Ryan F. Mandelbaum, Author at Gizmodo

Try Your Luck at Watching the Lyrid Meteor Shower Tonight

The Lyrid meteor shower peaks tonight, but actually spotting a meteor could be tough going for lots of observers. Meteor watchers can expect around 18 meteors per hour at the show’s peak. But the bright moon, a waning gibbous two days after the full moon, could wash out some of these “shooting stars.” Seeing meteors…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 22

Hubble Telescope Turns 29, Shares Incredible Photo of Southern Crab Nebula to Celebrate

Hubble scientists like to honor the telescope’s birthday with an annual release of 4/20-worthy space porn, and this year’s pic is as stunning as ever. The image, in full below, offers an updated view of the Southern Crab Nebula. So, what are you looking at? The image shows a pair of stars, a red giant…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 18

Planet Mercury Has Solid Inner Core About the Same Size as Earth’s

A new analysis has found that Mercury has a solid inner core, just like Earth does. And Mercury’s core is just about the same size as our own planet’s. I’m biased here, but Mercury is an incredible, mysterious planet that continues to offer exciting results to scientists. Perhaps most intriguingly, it generates its own magnetic…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 18

What Do Great White Sharks Fear? Murderous Orcas

If movies were scientifically accurate, here’s how Jaws would pan out: As the film’s signature theme begins to play, a black dorsal fin slinks around the water’s surface. Great white sharks flee in fear as the camera reveals the true menace: a killer whale. Great white sharks and orcas overlap in their positions on the…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 18

Illustration: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick

How Did This Tiny Little Star Make Such a Big Sparkle?

Scientists spotted a superflare larger than some of the hugest solar storms on record—from what seems to be a tiny, almost Jupiter-sized star. The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), a sky-surveying telescope in Chile, first detected the flare on August 13, 2017. Not only is it the second-largest observed flare to come from a star…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 17

A Modified 747 Helped Spot Evidence of the Universe’s First Atomic Bond

Scientists have spotted evidence of the earliest chemistry in the Universe, thanks to measurements taken from a telescope aboard a modified Boeing 747. After the Big Bang, the Universe began cooling, and atoms like hydrogen, helium, and lithium began forming out of the free particles. When the whole Universe reached a temperature of a few…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 17

What Do Nuclear Bomb Explosions Sound Like?

On July 16, 1945, scientists first unleashed the energy stored at the center of the atomic nucleus, causing a massive explosion in the New Mexican desert. That bomb’s successors would kill several hundred thousand people, permanently alter the course of international relations, and instill a constant sense of fear across the world for the following…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 17

The Quest for the Most Elusive Material in Physics

Zack Geballe spent months screwing together pairs of polished diamonds at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Geophysical Laboratory. Theory predicted that squeezed between the diamonds’ tips could be one of the most miraculous substances of modern physics—a material that, at near room temperature, could transport electricity without losing power. He just needed to get the…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 16

Piece of a Comet Found Tucked Inside Meteorite

Scientists have found a cometary building block in an unexpected place: deep inside a meteorite, according to a new paper. The researchers reported finding a 0.1 millimeter, carbon-rich rock fragment inside of a meteorite. They interpreted it as a piece of a comet captured during the earliest ages of the Solar System when the planets…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 15

Gravitational Wave Detectors Spot Two Potential Black Hole Collisions in a Week

Less than two weeks after the gravitational wave detectors turned back on, they’ve already seen evidence of two pairs of colliding black holes. Scientists are no longer hoping just to discover gravitational waves, the ripples through space first predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Since they first detected the waves in 2015, they’ve…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 12

Why Doesn’t the Black Hole Image Look Like the One From Interstellar?

No one knew what a black hole looked like before today. Sure, we thought we knew, thanks to simulations and the now-famous black hole featured in the movie Interstellar. But today, scientists behind the Event Horizon Telescope unveiled an image of the 6.5-billion-solar-mass black hole at the center of the (relatively) nearby galaxy M87. And…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 10

What We Learned From the First Black Hole Image

Today, scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope released a picture that will go down in scientific history: the first-ever image of a black hole. But there’s more to science than pretty pictures. Alongside the release, scientists dropped six papers documenting how they created the image and what they’ve already learned about the black hole at…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 10

Gaze Into the Abyss: The First-Ever Image of a Black Hole

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here: Scientists have presented the first-ever image of a black hole. The image shows the shadow of the black hole at the center of the galaxy M87, a massive galaxy in the Virgo galaxy cluster 55 million light-years away. Its mass is 6.5 billion times that of the Sun.…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 10

Pyroclastic Flows May Spread Swift Death on a Cushion of Air

Scientists think they’ve figured out how pyroclastic flows, fast-moving bringers of death during volcanic events, can travel such incredible distances and speeds despite the friction between the volcanic material and the ground. Pyroclastic flows are searing-hot mixtures of volcanic material and gas that travel explosively down the slopes of volcanoes, sometimes traversing tens of miles…

Earth Science Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 8

Huge Lava Lamp-Like Blobs Spotted in 40-Year-Old Observations of the Sun

Scientists have found lava lamp-like blobs up to 500 times larger than the Earth in the solar wind, in data from a pair of spacecraft that launched in the 1970s. There’s a ton we don’t know about the matter blasted into space by the Sun—that’s why scientists have sent the new Parker Solar Probe to…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 5

New Mirror-Like Pools Discovered Deep in the Pacific Ocean

Scientists researching the microbial life on volcanic vents uncovered more incredible ocean landscapes from the seafloor off the coast of California. Just check this out: An international team, led by University of Georgia associate professor Samantha Joye, set out to explore sites in both the northern and southern Gulf of California, analyzing how microorganisms live…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 5

We May Get the First Close-Up Image of a Black Hole Next Week

The Event Horizon Telescope, a network of telescopes on mission to observe supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, is set to release its first results in a public press conference on Wednesday April 10. We don’t know what the results will be—but they have the potential to be utterly worldview-changing. “The event horizon…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 4

Image: British Pest Control Association/ProFlowers/Ryan F. Mandelbaum

MDMA Made Older Mice Start Socializing Like Teenagers

You might think of young brains as soft clay that can take on new shapes in response to various inputs. But as time passes, the clay hardens and is less workable—and like clay, older brains can be less likely to change in response to new situations. Scientists doing research in mice have realized this analogy…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 3

What Do Mars Rovers Sound Like?

Before meeting its end in a planet-circling dust storm, the Opportunity rover traversed nearly 30 miles over the perilous Martian surface. In some ways, we traveled along with Oppy thanks to the thousands of images it sent back to Earth. But what did Oppy’s journey sound like? There weren’t microphones transmitting sounds the sounds of…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 3

The Gravitational Wave Detectors Are Turning Back On and We’re Psyched

The LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors are set to resume their hunt for gravitational waves on April 1. This go-around, they’ll be even more sensitive thanks to a set of upgrades to their lasers, mirrors, and other components. This next run will be a big deal—for different reasons than the first two observation sessions.…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Mar 29

Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Try Your Luck at Watching the Lyrid Meteor Shower Tonight

Hubble Telescope Turns 29, Shares Incredible Photo of Southern Crab Nebula to Celebrate

Planet Mercury Has Solid Inner Core About the Same Size as Earth’s

What Do Great White Sharks Fear? Murderous Orcas

How Did This Tiny Little Star Make Such a Big Sparkle?

A Modified 747 Helped Spot Evidence of the Universe’s First Atomic Bond

What Do Nuclear Bomb Explosions Sound Like?

The Quest for the Most Elusive Material in Physics

Piece of a Comet Found Tucked Inside Meteorite

Gravitational Wave Detectors Spot Two Potential Black Hole Collisions in a Week

Why Doesn’t the Black Hole Image Look Like the One From Interstellar?

What We Learned From the First Black Hole Image

Gaze Into the Abyss: The First-Ever Image of a Black Hole

Pyroclastic Flows May Spread Swift Death on a Cushion of Air

Huge Lava Lamp-Like Blobs Spotted in 40-Year-Old Observations of the Sun

New Mirror-Like Pools Discovered Deep in the Pacific Ocean

We May Get the First Close-Up Image of a Black Hole Next Week

MDMA Made Older Mice Start Socializing Like Teenagers

What Do Mars Rovers Sound Like?

The Gravitational Wave Detectors Are Turning Back On and We’re Psyched

‘Secret Wars’ Is More Than Just an ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Sequel

The ‘Street Fighter’ Movie Knows What It Is

Trump, When Asked About White House Meeting with Anthropic’s Dario Amodei: ‘Who?’

‘The Batman, Part II’ Has Finally Found Two-Face’s Dad

TotalAV Keeps Prices Low While Covering the Basics of Online Protection

RAM Shortage Expected to Continue Into Next Year or Later

Marvel Studios’ Former Art Staff Discuss ‘Shortsighted’ Layoffs

Amazon Delivery Drones Involve a Perilous 10-Foot Drop. Users Are Posting the Apparent Results

Organ Transplants Without Lifelong Meds? New Trial Shows It’s Possible

The AI Doomers Who Are Playing With Fire

Alienware’s $350 QD-OLED Gaming Monitor Nixes Everything for a Pretty Screen

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

The Soundboks Mix Is Going to Make You the Most Popular Guy at the Park

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026