New observations of a merger of two black holes confirm decades-old predictions by Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and Roy Kerr. The findings emerged from analyses led by Flatiron Institute astrophysicists using the clearest measurements to date of a black hole merger taken by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

Antarctic ice is melting at a startling pace, and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in climate projections. Researchers thought westerly winds were accelerating ice loss, but a new study flips the narrative by 90 degrees, pointing instead to winds from the north.

Ten years after detecting the first gravitational wave, the detection of GW250114 – a ripple in spacetime which offers unprecedented insights into the nature of black holes and the fundamental laws of physics.

LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA celebrate the anniversary of the first gravitational waves detection and announce verification of Stephen Hawking's Black Hole Area Theorem

Soil nutrients support plants, and the animals who consume plants return these nutrients to the soil, creating a nutrient cycle. In a new study published in Ecology, scientists from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) found that in prairie grasslands, the smallest herbivores—namely prairie dogs and grasshoppers—increase rates of nutrient cycling to a greater degree than larger herbivores such as bison and cattle.