The black hole fed on the star

Abstract Humans have long made sense of cosmic phenomena through familiar concepts from everyday experience, such as agency, intentionality, and personification. While the explanatory frameworks through which we understand the cosmos have evolved, contemporary scientific discourse increasingly addresses phenomena that are abstract, counterintuitive, and beyond direct observation. This study examines how popular science YouTube channels employ conceptual metaphors to make black hole and event horizon comprehensible to general audiences. The analysis is grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory ( Lakoff & Johnson, 1980 ), Farzad Sharifian’s (2017) framework of cultural cognition, and folk theory. The findings suggest that YouTube science communicators activate existing folk theories about monsters and predators ( Weinstock, 2017 ), containment ( Dewell, 2005 ; Johnson, 1987 ), and force dynamics ( Talmy, 1988 ) to make the abstract properties of black holes comprehensible to the public. The study proposes that science communication constitutes a form of shared cultural-cognitive negotiation on YouTube.