Rare, alien-like baby 'ghost shark' discovered off New Zealand coast

Rare, alien-like baby 'ghost shark' discovered off New Zealand coast | Largest galaxy ever discovered baffles scientists | Astronomers may have spotted an 'invisible' black hole for the first time Created for {EMAIL} | [Web Version]( February 17, 2022 CONNECT WITH LIVESCIENCE  [Facebook]( [Twitter](  [LIVESCIENCE]( [LIVESCIENCE]( Amazing science every day [SIGN UP]( ⋅ [WEBSITE](  [] Top Science News [] [Rare, alien-like baby 'ghost shark' discovered off New Zealand coast]( [Rare, alien-like baby 'ghost shark' discovered off New Zealand coast]( (Brit Finucci) Researchers have discovered an exceptionally rare, newly hatched "ghost shark" near New Zealand's South Island, according to the country's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). Translucent, gelatinous and crowned with a pair of giant black eyes on its pointed head, the alien-like baby likely belongs to one of the more than 50 known species of ghost sharks, also known as chimaeras, which live in deep water around the world. Though not exactly sharks, chimaeras are closely related to both sharks and rays, all of which are fish with skeletons made of cartilage instead of bone, according to NIWA. Full Story: [Live Science]( (2/17) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Space Exploration [] [Largest galaxy ever discovered baffles scientists]( [Largest galaxy ever discovered baffles scientists]( (Oei et al/Astronomy and Astrophysics) Astronomers just found the largest galaxy ever discovered, and they have no idea how it got so big. At 16.3 million light-years wide, the Alcyoneus galaxy has a diameter 160 times wider than the Milky Way and four times that of the previous title holder, IC 1101, which spans 3.9 million light-years, researchers reported in a new study. Named after one of the mythical giants who fought Hercules and whose name means "mighty ass" in Greek, Alcyoneus is roughly 3 billion light-years from Earth. Full Story: [Live Science]( (2/17) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] [Astronomers may have spotted an 'invisible' black hole for the first time]( [Astronomers may have spotted an 'invisible' black hole for the first time]( (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; background, ESA/Gaia/DPAC) Astronomers famously snapped the first ever direct image of a black hole in 2019, thanks to material glowing in its presence. But many black holes are actually near impossible to detect. Now another team using the Hubble Space Telescope seems to have finally found something nobody has seen before: a black hole which is completely invisible. The research, which has been posted online and submitted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, is yet to be peer-reviewed. Black holes are what's left after large stars die and their cores collapse. They are incredibly dense, with gravity so strong that nothing can move fast enough to escape them, including light. Astronomers are keen to study black holes because they can tell us a lot about the ways that stars die. By measuring the masses of black holes, we can learn about what was going on in stars' final moments, when their cores were collapsing and their outer layers were being expelled. Full Story: [Live Science]( (2/14) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Climate Change [] [Unusually cold 'Blue Blob' is slowing the rapid melting of Iceland's glaciers, but not for long]( [Unusually cold 'Blue Blob' is slowing the rapid melting of Iceland's glaciers, but not for long]( (Finnur Pálsson) The "Blue Blob," an unusually cold patch of water in the Arctic, has halved the rate at which Iceland's glaciers are melting, but a new study reveals that the effects of climate change will catch up to the massive ice chunks if temperatures are not kept in check. The Blue Blob is an undefined area of the North Atlantic Ocean located south of Iceland and Greenland. At its peak coldness, in 2015, the Blue Blob was 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit (1.4 degrees Celsius) colder than the surrounding waters. Before the emergence of the Blue Blob, Iceland's glaciers were losing a staggering 11 gigatons of ice every year due to melting. But since the cool patch emerged in 2011, that rate has more than halved to a slightly less worrying 5 gigatons a year — even though the rest of the Arctic is warming four times faster than anywhere else on Earth, according to a statement from the American Geophysical Union. Full Story: [Live Science]( (2/17) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Your Health [] [Creating 'universal' transplant organs: New study moves us one step closer.]( [Creating 'universal' transplant organs: New study moves us one step closer.]( (University Health Network) Scientists successfully converted donated lungs into "universal" transplant organs in a proof-of-concept experiment. That means, theoretically, the lungs could be transplanted into any recipient, regardless of their blood type, as long as the organs were the appropriate size. In the new study, published Wednesday (Feb. 16) in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the researchers ran experiments on the universal lungs in an ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) device, which keeps lungs alive outside the body. Within the next year-and-a-half, the study authors plan to test such organs in a clinical trial with human recipients, Dr. Marcelo Cypel, the surgical director of the Ajmera Transplant Centre, a professor of surgery at the University of Toronto and senior author of the study, told Live Science. Full Story: [Live Science]( (2/16) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Daily Quiz [] POLL QUESTION: True or false: Scientists could tell that the "ghost shark" recently found near New Zealand's South Island was newly hatched because its belly was still full of egg yolk. (Learn the answer [here]() [Vote]( [True]( [Vote]( [False](   [Sign Up]( | [Update Profile]( | [Unsubscribe]( [Privacy Policy]( | [Cookies Policy]( | [Terms and Conditions]( CONTACT US: [FEEDBACK](mailto:livescience@smartbrief.com) | [ADVERTISE]( Future US LLC © 1100 13th St. NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005