Lost in Thought--How Important to Physics Were Einstein's Imaginings?
Einstein’s thought experiments left a long and somewhat mixed legacy of their own
By Sabine Hossenfelder
Space & Physics
Nobel Prize Work Took Black Holes from Fantasy to Fact
Over the past century, the existence of these invisible cosmic bodies has become unmistakable
By Daniel Garisto
Black Holes
The Puzzle of the First Black Holes
Astronomers are puzzled about how the oldest supermassive black holes could have grown so big so early in cosmic history
By Priyamvada Natarajan
Space & Physics
The Black Hole Collision That Reshaped Physics
A momentous signal from space has confirmed decades of theorizing on black holes—and launched a new era of gravitational-wave astronomy
By Davide Castelvecchi and Nature magazine
Space & Physics
Is Dark Matter Made of Black Holes?
A hidden population of black holes born less than one second after the big bang could solve the mystery of dark matter
By Juan García-Bellido and Sébastien Clesse
Space & Physics
Mysterious, Dusty Objects Are Swarming the Milky Way's Core
Swirling around our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole, these objects share properties with both stars and gas clouds
By Nadia Drake
Space & Physics
Shredded Stars Offer New View of Supermassive Black Holes
New techniques reveal how supermassive black holes shred entire stars
By S. Bradley Cenko and Neil Gehrels
Space & Physics
Tangled Up in Spacetime
The collaborative project “It from Qubit” is investigating whether space and time sprang from the quantum entanglement of tiny bits of information
By Clara Moskowitz
Space & Physics
Fiery Holes in Space and Time
Firewalls” of particles may border black holes, confounding both general relativity and quantum mechanics
By Joseph Polchinski
Space & Physics
Entangled Wormholes Could Pave the Way for Quantum Gravity
The weird quantum phenomenon of entanglement could produce shortcuts between distant black holes
By Juan Maldacena
Black Holes
Escape from a Black Hole
To save quantum mechanics, information must break free from black holes. New observations may help tell us how
By Steven B. Giddings
Black Holes
An Exit Chute from the Universe: The Story of a Historic Effort to Image a Black Hole
After more than a decade of effort, a global network of radio telescopes revealed the first-ever picture of an enigmatic hole in spacetime
By Seth Fletcher
Space & Physics
The Milky Way's Monster, Unveiled
Astronomers have revealed never before seen features of our galaxy’s mysterious supermassive black hole
By Lee Billings
Space & Physics
Astronomers May Have Glimpsed Light from Merging Black Holes
In a controversial finding, astronomers claim they have glimpsed light from merging black holes
By Scott Hershberger
Space & Physics
Mystery Object Blurs Line between Neutron Stars and Black Holes
Existing in the “mass gap” dividing two classes of stellar remnants, this strange object could be the most massive neutron star, the lightest-known black hole—or something else entirely...
By Charlie Wood
Space & Physics
Astronomers Spy Swarms of Black Holes at Our Galaxy's Core
Anticipated but never before seen, the existence of tens of thousands of these dark objects at the galactic center could have far-reaching implications for astrophysics
By Lee Billings
Space & Physics
Here Come the Waves
After a clutch of historic detections, gravitational-wave researchers have set their sights on some ambitious scientific quarry
By Davide Castelvecchi and Nature magazine
Space & Physics
LIGO and Virgo Capture Their Most Massive Black Holes Yet
The unexpected finding gives astronomers their first good look at previously missing “intermediate”-size black holes
By Adam Mann
Space & Physics
Black Hole Factories May Hide at Cores of Giant Galaxies
Gravitational-wave astronomers are probing the origins of abnormally massive black holes—and with them, the inner workings of their colossal galactic homes
By Charlie Wood
Special Report
Innovations In
Space & Physics
What Is Spacetime?
Physicists believe that at the tiniest scales, space emerges from quanta. What might these building blocks look like?
By George Musser
Departments
From the Editor
Golden Age of Black Holes
Graphic Science
Gravitational Waves Are Being Detected at an Increasing Pace
News
Astronomers Spy a Black Hole Devouring a Neutron Star
Opinion
How Andrea Ghez Won the Nobel for an Experiment Nobody Thought Would Work
