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'Ice cube' clouds discovered at the galaxy's center shouldn't exist — and they hint at a recent black hole explosion

'Ice cube' clouds discovered at the galaxy's center shouldn't exist — and they hint at a recent black hole explosion

Yahoo17-07-2025
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Two of the strangest structures in the galaxy just got even stranger.
Ballooning above and below the Milky Way's center like a massive hourglass, the mysterious Fermi bubbles loom large over our galaxy. These enormous twin orbs of superheated plasma have been gushing out of the galactic center for millions of years. Today, they span some 50,000 light-years from tip to tip, collectively making them half as tall as the Milky Way is long.
Now, scientists studying the perplexing bubbles with the U.S. National Science Foundation Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia have discovered something shocking: Nestled deep within the superhot bubbles are gargantuan clouds of cold hydrogen gas that have inexplicably survived in an extreme environment.
According to the researchers, these bewildering clouds are likely the remnants of much larger structures that puffed out of the galaxy's center several million years ago.
"Think of it like dropping an ice cube into boiling water: a small one melts quickly, but a larger one lasts longer — even as it dissolves," lead study author Rongmon Bordoloi, an associate professor in the Department of Physics at North Carolina State University, told Live Science in an email. "We believe these clouds may be remnants of much larger structures that are currently being eroded by the galactic wind."
The discovery could indicate that our galaxy's central black hole experienced a violent outburst of matter more recently than previously thought, Bordoloi added. The research describing the clouds was published July 7 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Baffling bubbles
Towering over the galactic center, the Fermi bubbles were discovered in 2010 by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Despite being comparable to our galaxy in size, the bubbles are visible only in gamma-rays, and they overlap with an equally mysterious X-ray counterpart known as the eROSITA bubbles.
These bubbles are incredibly hot, with the plasma that makes up the Fermi bubbles reaching more than a million kelvins (nearly 2 million degrees Fahrenheit). It's thought that the bubbles are likely the result of an ancient, violent outburst from the Milky Way's central black hole, which spewed twin jets of matter above and below the galactic plane simultaneously, scooping up nearby matter in the process and flinging it outward into space.
Related: Scientists discover rare planet at the edge of the Milky Way, using space-time phenomenon predicted by Einstein
The newly discovered cold hydrogen clouds may be remnants of some of that matter, according to the study authors. Spotted with the Green Bank Telescope, the cold clouds range from about 13 to 91 light-years across, making each one many times larger than our solar system.
However, for those cold clouds to survive in the superhot environment where they were discovered — well within the Fermi bubbles, about 13,000 light-years above the galaxy's center — they must have been significantly larger when they were first swept up into the thrall of the bubbles, Bordoloi said.
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"In principle, these clouds shouldn't have survived this long," he added. "Yet they do exist, which gives us a kind of clock: their survival implies that the black hole at the Milky Way's center erupted just a few million years ago. In cosmic terms, that's a blink of an eye."
This discovery could help solve a major mystery about the Fermi bubbles by significantly constraining how old they are. This age, in turn, hints that our galaxy's monster black hole may experience violent, sporadic outbursts whenever large amounts of material fall into it, with the last one occurring more recently than previously thought. However, the precise schedule of black hole eruptions in our galaxy remains an open question.
"What's clear is that features like the Fermi Bubbles — and more recently, the eROSITA Bubbles — suggest the center of the Milky Way has been much more active in the recent past than we once believed," Bordoloi concluded.
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What Is Superintelligence? Everything You Need to Know About AI's Endgame
What Is Superintelligence? Everything You Need to Know About AI's Endgame

CNET

time3 hours ago

  • CNET

What Is Superintelligence? Everything You Need to Know About AI's Endgame

You've probably chatted with ChatGPT, experimented with Gemini, Claude or Perplexity, or even asked Grok to verify a post on X. These tools are impressive, but they're just the tip of the artificial intelligence iceberg. Lurking beneath is something far bigger that has been all the talk in recent weeks: artificial superintelligence. Some people use the term "superintelligence" interchangeably with artificial general intelligence or sci-fi-level sentience. Others, like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, use it to signal their next big moonshot. ASI has a more specific meaning in AI circles. It refers to an intelligence that doesn't just answer questions but could outthink humans in every field: medicine, physics, strategy, creativity, reasoning, emotional intelligence and more. We're not there yet, but the race has already started. In July, Zuckerberg said during an interview with The Information that his company is chasing "personal superintelligence" to "put the power of AI directly into individuals' hands." Or, in Meta's case, probably in everyone's smart glasses. Scott Stein/CNET That desire kicked off a recruiting spree for top researchers in Silicon Valley and a reshuffling inside Meta's FAIR team (now Meta AI) to push Meta closer to AGI and eventually ASI. So, what exactly is superintelligence, how close are we to it, and should we be excited or terrified? Let's break it down. What is superintelligence? Superintelligence doesn't have a formal definition, but it's generally described as a hypothetical AI system that would outperform humans at every cognitive task. It could process vast amounts of data instantly, reason across domains, learn from mistakes, self-improve, develop new scientific theories, write flawless code, and maybe even make emotional or ethical judgments. The idea became popularized through philosopher Nick Bostrom's 2014 book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies , which warned of a scenario where an AI bot becomes smarter than humans, self-improves rapidly and then escapes our control. That vision sparked both excitement and fear among tech experts. Speaking to CNET, Bostrom says many of his 2014 warnings "have proven quite prescient." What has surprised him, he says, is "how anthropomorphic current AI systems are," with large language models behaving in surprisingly humanlike ways. Bostrom says he's now shifting his attention toward deeper issues, including "the moral status of digital minds and the relationship between the superintelligence we build with other superintelligences," which he refers to as "the cosmic host." For some, ASI represents the pinnacle of progress, a tool to cure disease, reverse climate change and crack the secrets of the universe. 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Castle Biosciences to Present at the Canaccord Genuity 45th Annual Growth Conference
Castle Biosciences to Present at the Canaccord Genuity 45th Annual Growth Conference

Yahoo

time4 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Castle Biosciences to Present at the Canaccord Genuity 45th Annual Growth Conference

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Pharmazz Inc. Announces Enrollment of First Patient in Phase 3 Clinical Trial of Sovateltide for Treating Patients with Cerebral Ischemic Stroke
Pharmazz Inc. Announces Enrollment of First Patient in Phase 3 Clinical Trial of Sovateltide for Treating Patients with Cerebral Ischemic Stroke

Associated Press

time4 hours ago

  • Associated Press

Pharmazz Inc. Announces Enrollment of First Patient in Phase 3 Clinical Trial of Sovateltide for Treating Patients with Cerebral Ischemic Stroke

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'Current treatment options remain limited, underscoring the critical need for novel therapies. Given the promising results already demonstrated with sovateltide, this rigorous Phase 3 study represents an important step toward addressing this urgent unmet medical need.' Phase 3 Trial of Sovateltide for Stroke Covered by Special Protocol Assessment Sovateltide is a first-in-class endothelin-B receptor (ETBR) agonist to treat acute cerebral ischemic stroke that can be administered up to 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. Pharmazz has received agreement from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for the study design and statistical analysis plan of its Phase 3 clinical trial of sovateltide for the treatment of acute cerebral ischemic stroke patients. Pharmazz has now enrolled and treated the first patient in its Phase 3 trial, RESPECT-ETB ( ID: NCT05691244 ). The Phase 3 clinical trial is designed to enroll a total of 514 stroke patients at 65 sites in the US, Germany, Spain, and the UK. The primary endpoint is the proportion of patients demonstrating functional independence post-stroke, defined as a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0–2 at 90 days after stroke onset. About Sovateltide and Stroke Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability in the United States, affecting more than 795,000 people each year, and reduces mobility in more than half of stroke survivors over the age of 651. Sovateltide is a first-in-class drug to treat acute cerebral ischemic stroke, a condition in which the loss of blood supply to the brain prevents brain tissue from receiving oxygen and nutrients, resulting in potential brain damage, neurological deficits, or death. Sovateltide is unique because its action site is the neural progenitor cells. 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In addition, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two phase III INDs for centhaquine as an agent for hypovolemic shock and sovateltide for cerebral ischemic stroke. Additional information may be found on the Company's website, Disclaimer: Statements in this 'Document' describing the Company's objectives, projections, estimates, expectations, plans or predictions, or industry conditions or events may be 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations. Actual results, performance, or achievements could differ materially from those expressed or implied. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect developments or circumstances that arise or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated developments/circumstances after the date hereof. Contacts: 1 Centers for Disease Control. 2 Drugs. 2024 Nov 15;84(12):1637–1650. doi: 10.1007/s40265-024-02121-5

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