Episode Details

Learn why Cygnus X-1, the first black hole ever discovered, is bigger than we thought. Then, learn about spider hearing with help from Ron Hoy, a professor of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University who studies acoustic communication in insects.  The first black hole ever discovered is bigger than we thought by Grant Currin First black hole ever detected is more massive than we thought. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/caos-fbh021821.php  The mass of Cygnus X-1’s black hole challenges stellar evolution models. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/aaft-tmo021621.php  Miller-Jones, J. C. A., Bahramian, A., Orosz, J. A., Mandel, I., Gou, L., Maccarone, T. J., Neijssel, C. J., Zhao, X., Ziółkowski, J., Reid, M. J., Uttley, P., Zheng, X., Byun, D.-Y., Dodson, R., Grinberg, V., Jung, T., Kim, J.-S., Marcote, B., Markoff, S., & Rioja, M. J. (2021). Cygnus X-1 contains a 21–solar mass black hole—Implications for massive star winds. Science, eabb3363. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb3363  Additional resources from Ron Hoy: Ron Hoy's faculty page at Cornell University: https://nbb.cornell.edu/ronald-r-hoy  Hoy's 2016 study on hearing in jumping spiders: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/10/jumping-spiders-can-hear-distance-new-study-proves  Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.