Before atomic elements came together, less than a second after the Big Bang, if particles condensed into halos of matter, these halos may then have collapsed, creating the first black holes, boson stars, and so-called cannibal stars. This is the conclusion of a new study just published in Physical Review D, conducted by a team of researchers from SISSA—Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, in collaboration with INFN, IFPU, and the University of Warsaw.