Episode 2: Beyond the Singularity

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Some of nature’s most violent marvels hide in plain sight and can rip space and time to shreds. In 2023 scientists capture an image of a black hole after years of using radiation and shrapnel to sniff them out. Beyond what we can see, mysteries remain. Why does quantum physics break down around the edge of black holes? Can a theory of quantum gravity rectify the issue? What happens to matter once it crosses the threshold? And when a black hole dies, does matter simply disappear?

From Galileo to Einstein to Hubble, scientists have long grappled with the shape and scale of the Universe. Technology like the Hubble Space Telescope expands our view into the cosmos but this cosmic…

Some of nature’s most violent marvels hide in plain sight and can rip space and time to shreds. In 2023 scientists capture an image of a black hole after years of using radiation and shrapnel to…

Stars can burn for billions of years, but each will eventually meet its end. Some will slowly dim to darkness, while others will explode in a fiery supernova. These cataclysmic events expel a stew of…

Billions of years ago, the first sign of life emerged on Earth. Today, life thrives in all forms, each organism sharing the elemental building blocks forged in the stars. But how did this miraculous…

Ordinary matter makes up just 5% of the cosmos. The remaining 95% belongs to an unseen realm governed by dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter binds the galaxies together, while dark energy…

Tiny cosmic rays are constantly zipping through the universe, bombarding Earth with a torrent of extreme radiation. Our planet’s magnetosphere shields us from their dangers, but their origins remain…

In a universe teeming with stars and galaxies, how could life only exist on Earth? This existential query has fueled decades of debate, with pop culture and UFO sightings conjuring visions of alien…

Galaxies form the structure of our cosmos, yet their origins remain a mystery. How did solitary stars evolve into the vibrant systems we see today? For much of history, the Milky Way was believed to…