Good Morning! 🌞

I discovered the most adorable thing about Sea otters: They hold hands while sleeping.

This behavior prevents them from drifting apart while floating in groups called rafts.

Earth Sciences

Hungriest Black Hole

A team of U.S. National Science Foundation astronomers has discovered a supermassive black hole, named LID-568, in an early galaxy only 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. This black hole is consuming matter at a rate over 40 times the theoretical limit, as observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The intensity of its X-ray emissions, far surpassing theoretical constraints, marks LID-568 as an exceptional find, offering a rare opportunity to understand how massive black holes emerged so rapidly in the early Universe.

Led by Hyewon Suh from the International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab, the team identified LID-568 within a galaxy sample from the Chandra COSMOS legacy survey. These galaxies emit strong X-rays but remain invisible in optical and near-infrared wavelengths. JWST’s infrared sensitivity enabled astronomers to detect faint emissions, while its NIRSpec integral field spectrograph allowed for a complete, pixel-by-pixel spectrum, precisely locating the black hole. Emanuele Farina, a co-author, emphasized that this technique was essential for detecting LID-568 and uncovering its unique characteristics.

Further observations revealed powerful gas outflows around LID-568, suggesting a single episode of rapid accretion that may have contributed to its extreme mass. This black hole’s “super-Eddington” luminosity challenges conventional growth theories, suggesting that surpassing the Eddington limit—where a black hole’s luminosity and accretion rate exceed standard limits—could explain the swift formation of supermassive black holes in the Universe’s infancy. Published in Nature Astronomy, these findings offer astronomers an unprecedented chance to explore how such early black holes grew, with plans for further JWST observations to uncover the mechanisms driving this phenomenon.

Environment

Hurricane Proof Houses

When Hurricane Milton recently struck Crystal River, Florida, Gene Tener’s Deltec home stood strong against powerful winds, while a nearby house sustained heavy damage. Tener’s home is one of around 3,000 Deltec properties along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts built to withstand extreme weather. Using prefabricated, hurricane-resistant parts, these homes are specifically designed to handle the harsh conditions of coastal living. Their unique cylindrical shape, elevated on stilts with conical roofs, uses aerodynamics to deflect wind forces that would otherwise damage a conventional structure.

Inside, the structure’s roof and floor trusses create a reinforced framework that evenly distributes the energy from high winds across the entire home, preventing stress from accumulating at any single point. Deltec’s design specifications are built to withstand winds up to 190 mph, surpassing the force of even a Category 5 hurricane. Tener’s home has already endured several major storms, including Idalia, Milton, and Debby. Though his Deltec home was over twice as costly as a typical local property, this investment has saved him from a $12,000 flood insurance premium and could continue to offer financial benefits in the long run.

With climate change fueling the intensity and frequency of hurricanes, millions of homes face heightened risks of wind and flood damage. A report from CoreLogic highlights the rising danger, with over 32.7 million homes valued at $10.8 trillion at moderate to severe risk of wind damage and 7.7 million properties vulnerable to storm surge flooding. Deltec homes, with a proven 99.9% survival rate during hurricanes, have reported only minimal damages, like missing shingles or window issues, in rare cases. Deltec’s approach to homebuilding has evolved over decades: originally focused on maximizing scenic views, their designs pivoted toward storm resilience after hurricanes Hugo and Andrew in the 1980s, aiming to create homes that stand the test of both nature and time.

Good News

Hero Dog Awards

Bo, an 18-month-old bloodhound K-9 with the Gastonia Police Department in North Carolina, has won the 2024 Hero Dog Award from American Humane. Trained by Sgt. David Rowland, Bo has made a significant impact through his scent-tracking abilities, locating missing children, elderly individuals, and criminal suspects. Notably, he tracked down a 7-year-old abducted at knifepoint, captured robbery suspects, and rescued a dementia patient on a freezing January night.

The Hero Dog Awards honor exceptional dogs across five categories: Therapy Dogs, Service and Guide Dogs, Military Dogs, Law Enforcement and First Responder Dogs, and Shelter Dogs. Bo’s courage and dedication embody the spirit of these awards. Other finalists include Dayo, a Therapy Dog aiding children in palliative care, and K-9 Niki, a U.S. Coast Guard dog with over 4,000 operational hours, known for safeguarding events and apprehending a dangerous fugitive.

All finalists will be celebrated at the Hero Dog Awards Gala on January 8, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida. Learn more about these extraordinary dogs at www.AmericanHumane.org.

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Mind Stretchers

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Answers to yesterday’s Mind Stretchers:

What can you catch but not throw?

• A cold! 👃 — Chris Hostetler got this correct first!

The first to send us the correct answer for today’s mind stretcher for a shout-out with the answer tomorrow. Just send us the answer and your name to [email protected] or reply to the email.

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