
In April 10, 2019, scientists produced the first image of a black hole, a century after Einstein’s work had implied the existence of such extraordinary objects. You didn’t need to know a lot of physics to be impressed by the image. The black hole it showed was some 55 million light-years distant from us and had a diameter about 3 million times that of the Earth. Like the famous “Earthrise” photograph taken by William Anders during the 1968 Apollo 8 mission, showing the Earth rising over the surface of the moon, the image of the black hole calls on us to assess our place in the universe, but the two photos pull us in different directions. “Earthrise” allowed us to see our planet as a sphere in space and emphatically displays the importance of making that sphere sustainable. Seeing the black hole, in contrast, forces us to grapple with the strangeness of the universe of which we are such a tiny part.
In the same week that we marvelled at the black hole, a private Israeli lunar probe, Beresheet, experienced a technical glitch and crashed onto the surface of the Moon. Its venture into space, like Elon Musk’s SpaceX venture that plans to colonise Mars, raises ethical issues about humans’ exploration and use of the universe beyond their own planet. Are the solar system and the entire universe beyond now open for everyone to colonise, for whatever purpose they wish, if they have the means to do so?
Bu hikaye New Zealand Listener dergisinin June 17-23 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye New Zealand Listener dergisinin June 17-23 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap

A hint of mermaids
Erin Palmisano's latest novel once again has food and romance at the heart of its well-plotted story.

Execution over innovation
Big and bold ideas are fine, but being the best beats being first.

Something's wrong with all of them
Engaging dissection of the 20th-century novel likely to send the reader in search for the book under discussion.

Cell warfare
A NZ trial using immunotherapy to beat a form of blood cancer is expanding after promising results – and it's hoped the 'gold standard' treatment will soon be widely available.

The virus that stole all the smells
In this edited extract from The Forgotten Sense, Jonas Olofsson traces the rise in anosmia as a result of Covid-19 infections.

When caring is ‘woke'
Some years ago, I sat in a small plane circling over Punta del Este in Uruguay. There was a delay and we sat in tense silence until we began our descent. Outside the tiny airport, a taxi ferried us past private Lear jets; these had been the cause of the hold-up. The driver pointed to two planes side by side. \"This one is a Trump plane.\"

Getting along swimmingly
The presenters of Endangered Species Aotearoa spend a fair bit of time on and in the water in the second season.

That clingy feeling
Our pets display the same types of attachment behaviours as we do, or so it seems.

The famous furred
A peaceful little spot in LA is the final resting place for the pets of some of Hollywood's biggest names.

Gone girl
She wandered in on Thursday morning looking very wan, and climbed into her bed. I sat on the edge and stroked her back.