💡 Nine Rebel Astronomy Theories That Went Dark

The latest from Nautilus, and this week’s Facts So Romantic. [View in browser](| [Join Nautilus]( Together with Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here.]( This Thursday, read the latest stories from Nautilus’ Rebel Issue and this week’s Facts So Romantic—plus today’s free story below [ASTRONOMY]( [Nine Rebel Astronomy Theories That Went Dark]( Bright ideas from astronomy’s biggest stars haven’t always worked out. BY TOM METCALFE The history of astronomy has hinged on radical ideas that transformed our understanding of the cosmos and our place in it. [Continue reading→]( The latest from Nautilus’ Rebel Issue [ENVIRONMENT]( [The Part-Time Climate Scientist]( A humble steam engineer put humans in the driver’s seat. BY SIDNEY PERKOWITZ [Continue reading→]( [PSYCHOLOGY]( [The Bad Trip Detective]( The researcher delving into the downsides of psychedelic drugs. BY SHRUTI RAVINDRAN [Continue reading→]( FACTS SO ROMANTIC The 5 Best Things We Learned Today There is about one in half-a-million chance that the Pleiades cluster, made of more than 1,000 stars and sometimes known as the Seven Sisters, could have formed randomly. [Nautilus→]( Guy Callendar’s 1938 paper on human-induced climate change has now been so heavily referenced that it has become a classic, but it was hardly cited at all during Callendar’s lifetime. [Nautilus→]( Bad trips are rare: Surveys indicate that the majority of those who report having taken psychedelics never have a difficult or distressing experience, during or after the trip. [Nautilus→]( The common eastern bumblebee can survive underwater for up to a week when hibernating. [The Guardian→]( Spontaneous laughter is observed in infants as young as 17 to 26 days, well before socially stimulated laughter occurs at three-to-four months of age. [PLOS One→]( The Tree of Life: A Love Letter to Nature [PhotoVogue's 2024 Global Open Call]( invites artists worldwide to share works that celebrate nature's beauty and resilience. If you’re a photographer or videographer with a passion for the natural world your work could be included in the 2024 PhotoVogue Festival in Milan and featured in an issue of Vogue. Additionally, the two artists who submit the most compelling and meaningful work will be granted $5,000 each. The deadline for entry is April 29th, so follow the link below for additional details. [Learn More]( WE'RE CURIOUS TO KNOW... If you could communicate with only one species of non-human animal, which creature would you pick to talk to? Let us know! Reply to this newsletter with your response, briefly explaining your choice, and we’ll reveal the top answers. (This question was inspired by“Listen to World’s First ‘Chat’ Between Humans and Whales.”]([)]( Top Answers to Our Previous Question(On What Happened During One of Your Bad Psychedelic Trips) • For two days on LSD I was trapped within walls undulating over and around me—an intense and unpleasant experience. But on the third and last day as intensity morphed into delight, I ventured outside where the sun was warm and embracing, the trees and grass a loving green, and the blue cloudless Australian sky stretched into infinite possibility. – Helen B. • In 2018 I did DMT for the first time. I began disintegrating into a wave of energy that wrapped itself around the last being in existence. When I came to, on a couch, I asked my friends around me if they were sure we were still alive. The walls of the apartment were stucco, but for me they were constantly shifting patterns: zebra, TV static, rainbows, oil slicks. For months after that I questioned reality. I was scared for a long time that I was dead. – Ryan B. QUOTE OF THE DAY [“Galileo’s idea that Saturn consisted of a single planet with two large moons that almost touched it on either side—something never before imagined—lasted until 1659.”]( [That’s when Christiaan Huygens proposed that the observed changes in Saturn’s shape were caused by Earth’s view of its rings as the planet slowly changed its tilt.]( Your free story this Thursday! [PHYSICS]( [A Letter to Einstein from the Future]( Two Princeton physicists catch Albert up. BY STEVEN GUBSER & FRANS PRETORIUS Dear Albert, First, you're the greatest. The one equation in physics that everyone knows is E=mc². [Continue reading for free→]( The Rockstar and the Squid Coming from the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in western Washington, musician Katherine “KP” Paul, of Black Belt Eagle Scout, has a deep personal connection to the ocean. That’s why she was the perfect choice to read Alex Riley’s special [story]( about the search for a giant, mysterious, luminous squid—Taningia danae. We love this story because it shows how little we know about our deep oceans, and how even an animal sporting giant, flashing lights, can remain virtually unknown…until now. For the first time, you can listen to a Nautilus story on [YouTube]( or [Spotify](. Check it out and let us know what you think. [WATCH]( [LISTEN]( P.S. Albert Einstein, arguably the most influential scientist of all time, died on this day in 1955. He’s missed out on a lot, and of course there’s no way to let him know what we’ve learned about gravity and black holes since he’s been gone. But what if we could, and someone sent him a letter, a few paragraphs, updating him on how things stand now—what would it say? Two Princeton University physicists, Steven Gubser and Frans Pretorius, gave it a shot. “The Milky Way harbors a black hole at its center which contains about 4 million solar masses,” they wrote. “[We’re not pulling your leg!”]( Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher Thanks for reading. [Tell us](mailto:brian.gallagher@nautil.us?subject=&body=) your thoughts on today’s note. Plus, if you find our content valuable, consider [becoming a member]( to support our work, and inspire a friend to sign up for [the Nautilus newsletter](. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2024 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from [nautil.us](. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 360 W 36th Street, 7S, New York, NY 10018 Don't want to hear from us anymore? [Unsubscribe](