Giant Black Hole Discovered

Astronomers have discovered a supermassive black hole that is 17 billion times the mass of our Sun at the center of the disk galaxy NGC 1277, challenging current cosmological models as possibly the largest black hole yet discovered and possessing an unprecedented 14% of that galaxy's total mass.

New Type of Matter Created

Collisions of protons and lead ions at the Large Hadron Collider have unexpectedly created a new state of exotic matter called a color-glass condensate, a liquid-like wave of gluons that may result from the phenomenon of quantum entanglement.

Comet Belts Discovered

Astronomers have discovered large comet belts surrounding two nearby planetary systems (GJ 581 and 61 Vir) that each contain more than 10 times the comets in our own solar system's Kupier Belt.

Rogue Planet Spotted

Astronomers have visually spotted a so-called "rogue planet" (designated CFBDSIR2149-0403), a planet moving through interstellar space and not orbiting a star, just 100 light years distant.

Supersymmetry Result Fails

Results found at Europe's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) show the very rare decay of a B_s meson into two muons, the first time this decay has been observed, providing a failed "golden" test for supersymmetry whose model predicts this decay with much greater frequency than detected.

New Method of Glass Formation

Scientists have discovered a new way to form glass from a liquid cooling past its melting temperature by the disordered arrangement of nickel-phosphorus polyhedra, the resulting substance classified as a glass by having the mechanical properties of a solid but the amorphous structure of a liquid.

Sensitivity in Alligators, Crocodiles

New research into small pigmented domes called "integumentary sensor organs” (ISO) that line the armored skin of alligators and crocodiles found these are dense spots of mechanoreceptor nerve endings that give the animal an exceptional sense of touch sensitivity greater than human fingertips.

Tomb of Ancient Egyptian Princess

An unusual tomb of the ancient Egyptian princess Sheretnebty dating to 2500 B.C. was discovered in Abusir South, carved out of bedrock and surrounded by four non-royal high officials, with most of the Fifth Dynasty's royal family buried to the north.

World's Rarest Whale Seen

Two spade-toothed beaked whales (Mesoplodon traversii), a mother and calf, stranded themselves and died on a beach in New Zealand, the first time this species known only through partial skulls has been seen and examined as a complete specimen.

Cancer-Resistant Mole Rats

Studies have found both blind mole rats (Spalax spp.) and their cousins naked mole rats (Heterocephalus glaber) have cells that resist tumor growth and make them virtually immune to cancer, the former committing a "concerted cell death" when densities reach a certain level and the latter simply ceasing to grow beyond a certain cell density.

Testing Cope's Rule

Scientists using statistical modeling methods to compare dinosaur femurs have verified Cope's Rule that smaller animals always evolve into larger sizes with no upper limit, with exceptions for structural function between clades such as theropods (two legs) versus sauropods and ornithopods (four legs).