrual period. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Although other symptoms were commonly reported by perimenopausal women, including poor memory and low mood, analysis showed none differed in prevalence enough from pre-menopause to differentiate between menopausal stages. The study found 37.3% of women in late perimenopause had moderately-to-severely bothersome hot flushes: meaning they were five times more prevalent among perimenopausal women compared with pre-menopause. Severe vaginal dryness was 2.5 times more prevalent among perimenopausal women compared with pre-menopause. Menopausal hormonal therapy (MHT, also known as HRT) is effective for treating VMS due to menopause, but there are no specifically designed or approved interventions for these symptoms for perimenopausal women, the researchers noted. Treating perimenopause is not the same as treating post-menopause because women are still randomly ovulating, contraception needs to be considered, MHT can make bleeding heavier and progesterone worsens PMS, Davis said. The study also challenged the assumption that menstrual irregularity is the earliest sign of perimenopause. Davis said it is common for women to ask their GPs if their heavier periods and hot flushes are a sign of perimenopause, only for the doctor to respond: 'If you're still getting regular cycles, you can't possibly be perimenopausal.' But when the study compared pre-menopausal women with VMS whose periods were still regular but had changes – becoming lighter or heavier – they were the same as women who had VMS but who'd started experiencing changes in period cycle frequency. 'So we're really saying ignoring hot flushes and night sweats is wrong,' she said. Dr Rakib Islam, also a study author, said defining perimenopause and menopause by menstrual cycle overlooks women with regular cycles and those who no longer menstruate, such as those who have had an endometrial ablation or hysterectomy, and users of hormonal contraception. 'Our findings support a more symptom-based approach, enabling earlier recognition of perimenopause and more timely care,' Islam said. Davis said it was 'critical' that women were recruited to the study with no mention made of menopause, so the sample was not biased. Prof Martha Hickey, the chair of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Melbourne and lead author of last year's Lancet series on menopause called it an important study. The study reached quite a large number of women and provided deeper insight into perimenopause, an area traditionally overlooked in menopause research,' she said. 'More than a third of research in medical treatments is done by pharmaceutical companies. They traditionally have excluded perimenopausal women from the research because the perimenopausal women are still producing their own hormones in a sometimes unpredictable way, and it didn't fit with the study design that they wanted,' Hickey said. Hickey said the study's main limitation was that it was a cross-sectional survey. So while it was helpful for knowing what symptoms women categorised to a particular stage might experience, 'it doesn't tell us how these things change as women go through menopause'.
