Black holes are among the most mind-blowing and singularly terrifying phenomena in the universe, which makes you think we'd be doing everything we could to avoid them lest we disturb them and they devour us in a fit of rage.

Scientists keep pressing the issue though, and sometimes their discoveries are kind of miraculous:

Physicists have, for the first time, discovered that black holes exert pressure on their environment.

In 1974 Stephen Hawking made the seminal discovery that black holes emit thermal radiation. Before that, black holes were believed to be inert, the final stages of a dying heavy star.

Scientists at the University of Sussex have shown that black holes are, in fact, even more complex thermodynamic systems, with not only a temperature but also a pressure. The discovery is published in the journal Physical Review D.

The team, led by Professor Xavier Calmet and Folkert Kuipers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the varsity, was perplexed by an extra figure appearing in equations that they were running on quantum gravitational corrections to the entropy of a black hole. They later realised that it was behaving as a pressure.

Ah okay, no big deal, just casually discovering a key proof of quantum field theory just by chance. Nothing to brag about.

Sure, it may make you feel kinda small to think that some physicists discovered a bombshell fact about the universe in the same way you discovered that great spice mixture you use in your weeknight spaghetti sauce.

But take heart: That spaghetti sauce is really quite good! Everyone's gotta play to their strengths!

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