In Brief

'Black Hole' Theory for Missing Malaysia Flight 370? CNN Anchor Actually Asks

As the search effort for the missing Malaysia Flight MH370 continues, some questionable theories are being floated for the strange disappearance of the passenger jet, including — it seems — black holes, Yahoo News reports. On Wednesday (March 19), CNN anchor Don Lemon mentioned receiving Twitter messages from viewers with wild theories on the missing plane, which included black holes and the Bermuda Triangle.

"I know it's preposterous, but is it preposterous, do you think, Mary?" Lemon asked Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Schiavo wasted no time. "It is. A small black hole would suck in our entire universe, so we know it's not that. The Bermuda Triangle is often weather and 'Lost' is a TV show." Today (March 20), Australian maritime officials released new DigitalGlobe satellite photos that show potential debris from the missing jet, offering a new focus for the search teams. It bears mentioning that should a real black hole actually materialize anywhere near Earth, the odds of its massive gravitational influence going unnoticed by astronomers around the world are, well, astronomical. Read the full story at Yahoo News.

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Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the award-winning Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001. He covers human spaceflight, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. He's a recipient of the 2022 Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting and the 2025 Space Pioneer Award from the National Space Society. He is an Eagle Scout and Space Camp alum with journalism degrees from the USC and NYU. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.