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Black holes are quite scary. Lurking in the depths of space – including the one at the centre of the Milky Way – these massive, invisible objects are capable of tearing whole galaxies apart, and their gravitational pull is so strong that even light can’t escape them. But now some scientists are theorising that a particular kind of black hole, known as a “primordial black hole”, could be tunnelling through materials here on Earth, totally unnoticed. They might even bore holes in human beings.
If you think this sounds like a cosmic horror plot, you’re not alone. But a newly-published paper from the University of Buffalo suggests that primordial black holes (or PBHs) might have a very real influence on the universe, and probably aren’t as scary as they sound. If detected, they could even help explain some of the biggest unsolved mysteries in the cosmos, like dark matter.
We’ve gathered everything you need to know about the new research on primordial black holes – and what it means if they’re burrowing through our planet, or our bodies – below.
As far as we know, there are a few different typed of black hole, including the supermassive kind, stellar black holes (caused by collapsing stars), and intermediate-mass black holes. Primordial black holes would be smaller than the rest – potentially squeezing the mass of a mountain into the size of a single atom – and exist on the more theoretical end of the scale, because we’ve never actually observed one, or its effects on the surrounding matter of the universe. Scientists speculate, though, that they were formed in the first moments after the Big Bang, at the birth of the universe as we know it. In the billions of years since, they could have disappeared, or they could still be lingering where we can’t see them.
Yes. In fact, scientists have already earmarked time with NASA’s forthcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to search for primordial black holes. Before that, though, scientists including Dejan Stojkovic and De-Chang Dai – who authored the new study in Physics of the Dark Universe – have proposed more down-to-earth methods of proving their existence.
According to those researchers, fast-moving black holes formed in the chaos of the early universe wouldn’t affect their surroundings very much. But they would leave small, straight tunnels through any solid objects they pass through as they whizz through space, from rocks, to buildings, and yes, even living things.
Not necessarily. According to the research, the likelihood of finding tunnels made by primordial black holes is actually very, very low. However, if we did find them, they should be visible with nothing more than a regular microscope. This means that the cost of searching for the tunnels is quite low, compared with the expected payoff of finding one. Because of their rarity, the scientists suggest searching very old structures and ancient rocks for evidence, since they’ve been around for such a long time.
Besides confirming the existence of primordial black holes and getting one step closer to unpicking the mysteries of the universe? Well, there’s another big reason to explore the possibilities of PBHs. At the larger end of the scale, say the researchers, a PBH could end up being ‘captured’ by a rocky planet or an asteroid, where it would ‘feed’ on the object’s liquid core and leave it hollowed out.
Potentially, there’s a fair few of these hollowed-out planets floating about in the universe (spooky!). The study is mainly focused on what kind of materials and structure they’d require to keep from collapsing in on themselves. In the (far) future, if we move up the Kardashev scale and want to start harvesting energy from a black hole, this would be very useful information, as we could model what materials are needed to build massive interstellar tech. Again, though, that’s a long way off. For now, we can satisfy ourselves by trying to spot mini black holes running through our planet like a slice of Swiss cheese.
in HTML format, including tags, to make it appealing and easy to read for Japanese-speaking readers aged 20 to 40 interested in fashion. Organize the content with appropriate headings and subheadings (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6), translating all text, including headings, into Japanese. Retain any existing
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Black holes are quite scary. Lurking in the depths of space – including the one at the centre of the Milky Way – these massive, invisible objects are capable of tearing whole galaxies apart, and their gravitational pull is so strong that even light can’t escape them. But now some scientists are theorising that a particular kind of black hole, known as a “primordial black hole”, could be tunnelling through materials here on Earth, totally unnoticed. They might even bore holes in human beings.
If you think this sounds like a cosmic horror plot, you’re not alone. But a newly-published paper from the University of Buffalo suggests that primordial black holes (or PBHs) might have a very real influence on the universe, and probably aren’t as scary as they sound. If detected, they could even help explain some of the biggest unsolved mysteries in the cosmos, like dark matter.
We’ve gathered everything you need to know about the new research on primordial black holes – and what it means if they’re burrowing through our planet, or our bodies – below.
As far as we know, there are a few different typed of black hole, including the supermassive kind, stellar black holes (caused by collapsing stars), and intermediate-mass black holes. Primordial black holes would be smaller than the rest – potentially squeezing the mass of a mountain into the size of a single atom – and exist on the more theoretical end of the scale, because we’ve never actually observed one, or its effects on the surrounding matter of the universe. Scientists speculate, though, that they were formed in the first moments after the Big Bang, at the birth of the universe as we know it. In the billions of years since, they could have disappeared, or they could still be lingering where we can’t see them.
Yes. In fact, scientists have already earmarked time with NASA’s forthcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to search for primordial black holes. Before that, though, scientists including Dejan Stojkovic and De-Chang Dai – who authored the new study in Physics of the Dark Universe – have proposed more down-to-earth methods of proving their existence.
According to those researchers, fast-moving black holes formed in the chaos of the early universe wouldn’t affect their surroundings very much. But they would leave small, straight tunnels through any solid objects they pass through as they whizz through space, from rocks, to buildings, and yes, even living things.
Not necessarily. According to the research, the likelihood of finding tunnels made by primordial black holes is actually very, very low. However, if we did find them, they should be visible with nothing more than a regular microscope. This means that the cost of searching for the tunnels is quite low, compared with the expected payoff of finding one. Because of their rarity, the scientists suggest searching very old structures and ancient rocks for evidence, since they’ve been around for such a long time.
Besides confirming the existence of primordial black holes and getting one step closer to unpicking the mysteries of the universe? Well, there’s another big reason to explore the possibilities of PBHs. At the larger end of the scale, say the researchers, a PBH could end up being ‘captured’ by a rocky planet or an asteroid, where it would ‘feed’ on the object’s liquid core and leave it hollowed out.
Potentially, there’s a fair few of these hollowed-out planets floating about in the universe (spooky!). The study is mainly focused on what kind of materials and structure they’d require to keep from collapsing in on themselves. In the (far) future, if we move up the Kardashev scale and want to start harvesting energy from a black hole, this would be very useful information, as we could model what materials are needed to build massive interstellar tech. Again, though, that’s a long way off. For now, we can satisfy ourselves by trying to spot mini black holes running through our planet like a slice of Swiss cheese.
and integrate them seamlessly into the new content without adding new tags. Ensure the new content is fashion-related, written entirely in Japanese, and approximately 1500 words. Conclude with a “結論” section and a well-formatted “よくある質問” section. Avoid including an introduction or a note explaining the process.
