Erik Schmitt crafts clever videos using perspective and editing to create the illusion that he’s moving cars with his hands—like he’s conducting traffic. [📹 erik__schmitt]

First direct evidence of “monster stars” 1,000–10,000 times more massive than the Sun Astronomers may finally have an answer to how supermassive black holes formed so quickly after the Big Bang — something normal stars cannot explain. Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, researchers have uncovered the first clear evidence that ultra-massive “monster stars,” weighing between 1,000 and 10,000 solar masses, existed in the early universe. These enormous stars lived fast and died young, collapsing directly into massive black holes. By studying the chemical makeup of a distant galaxy, GS 3073, scientists found an unusual nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio that cannot be produced by ordinary stellar processes. Instead, the excess nitrogen matches predictions for supermassive primordial stars that generated large amounts of nitrogen through helium- and carbon-driven reactions. When these stars reached the end of their lives, they didn’t explode — they collapsed straight into black holes. Such collapses may have seeded the supermassive black holes observed at the centers of galaxies today. This breakthrough offers a new window into the universe’s first generation of stars and provides crucial clues to how early black holes and heavy elements formed during the “cosmic Dark Ages.” Researchers hope the James Webb Telescope will uncover more traces of these colossal stars in the years ahead. The simulated video depicts the birth of a primordial quasar made possible by one of these giant stars. [Nandal, D. et al., “1000–10,000 M⊙ Primordial Stars Created the Nitrogen Excess in GS 3073 at z = 5.55,” The Astrophysical Journal Letters]

This is why you tap early: a BJJ practitioner demonstrates the breaking mechanics of an ankle lock using three baseball bats.

An unexpected view in Alaska [📹 johnderting]

This road passage using a natural cave as a tunnel in China.

Rolling a molten glass sphere through bits of colored glass to create an ornament.

F-22 Raptor [📹 k2larosa]

A high-angle view embracing the brilliant Christmas lights of Đức Bà Saigon Church, Vietnam.

Red-hot metal vs ice

Queen Elizabeth II first stepped onto the Buckingham Palace balcony as monarch in 1953, greeting the public shortly after her coronation. Her final balcony appearance came in 2022 during her Platinum Jubilee — a brief yet historic moment marking 70 years on the throne.