For sheer color, you can’t
do much better than a black hole event horizon. It swallows everything without
a trace, but it also evaporates. It may contain a wall of fire created by
disentangling virtual particles. Unless it’s a fuzzball made of fundamental strings,
in which case it has “hair” instead of a firewall.

Unravel the biggest ideas in science.
Become a more curious you.
Unravel the biggest ideas in science.
Become a more curious you.
The full Nautilus archive • eBooks & Special Editions • Ad-free reading
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- Ad-free reading

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-
If Oaks and Orchids Could Talk
Lucas Gutierrez wants to turn plant frequencies into a language humans can understand -
Celebrating the Relationship Between Science and Illustration
A conversation with Society of Illustrators executive director Arabelle Liepold -
The Extraordinary, Imperiled Science at the End of the Earth
Firing experts in Antarctica couldn’t come at a worse time -
Breaking a Cycle of Apocalypse
John Larison’s new novel The Ancients suggests some societies are built for cataclysm -
An Earthy Fallen Star
The strange mushroom that puffs life into forests around the world.