Invisible Dark: Lone black holes passing through the galaxy should be a pretty common occurrence in the Milky Way, but they are notoriously hard to spot. According to recently published research, we have now confirmed the existence of the first-ever lone black hole. And it's essentially in our neighborhood. A team of US astronomers led by Kailash Sahu said they have finally discovered the first isolated stellar-mass black hole traveling through space by itself. The researchers initially spotted this dark object in 2022, in the Sagittarius constellation, but their claim was disputed by a different team. However, the two groups are now in agreement: this particular black spot in the vastness of space really is a black hole. Supermassive black holes are traditionally located at the center of large galaxies, like the well-known Sagittarius A* lying at the center of the Milky Way. Potential candidates for "wandering" supermassive black holes, moving through space after being ejected from their original location, have been considered as well. The black hole described in the recently published research was discovered thanks to precise stellar observations made through the Hubble Space Telescope. The researchers made their original discovery by analyzing Hubble measurements recorded between 2011 and 2017, while their latest work relies on more Hubble data taken between 2021 and 2022. Additional observations by the orbiting Gaia telescope were also used. The wandering black hole was discovered thanks to the object's influence on surrounding stars. The black hole has no "companion" star, but it made itself known while passing in front of a dim background star. The "gravitational lens" effect magnified that star's light, shifting its position in space as well. The black hole passed the star in 2011, the researchers explain, but the star's position is still changing to this day. "It takes a long time to do the observations," Sahu stated, adding that "everything is improved if you have a longer baseline and more observations." The latest data confirms that the wandering black hole is around seven times the mass of our Sun. Based on the new observations, the second team of researchers revised their original hypothesis about the dark object, which they thought could be a neutron star. They now estimate the object has around six times the mass of the Sun, which is consistent with the new research by Sahu's team. // Related Stories The first wandering black hole ever discovered currently lies 5,000 light-years from Earth, so it should be much closer to our planet than Sagittarius A* (27,000 light-years). New solitary black holes could be discovered thanks to the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is expected to launch in 2027 – if the current US administration does not cut all "unnecessary" funds from space exploration projects and NASA before then.

What just happened? The FTC has filed a lawsuit against Uber over allegations that it engaged in deceptive billing and cancellation practices related to its Uber One subscription service. According to the agency, the ride-hailing giant made the process of cancelling needlessly difficult, charged some people during their free trial, and even signed up customers without their consent. Uber launched Uber One in 2021 with the lure of free delivery on eligible Uber Eats orders, discounts, priority service, and exclusive offers. The subscription costs $10 per month or $96 per year. The FTC's complaint alleges that Uber made ending Uber One subscriptions intentionally difficult, despite promising customers they could "cancel anytime." It's claimed that some customers who signed up for a free trial were charged before the trial ended, even though Uber said they could cancel freely during this period. The complaint adds that for some people, ending an active subscription involved navigating through up to 23 screens and taking 32 actions. Uber One perks The agency alleges that Uber would remove the option to cancel from its app if a customer was within 48 hours of their billing date. In these cases, users were told to contact customer support without being told how to reach them. There are also cases of customers who did reach customer support and were promised a return call but were billed for another cycle while waiting to hear back. // Related Stories Some customers complained that they were signed up for Uber One without giving their consent. One person said they were charged despite not having an Uber account. The FTC also disputes Uber's claim that Uber One saves customers $25 per month due to its benefits (the website now claims it is $27 per month). The agency says the figure is inaccurate and doesn't account for the subscription's monthly cost when calculating savings. Uber said it was "disappointed" that the FTC had chosen to move forward with the lawsuit. It said that canceling Uber One can now be done anytime in-app and takes most people less than 20 seconds. It added that it does not sign up or charge customers without their consent. The FTC alleges that Uber's practices violate the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA). "Americans are tired of getting signed up for unwanted subscriptions that seem impossible to cancel," said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson. "The Trump-Vance FTC is fighting back on behalf of the American people. Today, we're alleging that Uber not only deceived consumers about their subscriptions, but also made it unreasonably difficult for customers to cancel."

Love crossword puzzles but don’t have all day to sit and solve a full-sized puzzle in your daily newspaper? That’s what The Mini is for! A bite-sized version of the New York Times’ well-known crossword puzzle, The Mini is a quick and easy way to test your crossword skills daily in a lot less time (the average puzzle takes most players just over a minute to solve). While The Mini is smaller and simpler than a normal crossword, it isn’t always easy. Tripping up on one clue can be the difference between a personal best completion time and an embarrassing solve attempt. Recommended Videos Just like our Wordle hints and Connections hints, we’re here to help with The Mini today if you’re stuck and need a little help. Related Below are the answers for the NYT Mini crossword today. New York Times Across Work like a ___ – DOG Work like a ___ – CHARM Voice type that falls between soprano and alto, informally – MEZZO Black-and-white snacks – OREOS Move one’s head in agreement – NOD Down Totally out of it – DAZED Rice-shaped pasta – ORZO Engineered crops, for short – GMOS “You can’t be serious!” – CMON Villain’s counterpart – HERO Editors’ Recommendations

Table of Contents Table of Contents How to play Strands Hint for today’s Strands puzzle Today’s Strand answers Strands is a brand new daily puzzle from the New York Times. A trickier take on the classic word search, you’ll need a keen eye to solve this puzzle. Like Wordle, Connections, and the Mini Crossword, Strands can be a bit difficult to solve some days. There’s no shame in needing a little help from time to time. If you’re stuck and need to know the answers to today’s Strands puzzle, check out the solved puzzle below. Recommended Videos How to play Strands You start every Strands puzzle with the goal of finding the “theme words” hidden in the grid of letters. Manipulate letters by dragging or tapping to craft words; double-tap the final letter to confirm. If you find the correct word, the letters will be highlighted blue and will no longer be selectable. Related If you find a word that isn’t a theme word, it still helps! For every three non-theme words you find that are at least four letters long, you’ll get a hint — the letters of one of the theme words will be revealed and you’ll just have to unscramble it. Every single letter on the grid is used to spell out the theme words and there is no overlap. Every letter will be used once, and only once. Each puzzle contains one “spangram,” a special theme word (or words) that describe the puzzle’s theme and touches two opposite sides of the board. When you find the spangram, it will be highlighted yellow. The goal should be to complete the puzzle quickly without using too many hints. Today’s theme is “Counter offers.” Here’s a hint that might help you: your morning pick-me-up. Today’s Strand answers NYT Today’s spanagram We’ll start by giving you the spangram, which might help you figure out the theme and solve the rest of the puzzle on your own: CAFEMENU Today’s Strands answers CHAI ESPRESSO JUICES PASTRIES SOUP SANDWICHES Editors’ Recommendations

Dread personified Tuesday Telescope: A rare glimpse of one of the smallest known moons I'll bet you don't spend a ton of time thinking about Deimos. Eric Berger – Apr 22, 2025 8:00 am | 9 Martian moon Deimos appears dark, framed by the brighter planet Mars behind it. Credit: European Space Agency Martian moon Deimos appears dark, framed by the brighter planet Mars behind it. Credit: European Space Agency Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Welcome to the Tuesday Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light—a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We’ll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we’ll take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is filled with stars and wonder. I'll bet you don't spend a ton of time thinking about Deimos, the smaller of the two Martian moons, which is named after the Ancient Greek god that personified dread. And who could blame you? Of the two Martian moons, Phobos gets more attention, including as a possible waystation for human missions to Mars. Phobos is larger than Deimos, with a radius of 11 km, and closer to the Martian surface, a little more than 9,000 km away. By contrast, Deimos is tiny, with a radius of 6 km, and quite a bit further out, more than 23,000 km from the surface. It is so small that, on the surface of Mars, Deimos would only appear about as bright in the night sky as Venus does from Earth. But who doesn't love a good underdog story? Scientists have dreamed up all kinds of uses for Deimos, including using its sands for aerobraking large missions to Mars, returning samples from the tiny moon. So maybe Deimos will eventually get its day. Recently, we got one of our best views yet of the tiny moon when a European mission named Hera, en route to the asteroid Didymos, flew through the Martian system for a gravity assist. During this transit, the spacecraft came within just 300 km of Deimos. And its Asteroid Framing Camera captured this lovely image, which was, admittedly, artificially colored. Anyway, it's a rare glimpse at one of the smallest known moons in the Solar System, and I think it's spectacular. Source: European Space Agency Do you want to submit a photo for the Daily Telescope? Reach out and say hello. Eric Berger Senior Space Editor Eric Berger Senior Space Editor Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to NASA policy, and author of two books: Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX; and Reentry, on the development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston. 9 Comments

Carrie Pallardy, Contributing ReporterApril 22, 20254 Min ReadNovember 1, 2019: Flooding in the village of Dolgeville, Herkimer County, New YorkPhilip Scalia via Alamy Stock PhotoNatural disasters are indiscriminate. Businesses and critical infrastructure are all vulnerable. In the wake of a disaster, public and private organizations face the responsibility of recovery and resilience. That typically requires public-private coordination, but sweeping staff cuts at the federal level could significantly reshape what those partnerships look like.  More than 600 workers were laid off and the total job cuts may exceed 1,000 at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), of which the National Weather Service is a part. More than 200 employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have lost their jobs as well.  Legal pushback resulted in some employees being reinstated across various federal agencies, but confusion still abounds, NBC News reports.  InformationWeek spoke with a local emergency manager and a cybersecurity leader to better understand the role these federal agencies play in disaster response and how their tenuous future could impact recovery and resilience.  Public-Private Partnership and Disaster Recovery  CIOs at enterprises need plans for operational continuity, disaster recovery, and cyber resilience. When a natural disaster hits, they can face major service disruptions and a heightened vulnerability to cyber threats. Related:“Hurricane Sandy in New York or floods in New Orleans or fires in LA, they may create opportunities for folks to be a little more vulnerable to cyberattacks,” says Matthew DeChant is CEO of Security Counsel, a cybersecurity management consulting firm. “The disaster itself [creates] an opportunity for bad actors to step in.” Speed is essential, whether responding to a weather-related incident or a cyberattack. “What we typically say to our clients is that in order to run a really good information security program you have to be very good at intelligence gathering,” says DeChant.  For weather-related disasters, the National Weather Service is a critical source of intelligence. “The National Weather Service in particular is a huge partner of emergency managers at the local, state and federal level. Any time that we are expecting a weather-based incident, we are in constant communication with the national weather service,” Josh Morton, first vice president of the International Association for Emergency Managers and director of the Saluda County Emergency Management Division in South Carolina, tells InformationWeek.  FEMA plays a pivotal role in disaster recovery by facilitating access to federal resources, such as the Army Corps of Engineers. “Without FEMA or some other entity that allows us to access those resources through some type of centralized agency … you would have local jurisdictions and state governments attempting to navigate the complexities of the federal government without assistance,” Morton points out. Related:FEMA’s other role in disaster recovery comes in the form of federal funding.  “All disasters begin and end locally. The local emergency management office is really who is driving the train whenever it comes to the response. Once the local government becomes overwhelmed, then we move on to the state government,” Morton explains. “Once we get to a point where the state becomes overwhelmed, that's when FEMA gets involved.”  The Cuts The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is orchestrating job cuts in the name of efficiency. In theory, greater efficiency would be a positive.  “I don't think you will find anybody in [emergency] management that doesn't feel like that there is reform needed,” Morton shares. “Following a disaster most of us end up having the higher contractors just to help us get through the federal paperwork. There's a lot of barriers to accessing federal funding and federal resources.” Related:But are these mass job cuts achieving the goal of greater efficiency? In the case of FEMA and NOAA, cuts could compound preexisting staff shortages. In 2023, the US Government Accountability Office reported that action needed to be taken to address staffing shortages at FEMA as disasters increase in frequency and complexity.  When Hurricane Helene hit last year, Saluda County, where Morton works, was one of the affected areas.  “A slower more intricate reform is what is needed. What we really need right now is a scalpel and not a hacksaw,” says Morton. “If we simply go in and start just throwing everything out without taking a hard look at these programs, we're going to do a lot more damage than good.” Rethinking Disaster Recovery Plans  “All business is generally run on good intelligence about their marketplace and various other factors here. So, if you can't get it from the government today then you're going to need to replace it,” says DeChant. “Not every local emergency management office has the resources to be able to have commercial products available,” says Morton. “So, really having that resource in the national weather service is very beneficial to public safety.” With the shifts in the federal government, Mortan says it is more vital than ever for organizations to make sure they have insurance resources available. Enterprise leadership may also have to adapt in unexpected ways should calamity strike under these circumstances. “There's going to be a lot of uncertainty and that hurts the ability to make decisions with confidence,” says DeChant. About the AuthorCarrie PallardyContributing ReporterCarrie Pallardy is a freelance writer and editor living in Chicago. She writes and edits in a variety of industries including cybersecurity, healthcare, and personal finance.See more from Carrie PallardyReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

1 Google could be forced to sell Chrome A new remedies trial has begun, following last year’s ruling that Google illegally abused its search market power. (WP $)+ The DoJ alleges that Google is using AI to strengthen its monopoly. (Axios)+ Multiple states also want Google to share data with its rivals. (The Information $)+ Microsoft and other rivals will be watching the outcome closely. (WSJ $)2 The FTC is suing Uber The lawsuit claims the company charged its customers without their consent. (WSJ $)+ It claimed its customers would save $25 a month thanks to its Uber One service. (Reuters)+ The Trump administration is really going after Big Tech. (FT $)3 Inside the fight to prevent DOGE from eradicating rural health careCommunity health centers are at the mercy of grant funding. (The Atlantic $)+ Cuts to sexual healthcare have come amid a rise in syphilis cases. (The Guardian)+ Here’s a who’s-who of DOGE staff. (NYT $)+ The ACLU is going after DOGE records. (Wired $)4 Misleading political content is thriving on Facebook in Canada And it’s become worse since the country blocked news from users’ feeds. (NYT $)+ The country is preparing to vote in a federal election, too. (The Guardian)+ Meta will start using AI tools to detect underage users. (The Verge)5 How Big Tech conceals its hidden workforce in Africa They’re training AI models and moderating content behind the scenes. (Rest of World)+ We are all AI’s free data workers. (MIT Technology Review) 6 A school funded by Pricilla Chan is shutting downThe Primary School is closing at the end of the 2026 academic year. (Bloomberg $) 7 The FBI can’t find records of its hacking tool purchasesDespite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on them. (404 Media) + Cyberattacks by AI agents are coming. (MIT Technology Review)8 Bluesky is finally getting blue checkmarks‘Authentic and notable’ accounts will be able to apply. (Engadget) + It’s a mixture of Twitter’s old approach and a more decentralized option. (Wired $)9 The hidden joys of Google Maps It’s not just for navigation, y’know. (The Guardian)

During the Gilded Age in the late 1800s, railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt was the richest man in America with a net worth of $100 million, or around $200 billion today — more money than the US Treasury had at the time.After Cornelius' death, his son William Vanderbilt took over the businesses and doubled his father's fortune. He died the wealthiest private individual in the world in 1885.William's son, Frederick Vanderbilt, and his wife, Louise, purchased a 153-acre Hyde Park property in 1895. Construction on the mansion began in 1895 and was finished three years later.The mansion and its grounds are now owned by the National Park Service, which offers tours of the property. I visited the Vanderbilt mansion in February 2023 to see its opulent rooms for myself. The Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York, was home to one of America's wealthiest families during the Gilded Age. The Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider In total, Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt spent $660,000 to build the home (more than $23 million in today's money) and $1.5 million (around $53 million today) to furnish it. The Vanderbilt Mansion is now owned and operated by the National Park Service. The mansion is owned and operated by the National Park Service. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider Frederick and Louise didn't have children. After Frederick's death in 1938, he left the house to Louise's niece, Margaret Van Alen. The Vanderbilts' neighbor in Hyde Park, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, then suggested preserving the estate by converting it into a national park.The Vanderbilt Mansion opened to the public in 1940, according to the National Park Service. I bought my tour ticket at the Pavilion Visitor Center, which once served as a guest house. The welcome center. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider The only way to see inside the mansion is through a guided tour with a park ranger.Between January and May, the hourlong tours are offered daily at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. A new summer tour schedule is posted before each season.There are no reservations — $15 tickets are sold at the visitor center on a first-come, first-serve basis. The visitor center featured a Vanderbilt family tree and information about their other homes across the US. The Vanderbilt family tree. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider The Vanderbilts' largest home, the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, features 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces.The Vanderbilt family also had homes in New York City, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. We then walked through the front door into an opulent entrance hall. The ground floor in the Vanderbilt mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider The oval-shaped entrance hall was furnished with green marble imported from Italy. The space was full of decorative tapestries, sculptures, and other artifacts. The entrance hall in the Vanderbilt mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider Unlike most residences at the time, the mansion had running water and electricity. Frederick used his office to manage the affairs of the Hyde Park estate. Frederick Vanderbilt's office. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider The office contained a private bathroom that led into his den. Frederick's den functioned as his private leisure space. A study in the Vanderbilt mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider The den included a small library of books and a moose head mounted to the wall. The dining room sat 18 people, which is believed to be the largest gathering the Vanderbilts hosted at Hyde Park. The dining room in the Vanderbilt mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider The Vanderbilts hosted their first housewarming dinner party in May 1899, and only entertained about once per season. It also features a 400-year-old Persian carpet, one of the largest known Islamic carpets in the world. The dining room in the Vanderbilt mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider The carpet measures about 20 by 40 feet. After dinner parties, guests would enjoy coffee and games of charades in the formal living room. A parlor in the Vanderbilt mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider Decorated with antique Renaissance furniture, the living room featured Circassian walnut panels on the walls. The ground floor also included an 18th-century-style French salon where Louise would occasionally have tea with guests or spend time alone. A French salon in the Vanderbilt mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider Frederick and Louise had a permanent residence in Paris, which inspired the Louis XIV-style decor.Vanderbilt butler Alfred Martin told the National Park Service that when the door to the salon was closed, "that was a sure indication that Mrs. Vanderbilt did not want to be disturbed." A grand staircase led to the second floor. The grand staircase in the Vanderbilt mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider The railing of the staircase was coated in velvet to make even climbing the stairs a comfortable, luxurious experience. An octagon-shaped balcony overlooked the entrance hall, with a similarly shaped skylight above. The second floor of the Vanderbilt mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider The second floor housed Frederick and Louise's bedrooms, as well as her dressing room and several guest rooms. In the winter months, when the Vanderbilts spent time in their New York City townhouse, the home's furniture was covered with linens. A guest room in the Vanderbilt mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider When I visited in January, the guest bedrooms were staged to appear the way they would have at that time of year. It took servants weeks to cover and uncover every item in the home with custom-made sheets. Louise's bed was surrounded by a railing, as was often the case in royal bedchambers in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. Louise Vanderbilt's bedroom. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider In European palaces, railings around royal beds were utilized during daily ceremonies when a monarch woke up or during royal births. In Louise's bedroom, the railing was merely a decorative homage to the French architecture she loved.Her room connected to Frederick's through an adjoining door. Frederick's room was closed for restoration when I visited. We concluded the tour in the basement, where servants would prepare the Vanderbilts' meals in the kitchen. The kitchen in the Vanderbilt mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider The basement is also where servants stored the estate's wine and spirits, did laundry, and brought food up to the ground floor through a dumbwaiter.The mansion employed 18 servants total. Stepping out onto the grounds of the mansion, I could see why the Vanderbilts relished their seasonal country home. The view from the grounds of the Vanderbilt mansion in Hyde Park, New York. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider The mansion is situated on 153 acres of land in the scenic Hudson Valley.As our tour guide put it, "It's like they get to live in a beautiful landscape painting whenever they wish."

A large plume of smoke rises from the site in Kursk's Tetkino, Russia. General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine/Telegram 2025-04-22T12:32:04Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Ukraine says its air force struck a drone hub in Kursk, killing up to 20 drone operators. Russia used the site "to launch reconnaissance, strike, and FPV drones," Ukraine's army said. The reported attack occurred before a 30-hour Easter truce between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine says its air force struck a drone complex in the Russian region of Kursk, killing up to 20 drone operators.The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shared an image on Telegram on Monday of a large plume of smoke and debris rising from an industrial site, saying it was "used by the enemy to launch reconnaissance, strike, and FPV drones."It said the drone hub was near Tetkino, a village close to the border with Ukraine and roughly 40 miles west of Sudhza.Business Insider could not independently verify the claim, but was able to geolocate the image to the outskirts of Tetkino.The general staff said the attack took place on Saturday, before President Vladimir Putin proposed a 30-hour truce with Ukraine. It did not give details of how the attack was carried out."The Armed Forces of Ukraine will continue to destroy elements of enemies military infrastructure until a just peace will be achieved," it said.Drones have been a major part of the fighting in Ukraine, with both sides deploying them to surveil and attack. There are so many drones in the skies over Ukraine that one drone operator told BI this month that soldiers jam everything when they can't tell friendly and enemy drones apart.Russia retook the Kursk town of Sudzha in March, reducing to a sliver Ukraine's grip on the region that Kyiv's forces initially attacked last August, in a cross-border offensive that caught Russian forces off guard.Ukrainian soldiers, talking to the BBC, reported their retreat as being like a "horror movie" and described a near-constant barrage of drone attacks on departing columns.As of Monday, Ukraine still claimed to hold territory up to five miles into Russia, according to analysis by the Washington DC-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War.Much of Russia's success in retaking Kursk has been attributed to advanced drone techniques, including the use of fiber-optic drones that are immune to jamming, and the aerial targeting of Ukrainian supply lines. Recommended video

This story was originally published in The Highlight, Vox’s member-exclusive magazine. To get early access to member-exclusive stories every month, join the Vox Membership program today.When Michelle Obama announced in March that she and her brother were starting a podcast, it dug up a familiar feeling for Democrats: yearning.If only the uber-popular former first lady would just return to politics. She could just run for president, if she wanted.It’s a recurring wish, for an Obama to save the Democratic Party. And like every time that chatter comes up, the dreamers were quickly let down. The podcast has avoided the political, and Obama herself has remained mostly out of the public eye, skipping high-profile public events and not commenting on news. She’s not alone. The party’s leaders of the past have also mostly remained silent as Donald Trump and Elon Musk challenge the law, remake the federal government, and implement the Trump 2.0 agenda.This pining for Obama’s return isn’t new, but particularly during the second Trump term, it reflects something special about this moment: The Democratic Party still doesn’t have a clear leader, doesn’t have a clear direction of where to go, and keeps looking to the past for leadership.RelatedSome of that identity crisis is being fought out in public. Various governors are vying for the attention of voters pissed off at Trump and Republicans. They’re on podcasts and TV shows, at town halls and listening sessions. In Congress, they’re slowly figuring out how their constituents want them to resist Trump. And most notably, Sen. Bernie Sanders is wrapping up a multistate run of rallies against “oligarchy,” essentially anointing US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York his movement’s successor in front of huge crowds.Still, none of these individuals seem to be uniting the party in the way the most loyal Democrats might wish for.But that might be okay. If history can show us anything about what Democrats do now, it’s that opposition parties need this time without a clear leader to debate their identities, rebuild grassroots energy, and prepare for midterm elections. The Democrats’ savior isn’t coming any time soon. But that may be a feature, not a bug, of losing elections.Democrats keep looking to the past for saviorsThe hope for a great savior — either a veteran voice who can right the ship or an outsider who can rock it — might actually be an impediment as the Democrats figure themselves out. While a new guard of politicians and voices are still getting their footing or pushing for more influence, the “hero” they’re looking for won’t come around for a while — meaning the party should be using this time to rebuild and have these debates.“The very fact that Democrats are looking for a savior, seeking the man or woman on the white or black horse, is a sign that they’re not really doing what good political parties do, which is work at the grassroots, recruit people to run and make the case about why what Trump and Musk are doing is horrible,” Michael Kazin, the Georgetown University political historian who’s written an extensive history of the Democratic Party, told me.Asking for a Biden or Harris return is probably not the answer.There are some trying to make this case. Some of the loudest remaining voices on the Democratic side remain members of the old guard — Sanders, for example, or Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who led many protests against Trump and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s attempts to downsize the federal government in the first few weeks of the Trump presidency. Neither are positioning themselves as the next leaders of the party, but Sanders, at least, seems to be setting the stage for a younger voice. He remains the most popular national figure, but the younger voices who could succeed him or chart out a new chapter for the party are not nearly as popular.Those younger voices — like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, or Ocasio-Cortez — are polarizing or still relatively unknown. They all represent different paths forward for the party. And they’re all trying out different approaches to tap into the anger that the average Democratic voter is feeling. And these divisions may actually end up being helpful: They’re setting the ground for a lively Democratic presidential primary contest in two to three years, they’re offering voters an idea of what the party could still become, and all represent a new vision for the party — even if the noise right now is about the party’s disunity. They also serve a midterm purpose as well: There not being a unified Democratic leader or agenda allows individual candidates to run their own, localized races without being pegged to one figure, as they tend to be during presidential election years, like when Biden was running. So embracing that chaos and disunity might actually be a good thing.“It’s a mistake to think you just have your preexisting set of people who’ve done it before, that one of them must be a savior. And frankly, right now, as opposed to in four years, the savior isn’t going to come from one single person. I’m not convinced that’s really how it works,” Julian Zelizer, a political history professor at Princeton University, told me. “The savior might be the congressional caucuses in the House and Senate acting effectively. The saviors might be independent groups, ACLU-type groups challenging [Trump] in court. But I think it’s more an organizational moment, and in a few years, you turn to the single individual. But I don’t think there’s a superhero who’s gonna fly in right now and just totally stop this. And thinking that way is probably not constructive for Democrats.”Of course, Democrats will still be pining for a hero, a new JFK or Obama to take on the mantle of the new Democratic Party. But there’s no easy way out of the current moment of crisis. The Obamas certainly won’t be the ones to resolve it. And wanting the figures of the past to return might actually be counterproductive.This clamor has apparently made its way to the Bidens, who reportedly have offered to fundraise, campaign, and boost Democratic candidates this year and next. Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has remained quiet, while her more popular former running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, has instead embarked on an “I told you so” tour as he tests the waters for a third term as governor.But asking for a Biden or Harris return is probably not the answer. “What good is it going to do? Is it going to convince anybody [for a former president or vice president to speak up]?” Kazin said. “It’s pretty common after the party who loses the election and obviously has no clear leader, for there to be a period where it’s not clear who the leaders are going to be. That happened in some ways, after 2004 as well. Going back in history, it happened in the 1920s a lot with Democrats not winning elections, it happened after losses in 1980 and 1984 and 1988 as well. So it takes a while for that to shake out. That’s not surprising.”See More: