Weekly Spark Of Peculiar #35
Space Mysteries, Robo Taxi Boost, Polarfat & More!
Hello friends ✌️,
I hope everyone is having an amazing Friday and is looking forward to the weekend!
I created this letter so I could write about cool, funny and peculiar things this world has to offer and to be able to share it with you, the world. I hope it is interesting and somewhat valuable :)
Make sure to subscribe and share if you do enjoy.
01. Rethinking the heart of our galaxy!
For decades, astronomers have been confident that a supermassive black hole, known as Sagittarius A** that sits at the centre of the Milky Way, its enormous gravity governing the orbits of nearby stars and anchoring the galaxy’s heart. But now a new astrophysical study is now shaking up that foundational idea.
So firstly, for years and years observations of stars circling around a galatic centre has been the best evidence of a super black hole chilling there.In 2023, images of a shadowy ring from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) offered direct visual support for a black hole at our galaxy’s core.
But new research is now challenging that assumption, suggesting something even stranger may lie at the heart of our galaxy: a dense core of dark matter rather than a traditional black hole.
The study proposes that an exotic concentration of dark matter could produce gravitational effects almost indistinguishable from a black hole. Tightly binding nearby stars and even bending light strongly enough to create a “shadow-like” appearance similar to what the Event Horizon Telescope has observed.
Crucially, this model could also help explain the Milky Way’s wider structure, potentially linking the galaxy’s central object and its dark-matter halo into a single unified system. While the black hole explanation remains the leading theory, the findings reveal that current observations may not be as definitive as once thought, leaving open the possibility that the centre of our galaxy is not a cosmic void, but something far more mysterious.
02. Why are polar bears getting fatter?
In a twist that might surprise many, new research from Norway’s Svalbard archipelago shows that polar bears there have grown plumper over the past two decades, even though sea ice, their traditional hunting platform has been disappearing rapidly. Scientists analysing long-term data from nearly 1,200 capture records found that, contrary to expectations, adult bears’ body condition (a measure of fat reserves) increased after 2000 despite a shorter ice season.
There are a couple of factors that could explain this unexpected trend. With less sea ice, seals, the bears’ primary prey may be forced into smaller, more predictable patches of ice, making them easier to catch. At the same time, other species such as reindeer and walrus which are now more abundant because of historical hunting protections are showing up in the bears’ diets, providing alternative calories that help them build fat.
This doesn’t mean climate change is suddenly good for polar bears everywhere, elsewhere in the Arctic, other populations are declining as earlier and longer ice-free periods reduce access to seal hunting. But the Svalbard findings show that, in specific local systems, bears can sometimes adapt their feeding ecology and maintain or even boost body condition in the face of dramatic environmental change.
03. Waymo’s $16B funding boost, autonomous vehicles hitting warp speed
Waymo has just raised a staggering $16 billion, pushing its valuation past $120 billion and sending a clear signal that autonomous vehicles are no longer a distant bet!
They’re accelerating fast into real infrastructure. The funding will fuel rapid expansion of Waymo’s fully driverless taxi service, which already delivers hundreds of thousands of paid rides each week across multiple US cities, with plans to scale into 20+ new cities globally.
What’s changed is confidence. After logging millions of autonomous miles with strong safety data and real customer demand, investors now see self-driving tech crossing a tipping point from experimental to deployable at scale.
Waymo’s raise isn’t just about robotaxis, it marks a broader shift where autonomous vehicles are becoming a serious pillar of future transport, backed by capital, regulation, and growing public adoption.
Now, is this a good thing, safer travel but in exchange for what, human interaction?
Super Facts
1. The Beatles officially broke up the band in Disney World Paris.
2. Industry Kitchen in New York sells $2700 pizza.
3. There’s an underwater post office in the Pacific Ocean.
4. Babies have more bones than adults.
04. Ibu Baron, The world’s longest wild snake
A massive reticulated python discovered in Indonesia has just been officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the longest wild snake ever measured. The female serpent, nicknamed Ibu Baron, meaning “The Baroness”. Stretched an astonishing 7.22 metres (23 ft 8 in) from head to tail when measured in January, surpassing all recently verified wild specimens.
Found deep in the forests of Sulawesi, Ibu Baron highlights the incredible potential size of reticulated pythons. The world’s longest snake species, capable of growing far beyond what most people ever see in the wild. Although longer individuals have been reported historically (with unverified claims stretching up to over 10 m), this record is based on precise recent measurement and verification.
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