It's potpourri time all over again

I'm immersed in writing an intriguing (to me, anyway; YMMV) new novelette. So: today's post will be more telegraphic than my usual -- and no, that's not a hint to the nature of the story. But telegraphed or not, several physics and astronomy news items have recently caught my eye. Typical visitors to SF and Nonsense will likely find these of interest, too. So here ya go ...

When giants warped the universe. "The discovery that massive black holes existed billions of years earlier than thought p...