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Black holes are often imagined as enormous objects formed when massive stars collapse. But physics allows something far stranger: a black hole so small that its initial mass could be comparable to that of a loaded truck. A new theoretical study suggests that, under the right conditions, a black hole weighing only about 40 metric tons could form inside a compact star and continue growing rather than disappearing. The surprising ingredient that could make this possible is dark matter . The idea connects three mysterious areas of modern physics: black holes, dark matter and the extreme environments inside neutron stars and white dwarfs. Why Tiny Black Holes Should Disappear In 1974, physicist Stephen Hawking showed that black holes are not completely black. Because of quantum effects near their event horizons, they can slowly release energy in the form of what is now called Hawking radiation . As a black hole loses energy, it also loses mass. And the smaller the black hole becomes, the ...

Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System, but its interior hides a remarkable story. Unlike Earth, Venus and Mars, Mercury has an unusually large metallic core and a surface that appears to contain an unusually high amount of carbon. Scientists have now developed a clearer explanation for how these unusual features may have formed more than four billion years ago. As the European-Japanese BepiColombo mission approaches the final stage of its journey toward Mercury, researchers from the University of Liège and KU Leuven have been using laboratory experiments to reconstruct the planet's earliest history. Their work suggests that Mercury's extreme lack of oxygen played a crucial role in creating a graphite-rich primitive crust , while also influencing the composition and long-term behavior of its enormous core. The findings, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters , Nature Communications and Advances in Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry , provide new clues about...

Wormholes are among the strangest and most fascinating ideas in modern physics. They are theoretical tunnels through spacetime that could connect two very distant places in the Universe. Instead of traveling the normal distance between those places, a traveler could, in theory, pass through a wormhole and reach the other side much faster. But there is a major problem: keeping a wormhole open may require a very unusual type of matter. A new theoretical study by Remo Garattini and his team looks at this problem from a different angle. The researchers studied whether a special type of matter described by a polytropic equation of state could support traversable wormholes. Their work does not mean that humans can build a wormhole today. Instead, it gives physicists a new mathematical way to study what kind of matter and spacetime structure might be needed to keep one open. What exactly is a wormhole? A wormhole can be imagined as a shortcut through spacetime. Think of a sheet of paper with...

What if the earliest hydrogen atoms in the Universe could reveal what dark matter is made of? A new study suggests that the faint radio signal from ancient hydrogen may provide scientists with a completely new way to investigate dark matter on extremely small cosmic scales. The Universe has not always looked the way it does today. There were no stars, galaxies, or bright cosmic objects in its earliest stages. Instead, the young Universe was filled mostly with hot matter that gradually cooled and became dominated by hydrogen atoms. This period is often described as the Dark Ages because there were no stars producing visible light. However, hidden inside this darkness were tiny differences in the distribution of matter. Over time, gravity amplified these differences, causing matter to gather together and eventually creating the first stars and galaxies. This transformation marked the beginning of what scientists call cosmic dawn . According to current models, cosmic dawn began roughly 1...

Imagine generating electricity simply from movement —without fuel, batteries, or large generators. The motion of footsteps, wind, waves, vibrations, or even raindrops contains energy that is normally wasted. Scientists have been working on ways to capture this energy using a technology called a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) . Now, researchers led by Wu have developed a new type of TENG that could dramatically increase the amount of electricity these devices can produce. The new system, called an opposite-charge-enhanced transistor-like TENG (OCT-TENG) , achieved an instantaneous power density of about 12 megawatts per square meter . That is far beyond the output reported for earlier TENG systems. More importantly, the researchers demonstrated that their device can do something that previous TENGs struggled to achieve: power practical electrical devices , including a commercial lamp rated at 180 watts and a 30-watt vehicle LED bulb wirelessly. Turning Everyday Motion Into Electrici...

Imagine a soft material that can generate electrical signals simply when it is stretched, compressed, or bent—and can even use those signals to interact with the nervous system. Researchers are now developing a new type of smart hydrogel that could bring this idea closer to reality. Called a piezoionic hydrogel , this material combines the softness and flexibility of biological tissues with the ability to generate electrical signals through the movement of ions. A new study led by Xiaodan Yang and colleagues introduces an improved design called an artificial ion pump (AIP) hydrogel , which produces a much stronger electrical response than conventional versions. The breakthrough could open new possibilities for self-powered sensors, wearable electronics, implantable medical devices, and electrical nerve stimulation . What Are Piezoionic Hydrogels? Hydrogels are soft, water-rich materials that can resemble the mechanical properties of biological tissues. Because they are flexible and co...

Rivers contain an enormous amount of kinetic energy. Every second, flowing water carries energy that could potentially be converted into electricity. Hydroelectric power plants already use this principle on a large scale, but they usually require strong water flow, large infrastructure, dams, or turbines. Harvesting energy from slow-moving water is much more difficult. At low flow speeds, conventional turbines and generators become inefficient because there is not enough force to drive them effectively. This creates a major challenge for developing small, decentralized systems that can generate electricity directly from natural rivers and streams. To address this problem, Qi Gao and his research team have developed a new device inspired by the movement and shape of fish. Called the bionic fish-shaped triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid generator (BF-TEHG) , the system is designed to capture energy even when river water is moving relatively slowly. Why Slow Water Flow Is Difficult to...