Black holes are hard to imagine. While first mentioned in 1782, it took Albert Einstein, centuries later, to develop the physics that explained their existence. Bruce Balick, U.W. astronomer, describes how black holes affect the universe that surrounds them, their basic properties (e.g., size and mass), how they are made by violently exploding massive stars, how we sense them, and whether they're a possible threat to Earth. Remarkable new observations of the outer edge of visible space with the James Webb Telescope reveal the essential role they played in creating the first galaxies, the initial step toward forming life today.