It's the first observed microblazar streaming from 12,000 light-years away ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
September 25, 2026—Bacteria share defenses with each other, Al Gore says 2026 could be a climate turning point and the JUICE space mission is about to slingshot past Earth.
—Andrea Gawrylewski,
Chief Newsletter Editor
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A black hole steals away matter from an orbiting star. Some of the matter is absorbed into the black hole, but some of it is shot into the distance in a high-speed jet stream. B. Marcote (JIVE/ASTRON)
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Astronomers have found the first ever evidence of a microblazar, an invisible stream of superfast plasma propelled by a black hole. | 2 min read
For the first time ever, Hawaii is under its third hurricane watch of the year—Hurricane Nolo is about 200 miles south of the Big Island and its path is uncertain. Here's why the islands are getting hammered by storms. | 3 min read
Fermi Explorer is a proposed low-cost private space mission to Alpha Centauri. But its goal is to answer a question that’s already been answered, writes columnist Phil Plait, so what's the point? | 6 min read
We might look back and see 2026 as a turning point on climate action, Al Gore told Scientific American this week. The climate crisis is severe, he said, but a lot of good news on renewable energy is coming out. | 4 min read
On Monday, the European Space Agency’s JUICE spacecraft will fly by Earth to help slingshot itself on its journey to Jupiter. | 2 min read
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Escherichia coli in a petri dish. Ted Horowitz Photography/Getty Images
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Bacteria Share, Too
When antibiotics attack microbes, scientists have observed bacteria share antibiotic-resistant DNA with each other to survive. But microbiologists have long suspected they might trade more than just genes. Now, scientists have shown their hunch was right. In a recent study, researchers saw bacteria transfer functional proteins to one another for the first time.
How it works: The scientists created two Escherichia coli bacterial populations. One group of cells carried a disabled, inverted gene that made them unable to metabolize a simple sugar called galactose. The other bacteria population could create a protein named Cre recombinase that could fix the disabled gene in the first population. The scientists saw that the microbes used vesicles—tiny fluid-filled bubbles enclosed in fatty membranes—to ferry working proteins to their buddies with nonfunctional genes.
What the experts say: Locating the ways that bacteria devise defenses against antibiotics is important for staving off antibiotic resistance. “Persistence is the first step to resistance,” says Christophe Herman, a microbiologist at the Baylor College of Medicine. “If we could stop that, I think it would be very helpful in stopping the rise of antibiotic resistance.” —Emma Gometz, Newsletter Editor
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AN EXCLUSIVE EVENT FOR SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUBSCRIBERS
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Some scientific questions aren’t just unanswered, but may even be unanswerable. We can never gather evidence from before the big bang, for instance, or the era when the first spark of life on Earth ignited. We may never know how long the human lifespan can be extended, or what consciousness is. Nevertheless, researchers will keep searching. Join Scientific American editors Seth Fletcher, Allison Parshall and Clara Moskowitz for a discussion of these mysteries, which are at the center of our October issue’s special package: Impossible Questions.
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Scientific American, Vol. 34, No. 26; June 24, 1876
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From the June 1876 issue: The Mygale Spider. "Like all spiders, this strange creature has eight eyes. Its mandibles are armed with sharp teeth, and its feet have retractile claws, resembling those of a cat. This 'trapdoor' creature carries its eggs enclosed in a closely woven cocoon of white silk, forming two rounded pieces, united at their border." Unlimited subscribers can download this issue from our archive.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES OF THE WEEK
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RFK, Jr., is focusing attention on electromagnetic fields. Here’s what the science says about exposure | 3 min read
Did OpenAI solve the wrong Navier-Stokes problem? | 4 min read
9 ‘boundaries’ keep Earth livable. We’ve breached 7 of them | 4 min read
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Tiny investment, enormous universe: subscribe to Scientific American for 90 days for just $1 and help keep this newsletter going.
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You people love apples! Thanks to all readers who sent in or posted your favorite kinds! You taught me about some new varieties I'd never heard of before but now will have to seek out:
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Black Winesap (an heirloom variety dating to American Colonial times)
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Pink Pearl (introduced in 1944 by Albert Etter, a plant breeder)
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Haralson (introduced by the University of Minnesota in 1922)
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Peasgood Nonsuch (looks to have been introduced in England in the early 1800s, anyone know more about this one?)
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It's a great time of year for apple sampling. Hope you get to try some great ones this weekend. Tell me all about it and send any other feedback on this newsletter to: newsletters@sciam.com.
—Andrea Gawrylewski,
Chief Newsletter Editor
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