The Backrooms began as a single eerie image of empty yellow rooms, but internet users transformed it into a vast fictional world that feels disturbingly real。 Through videos, games, maps, survival guides and social media stories, audiences do more than watch the horror unfold。 They help build and explore it
A supermassive black hole has been found lurking about 30,000 light-years from the center of its galaxy—the first dormant black hole detected so far from a galactic core。 It revealed itself only after shredding a passing star and producing a brief, brilliant flare。 Astronomers think it may be the remnant of a devoured galaxy or a black hole flung o
Scientists have successfully generated electricity with a hydrogen turbine that produces its own pressure through detonation waves instead of relying on a mechanical compressor。 The breakthrough could unlock dramatically more efficient power systems for clean energy and future aviation
This may help fungi survive host scarcity and explains why infected hosts prefer the mosses as death sites
A new chemical process can transform three of the most common plastics into high-purity hydrogen without sorting them first。 The technique operates at much lower temperatures than traditional gasification and captures most of the plastic’s carbon in solid or liquid forms instead of releasing it as carbon dioxide
The solar wind may be stripping away Mars’ atmosphere by creating giant rolling waves along its outer edge。 Data from MAVEN and Tianwen-1 show that these waves form plasma clouds that carry atmospheric particles into space。 The process is concentrated on one side of Mars and may have played a major role in drying out the once potentially habitable
When atomic nuclei smash together at nearly the speed of light, they create the hottest fluid in the universe, but scientists may have overlooked one of its most important forces。 New simulations reveal that extreme acceleration builds up along the edges of quark-gluon plasma, helping drive its explosive expansion。 This acceleration may do far more
Baseboard management controllers from the world's biggest manufacturers are a security mess
A new hollow nanoreactor mimics living cells to make hydrogen peroxide more efficiently using visible light。 Its light-trapping cavity and proton-shuttling shell could open new possibilities for cleaner chemical manufacturing and artificial photosynthesis
Europa’s hidden ocean has made the icy moon one of the solar system’s most promising places to search for habitable conditions。 Scientists have hoped that water from this deep ocean might rise through cracks and form shallow reservoirs that future spacecraft could more easily study。 New simulations suggest that journey is unlikely because turbulent
August brings four major celestial events, including a solar eclipse and the peak of the Perseid meteor shower。 Dark New Moon skies could make the Perseids especially impressive, while Venus will blaze in the west after sunset。 A deep partial lunar eclipse closes the month, darkening most of the Moon
Scientists traced a mysterious surge of low-energy gamma rays from zinc-70 to magnetic changes occurring inside its nucleus。 The breakthrough could improve models of how stars, supernovae, and neutron star mergers create heavy elements
Young Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field may have created a safe zone where several large moons could survive。 Saturn lacked this protection, possibly explaining why Titan stands almost alone among its largest moons
Scientists have identified LHAASO J1912+1014u as a cosmic accelerator that can push protons beyond one quadrillion electron volts。 The finding may help reveal where the Milky Way’s most energetic cosmic rays come from and how they influence the galaxy