BRAIN DUMP
SPACE
Are we being sucked into the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way?
Bryan Green
■ As exotic as they sound, black holes only interact with other matter via ordinary gravity. The reason they can be so destructive is because due to their small dimensions, their gravity becomes enormously strong at short distances. But at large distances, such as the distance Earth is from the centre of the Milky Way, the black hole’s gravity is really very weak. It’s exactly the same as it would be if the core of the galaxy was made of ordinary stars of the same total mass as the black hole, so there’s zero chance of us being sucked in. AM
ENVIRONMENT
Were the first living things plants or animals?
Tao Sung
■ Earth used to be very different to all the life that we see today. It’s believed the very
