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New Clues to How the Brain Maps Time The same brain cells that track location in space appear to also count beats in time. The research...
4th Feb 2016
1

New Clues to How the Brain Maps Time

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Feb 2016
The same brain cells that track location in space appear to also count beats in time. The research suggests that our thoughts may take place on a mental space-time canvas. The post New Clues to How the Brain Maps Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The secret fast track for animal drugs Animal drugs are approved much faster than human drugs. Perhaps we could adopt the same model for...
12th Jun 2025
1

The secret fast track for animal drugs

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

12th Jun 2025
Animal drugs are approved much faster than human drugs. Perhaps we could adopt the same model for humans without compromising on safety.
Silly little rules in healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket The industry is chock full of ‘em, here's 3
3rd Jun 2024
125

Silly little rules in healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket

from Out-of-Pocket Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Jun 2024
The industry is chock full of ‘em, here's 3
Finiteness in Sheaf Topoi The notion of “finiteness” is constructively subtle in ways that can be tricky for people new to...
19th Aug 2024
91

Finiteness in Sheaf Topoi

from Chris Grossack's Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Aug 2024
The notion of “finiteness” is constructively subtle in ways that can be tricky for people new to the subject to understand. For a while now I’ve wanted to figure out what’s going on with the different versions of “finite” in a way that felt concrete and obvious (I mentioned...
Why Japan has such good railways Japan’s railways are the finest in the world. Other countries can copy its formula.
7th Apr 2026
1

Why Japan has such good railways

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

7th Apr 2026
Japan’s railways are the finest in the world. Other countries can copy its formula.
Libraries of matter Libraries contain books, yes. But they also contain latex rubber, carbon fiber fabrics, and graphene...
29th Aug 2024
1

Libraries of matter

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

29th Aug 2024
Libraries contain books, yes. But they also contain latex rubber, carbon fiber fabrics, and graphene aerogel. And in some materials libraries you can cut, cast, drill, sand, scrape, and sculpt too.
Design for the People: The US Web Design System and the Public Sans Typeface The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface that belongs to the...
2nd Jul 2024
134

Design for the People: The US Web Design System and the Public Sans Typeface

from Beautiful Public Data [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jul 2024
The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface that belongs to the people. This thoughtful public design system aims to make government websites not only look good, but to make them accessible and functional for all.
My very busy week I’m not sure who scheduled ODSC and PyConUS during the same week, but I am unhappy with their...
22nd May 2025
53

My very busy week

from Probably Overthinking It [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd May 2025
I’m not sure who scheduled ODSC and PyConUS during the same week, but I am unhappy with their decisions. Last Tuesday I presented a talk and co-presented a workshop at ODSC, and on Thursday I presented a tutorial at PyCon. If you would like to follow along with my very busy week,...
How to Beat Cancer with Viruses: An Interview with Beata Halassy How viruses kill cancers, which viruses to use, how many injections, at what stage of the cancer,...
1st Oct 2024
44

How to Beat Cancer with Viruses: An Interview with Beata Halassy

from Uncharted Territories [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Oct 2024
How viruses kill cancers, which viruses to use, how many injections, at what stage of the cancer, and much more
Fixing retail with land value capture How to create beautiful shopping streets everywhere
5th Jun 2024
102

Fixing retail with land value capture

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Jun 2024
How to create beautiful shopping streets everywhere
The Saga of AD-X2, the Battery Additive That Roiled the NBS Senate hearings, a post office ban, the resignation of the director of the National Bureau of...
1st Aug 2024
93

The Saga of AD-X2, the Battery Additive That Roiled the NBS

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Aug 2024
Senate hearings, a post office ban, the resignation of the director of the National Bureau of Standards, and his reinstatement after more than 400 scientists threatened to resign. Who knew a little box of salt could stir up such drama? What was AD-X2? It all started in 1947 when...
The Institute Behind Taiwan’s Chip Dominance TSMC (and most of Taiwan’s chip industry) spun out of one government research institute. How did...
16th Mar 2026
1

The Institute Behind Taiwan’s Chip Dominance

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Mar 2026
TSMC (and most of Taiwan’s chip industry) spun out of one government research institute. How did ITRI implement one of the most successful industrial policy programs of all time?
Adornment "Form follows function" is a maxim that an object's shape and appearance should be defined only by...
2nd Sep 2024
44

Adornment

from Tikalon Blog by Dev Gualtieri [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Sep 2024
"Form follows function" is a maxim that an object's shape and appearance should be defined only by its purpose or function. A quick perusal of any antique shop will show that this maxim is generally ignored. Humans (Homo sapiens) have been called "naked apes," but we and our...
Wandering Space Rocks Help Solve Mysteries of Planet Formation After an interstellar asteroid shot past the sun, scientists realized that there’s probably a lot of...
2nd Jul 2020
1

Wandering Space Rocks Help Solve Mysteries of Planet Formation

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jul 2020
After an interstellar asteroid shot past the sun, scientists realized that there’s probably a lot of itinerant rocks out there. The post Wandering Space Rocks Help Solve Mysteries of Planet Formation first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Tong Test for Artificial General Intelligence Most readers are probably familiar with the Turing Test – a concept proposed by early computing...
2nd Oct 2023
30

Tong Test for Artificial General Intelligence

from NeuroLogica Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Oct 2023
Most readers are probably familiar with the Turing Test – a concept proposed by early computing expert Alan Turing in 1950, and originally called “The Imitation Game”. The original paper is enlightening to read. Turing was not trying to answer the question “can machines think”....
The Gambia, Part 1 of 2 In November I visited The Gambia along with ten travellers from Quest Nature Tours. Why The Gambia,...
19th Dec 2025
1

The Gambia, Part 1 of 2

from Explorations of an Ecologist [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Dec 2025
In November I visited The Gambia along with ten travellers from Quest Nature Tours. Why The Gambia, you may ask? This tiny country is not well-known to the international community, but it is an attractive ecotourism destination. The Gambia is a stable, English-speaking democracy...
Emergent, Fringe Behaviors in Healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket tweeting out your labs, induced mental states, and more
2nd May 2025
29

Emergent, Fringe Behaviors in Healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket

from Out-of-Pocket Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd May 2025
tweeting out your labs, induced mental states, and more
Mapping the Sea Floor USGS research vessels equipped with cameras, sonar and scanners created a map of 125 square miles of...
29th Dec 2022
87

Mapping the Sea Floor

from Beautiful Public Data [alt+shift+b] in science

29th Dec 2022
USGS research vessels equipped with cameras, sonar and scanners created a map of 125 square miles of the sea floor off Cape Ann, MA.
Australia will run an overt command economy by 2040 Australia’s Fiscal Point of No Return Last September I wrote about Australian economic stagnation —...
16th Apr 2026
1

Australia will run an overt command economy by 2040

from Casey Handmer's blog [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Apr 2026
Australia’s Fiscal Point of No Return Last September I wrote about Australian economic stagnation — how taxation past the Laffer curve’s point of peak growth, zero public sector productivity improvement since 2001, and the systematic eradication of manufacturing and ICT from the...
When ChatGPT Broke an Entire Field The study of natural language processing, or NLP, dates back to the 1940s. It gave Stephen Hawking a...
29th Jul 2025
1

When ChatGPT Broke an Entire Field

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

29th Jul 2025
The study of natural language processing, or NLP, dates back to the 1940s. It gave Stephen Hawking a voice, Siri a brain and social media companies another way to target us with ads. In less than five years, large language models broke NLP and made it anew. The Quanta Podcast,...
Pit Bulls Part I: Identification Pit bull type dogs are readily identifiable
16th Jan 2026
1

Pit Bulls Part I: Identification

from Cremieux Recueil [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Jan 2026
Pit bull type dogs are readily identifiable
A New Twist Reveals Superconductivity’s Secrets An unexpected superconductor was beginning to look like a fluke, but a new theory and a second...
8th Jul 2021
1

A New Twist Reveals Superconductivity’s Secrets

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Jul 2021
An unexpected superconductor was beginning to look like a fluke, but a new theory and a second discovery have revealed that emergent quasiparticles may be behind the effect. The post A New Twist Reveals Superconductivity’s Secrets first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’ Has Been Debunked It was intuitive, even obvious. It was also wrong. The post Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’...
1st Nov 2024
124

Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’ Has Been Debunked

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Nov 2024
It was intuitive, even obvious. It was also wrong. The post Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’ Has Been Debunked first appeared on Quanta Magazine
RIP Tony Leggett It's been an extremely busy time, and there are all kinds of distressing events afoot.  Talking...
9th Mar 2026
1

RIP Tony Leggett

from nanoscale views [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Mar 2026
It's been an extremely busy time, and there are all kinds of distressing events afoot.  Talking about new science results or the funding situation can seem self-indulgent when there are ongoing global events of huge impact.  That said, it's important not to lose sight of the...
Instant Supercompute: Launching Wolfram Compute Services To immediately enable Wolfram Compute Services in Version 14.3 Wolfram Desktop systems,...
2nd Dec 2025
1

Instant Supercompute: Launching Wolfram Compute Services

from Stephen Wolfram Writings [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Dec 2025
To immediately enable Wolfram Compute Services in Version 14.3 Wolfram Desktop systems, run RemoteBatchSubmissionEnvironment["WolframBatch"]. (The functionality is automatically available in the Wolfram Cloud.) Scaling Up Your Computations Let’s say you’ve done a computation in...
Scam Cities Criminal networks throughout Southeast Asia are demonstrating the dangers of making “the ultimate...
6th Oct 2025
1

Scam Cities

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Oct 2025
Criminal networks throughout Southeast Asia are demonstrating the dangers of making “the ultimate exit.”
Metaphors mold minds Every good design is founded on a great metaphor. How to use metaphors to design more a inclusive...
21st Mar 2022
26

Metaphors mold minds

from Interaction Magic - George Cave [alt+shift+b] in science

21st Mar 2022
Every good design is founded on a great metaphor. How to use metaphors to design more a inclusive future for our cities. My IXDA Interaction 22 conference talk.
When Data Is Missing, Scientists Guess. Then Guess Again. Across the social and biological sciences, statisticians use a technique that leverages randomness...
2nd Oct 2024
69

When Data Is Missing, Scientists Guess. Then Guess Again.

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Oct 2024
Across the social and biological sciences, statisticians use a technique that leverages randomness to deal with the unknown. The post When Data Is Missing, Scientists Guess. Then Guess Again. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
High-Temperature Superconductivity Understood at Last A new atomic-scale experiment all but settles the origin of the strong form of superconductivity...
1st Feb 2023
1

High-Temperature Superconductivity Understood at Last

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Feb 2023
A new atomic-scale experiment all but settles the origin of the strong form of superconductivity seen in cuprate crystals, confirming a 35-year-old theory. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Quasi Motion” by Kevin MacLeod.
A Debate Over the Physics of Time According to our best theories of physics, the universe is a fixed block where time only appears to...
8th Sep 2016
1

A Debate Over the Physics of Time

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Sep 2016
According to our best theories of physics, the universe is a fixed block where time only appears to pass. The post A Debate Over the Physics of Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Brewster Kahle: Universal Access to All Knowledge ### All knowledge, to all people, for all time, for free Universal access to all knowledge, Kahle...
1st Dec 2011
1

Brewster Kahle: Universal Access to All Knowledge

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Dec 2011
### All knowledge, to all people, for all time, for free Universal access to all knowledge, Kahle declared, will be one of humanity's greatest achievements. We are already well on the way. "We're building the Library of Alexandria, version 2. We can one-up the Greeks!" Start...
What did Henry George think about cities? Solving the terrible urban conditions of the 1800s by abolishing cities
9th May 2024
109

What did Henry George think about cities?

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

9th May 2024
Solving the terrible urban conditions of the 1800s by abolishing cities
Iran: The Day After What's going to happen in the coming days and weeks?
3rd Mar 2026
6

Iran: The Day After

from Uncharted Territories [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Mar 2026
What's going to happen in the coming days and weeks?
Neal Stephenson: ANATHEM Book Launch Event ### _Anathem_ book launch Neal Stephenson's nearly thousand page tome...
9th Sep 2008
1

Neal Stephenson: ANATHEM Book Launch Event

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Sep 2008
### _Anathem_ book launch Neal Stephenson's nearly thousand page tome [_Anathem_](https://longnow.org/anathem/) was inspired in part by Long Now's [10,000 Year Clock](https://longnow.org/projects/clock/) project, and so a collaboration on the launch event was a natural fit. With...
Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record After 44 years, there’s finally a better way to find approximate solutions to the notoriously...
7th Jan 2021
1

Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

7th Jan 2021
After 44 years, there’s finally a better way to find approximate solutions to the notoriously difficult traveling salesperson problem. The post Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record first appeared on Quanta Magazine
In Game Theory, No Clear Path to Equilibrium John Nash’s notion of equilibrium is ubiquitous in economic theory, but a new study shows that it is...
12th Oct 2017
1

In Game Theory, No Clear Path to Equilibrium

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

12th Oct 2017
John Nash’s notion of equilibrium is ubiquitous in economic theory, but a new study shows that it is often impossible to reach efficiently. The post In Game Theory, No Clear Path to Equilibrium first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Reproducibility in materials research, and an anecdote Yesterday I attended the 40th annual summer research colloquium of the Smalley-Curl Institute at...
8th Aug 2026
1

Reproducibility in materials research, and an anecdote

from nanoscale views [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Aug 2026
Yesterday I attended the 40th annual summer research colloquium of the Smalley-Curl Institute at Rice, a fun internal conference that provides a great opportunity for undergrads (including visitors), graduate students, and a few postdocs to present their work.  The keynote...
Borneo: Ridiculous Mothing At Trus Madi Entomology Camp When doing research on the few possible "lifer" birds that I could find on this trip to Sabah, and...
14th Dec 2024
46

Borneo: Ridiculous Mothing At Trus Madi Entomology Camp

from Explorations of an Ecologist [alt+shift+b] in science

14th Dec 2024
When doing research on the few possible "lifer" birds that I could find on this trip to Sabah, and in particular, looking for sites to find the Bornean Frogmouth, I read about the Trus Madi Entomology Camp. This piqued my interest, as there is almost nothing I like more than...
Why we didn’t get a malaria vaccine sooner Hundreds of thousands of people die from malaria each year, but it took 141 years to develop a...
7th Sep 2023
1

Why we didn’t get a malaria vaccine sooner

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

7th Sep 2023
Hundreds of thousands of people die from malaria each year, but it took 141 years to develop a vaccine for it. Advance market commitments could speed things up next time.
How to Live on Other Planets: Uranus The weirdest of the planets. A blue giant, resting on its side. Could we find a home in...
22nd Aug 2019
1

How to Live on Other Planets: Uranus

from ToughSF [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd Aug 2019
The weirdest of the planets. A blue giant, resting on its side. Could we find a home in the Uranian system? Description Uranus is the fourth-largest planet and the first ‘ice giant’. It orbits between 18.3 and 20.1 AU from the Sun, making it four times more distant than...
Mixed model equivalence test using R and PANGEA How to calculate an equivalence test, and power for an equivalence test, for a fixed effect in a...
25th Nov 2019
1

Mixed model equivalence test using R and PANGEA

from Peder M. Isager [alt+shift+b] in science

25th Nov 2019
How to calculate an equivalence test, and power for an equivalence test, for a fixed effect in a mixed effects model using R and PANGEA.
What Ultimately Is There? Metaphysics and the Ruliad The Wolfram Institute recently received a grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation for...
4th Feb 2026
1

What Ultimately Is There? Metaphysics and the Ruliad

from Stephen Wolfram Writings [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Feb 2026
The Wolfram Institute recently received a grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation for “Computational Metaphysics”. I wrote this piece in part as a launching point for discussions with experts in traditional philosophy. Moving Metaphysics from Philosophy to...
Stewart Brand: Rethinking Green ### Globalizing Green Brand built his case for rethinking environmental goals and methods on two...
10th Oct 2009
1

Stewart Brand: Rethinking Green

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Oct 2009
### Globalizing Green Brand built his case for rethinking environmental goals and methods on two major changes going on in the world. The one that most people still don't take into consideration is that power is shifting to the developing world, where 5 out of 6 people live,...
WaderTales blogs in 2022 Here are brief summaries of the sixteen WaderTales blogs that were published in 2022. I have grouped...
22nd Dec 2022
59

WaderTales blogs in 2022

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd Dec 2022
Here are brief summaries of the sixteen WaderTales blogs that were published in 2022. I have grouped the blogs into sections; problems with trees, more research from Iceland, Curlews, news from the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, tracking and updates. As ever, I am grateful to...
Susan Freinkel: Eternal Plastic ### Making plastic even better Plastic is so new, Freinkel began, that among all the objects...
23rd May 2012
1

Susan Freinkel: Eternal Plastic

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

23rd May 2012
### Making plastic even better Plastic is so new, Freinkel began, that among all the objects preserved in the sunken _Titanic_ , none are synthetic plastic, because there was hardly any available in 1912. Natural plastic, however, was a familiar material. Amber was popular....
Visualizing Ship Movements with AIS Data Explore the beautiful, intricate paths of ships over a year—tracked from America's busiest ports to...
17th Sep 2024
117

Visualizing Ship Movements with AIS Data

from Beautiful Public Data [alt+shift+b] in science

17th Sep 2024
Explore the beautiful, intricate paths of ships over a year—tracked from America's busiest ports to the open ocean via AIS marine tracking data.
Why Japan has such good railways Japan’s railways are the finest in the world. Other countries can copy its formula.
7th Apr 2026
1

Why Japan has such good railways

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

7th Apr 2026
Japan’s railways are the finest in the world. Other countries can copy its formula.
Multiple Regression with StatsModels This is the third is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from...
4th Dec 2024
24

Multiple Regression with StatsModels

from Probably Overthinking It [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Dec 2024
This is the third is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. It’s from Chapter 10, which is about multiple regression. You can read the complete chapter here, or run the Jupyter notebook on Colab. In the previous...
Watt lies beneath The earth’s core is hot. So hot, that if we drilled deep enough, we could power the world millions...
15th Nov 2023
1

Watt lies beneath

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Nov 2023
The earth’s core is hot. So hot, that if we drilled deep enough, we could power the world millions of times over with cheap, clean energy, supporting renewables when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. But getting there is tough.
Martin Rees: Prospects for Humanity To think usefully about humanity’s future, you have to bear everything in mind simultaneously....
22nd Jan 2019
1

Martin Rees: Prospects for Humanity

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd Jan 2019
To think usefully about humanity’s future, you have to bear everything in mind simultaneously. Nobody has managed that better than Martin Rees in his succinct summing-up book: _ON THE FUTURE: Prospects for Humanity_. As the recent President of the Royal Society (and longtime...
Life beyond the screen Since early 2020, I've been teaching courses in Interaction Technologies and Prototyping. Switches,...
15th Jul 2021
25

Life beyond the screen

from Interaction Magic - George Cave [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Jul 2021
Since early 2020, I've been teaching courses in Interaction Technologies and Prototyping. Switches, light, gesture, motion, sound, haptics: this is all about exploring life beyond the screen.
George P. Shultz: Perspective Perspective? No one has a longer or better-informed view of world affairs and America's role than...
2nd Aug 2018
1

George P. Shultz: Perspective

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Aug 2018
Perspective? No one has a longer or better-informed view of world affairs and America's role than George Shultz, now 97. (Henry Kissinger is only 95.) Secretary Shultz was a US Marine Captain in World War II. After becoming an economics professor at MIT and the University of...
Juan Enriquez: Mapping the Frontier of Knowledge ### Mapping Life "All life is imperfectly transmitted code," Enriquez began, "and it is...
13th Oct 2007
1

Juan Enriquez: Mapping the Frontier of Knowledge

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

13th Oct 2007
### Mapping Life "All life is imperfectly transmitted code," Enriquez began, "and it is promiscuous." Thus discoveries like the one last month of an entire bacterial genome inside the DNA of a fruitfly is exploding the old tree-of-life models of evolution. The emerging map...
The New TIGR-Tas Gene Editing System Remember CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) – that new gene-editing...
3rd Mar 2025
52

The New TIGR-Tas Gene Editing System

from NeuroLogica Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Mar 2025
Remember CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) – that new gene-editing system which is faster and cheaper than anything that came before it? CRISPR is derived from bacterial systems which uses guide RNA to target a specific sequence on a DNA strand....
Philip Rosedale: 'Second Life:' What Do We Learn If We Digitize EVERYTHING? ### 2nd Life takes off What is real life coming to owe digital life? After a couple years in the...
1st Dec 2006
2
1st Dec 2006
### 2nd Life takes off What is real life coming to owe digital life? After a couple years in the flat part of exponential growth, the steep part is now arriving for the massive multi-player online world construction kit called "Second Life." With 1.7 million accounts,...
Do we get better or worse at adapting to change? Verner Vinge, in a classic 1993 essay, described “the Singularity” as an era where progress becomes...
6th Apr 2023
71

Do we get better or worse at adapting to change?

from The Roots of Progress | Articles [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Apr 2023
Verner Vinge, in a classic 1993 essay, described “the Singularity” as an era where progress becomes “an exponential runaway beyond any hope of control.” The idea that technological change might accelerate to a pace faster than we can keep up with is a common concern. Almost three...
Did Unions End Long Work Hours? Is it growth or organized labor that's more responsible for giving us shorter workdays?
4th Sep 2024
37

Did Unions End Long Work Hours?

from Cremieux Recueil [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Sep 2024
Is it growth or organized labor that's more responsible for giving us shorter workdays?
Flipping the switch on far-UVC We’ve known about far-UVC’s promise for a decade. Why isn't it everywhere?
10th Mar 2025
47

Flipping the switch on far-UVC

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Mar 2025
We’ve known about far-UVC’s promise for a decade. Why isn't it everywhere?
The beauty of concrete Why are buildings today simple and austere, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately...
17th May 2024
1

The beauty of concrete

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

17th May 2024
Why are buildings today simple and austere, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately ornamented? The answer is not the cost of labor.
Alex Wright: Glut: Mastering Information Though the Ages ### A Series of Information Explosions As usual, microbes led the way. Bacteria have swarmed in...
18th Aug 2007
1

Alex Wright: Glut: Mastering Information Though the Ages

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

18th Aug 2007
### A Series of Information Explosions As usual, microbes led the way. Bacteria have swarmed in intense networks for 3.5 billion years. Then a hierarchical form emerged with the first nucleated cells that were made up of an enclosed society of formerly independent...
A Nihilist's Guide to Meaning I've never been plagued by the big existential questions. You know, like What's my purpose? or What...
11th Jul 2016
35

A Nihilist's Guide to Meaning

from Melting Asphalt [alt+shift+b] in science

11th Jul 2016
I've never been plagued by the big existential questions. You know, like What's my purpose? or What does it all mean? Growing up I was a very science-minded kid — still am — and from an early age I learned… Read more ›
Chuck E. Cheese’s Animatronics Band Bows Out That may have been the last time I entered a Chuck E. Cheese pizzeria. And yet, when I heard that...
2nd Dec 2024
135

Chuck E. Cheese’s Animatronics Band Bows Out

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Dec 2024
That may have been the last time I entered a Chuck E. Cheese pizzeria. And yet, when I heard that the company was phasing out the animatronic bands from all but five locations by the end of this year, I felt a twinge of nostalgia. Much to my surprise, I was truly sad that the...
Where Will AI Stocks Go from Here? Summer 2026 Dispatch
3rd Aug 2026
2

Where Will AI Stocks Go from Here?

from Uncharted Territories [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Aug 2026
Summer 2026 Dispatch
Plant Sounds My early adulthood coincided with the New Age movement and its belief in many discredited past...
5th Aug 2024
26

Plant Sounds

from Tikalon Blog by Dev Gualtieri [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Aug 2024
My early adulthood coincided with the New Age movement and its belief in many discredited past ideas, such as astrology. One New Age idea that seemed strange at the time was that talking to plants helped them to grow. What could be more New Age than a hippie chick talking to a...
A nicer voltmeter clock Sometimes, electronic circuit design is mostly about wood
16th May 2026
1

A nicer voltmeter clock

from lcamtuf’s thing [alt+shift+b] in science

16th May 2026
Sometimes, electronic circuit design is mostly about wood
Tracing the Hidden Hand of Magnetism in the Galaxy Susan Clark is helping to unravel the mysterious workings of the Milky Way’s magnetic field, a...
1st Jul 2024
102

Tracing the Hidden Hand of Magnetism in the Galaxy

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jul 2024
Susan Clark is helping to unravel the mysterious workings of the Milky Way’s magnetic field, a critical missing piece of the galactic puzzle. The post Tracing the Hidden Hand of Magnetism in the Galaxy first appeared on Quanta Magazine
There was no great stagnation We may not have flying cars but we do have incredible information technology. We’re mismeasuring the...
12th Oct 2022
1

There was no great stagnation

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

12th Oct 2022
We may not have flying cars but we do have incredible information technology. We’re mismeasuring the huge benefits it is bringing.
Book Club: ‘The Island of Sea Women’ by Lisa See Little is known about Jeju- a Korean island- occupied by brutal Japanese troops in the 1930s and...
1st Sep 2021
60

Book Club: ‘The Island of Sea Women’ by Lisa See

from Marine Madness [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Sep 2021
Little is known about Jeju- a Korean island- occupied by brutal Japanese troops in the 1930s and ’40s, later liberated by US forces and turned over to the even more barbarous Korean regime whose wrongdoings were overlooked by both American and U.N. occupiers. Lisa See travels...
Do you know what GDP is? I thought I knew! But the more I introspected, the hazy my understanding got. Is GDP amount of stuff...
1st May 2025
41

Do you know what GDP is?

from Inverted Passion [alt+shift+b] in science

1st May 2025
I thought I knew! But the more I introspected, the hazy my understanding got. Is GDP amount of stuff produced or consumed? Does it include imports or exports? What does it have to do with well being? Why does it keep increasing? So, I fired up Claude and started understanding...
Home Assistant-compatible air quality sensor I recently moved and our new home is equipped with a ventilation system that distributes fresh...
13th Dec 2021
45

Home Assistant-compatible air quality sensor

from Willem Pennings [alt+shift+b] in science

13th Dec 2021
I recently moved and our new home is equipped with a ventilation system that distributes fresh (outside) air through the house and recoups heat from the air that is exhausted. There is a problem with this system, though. Sometimes, for example when a neighbour lights their wood...
Covid-19 mRNA Vaccines Win Nobel Prize for Medicine 2023 Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine...
2nd Oct 2023
23

Covid-19 mRNA Vaccines Win Nobel Prize for Medicine 2023

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Oct 2023
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries leading to mRNA vaccines, such as those that protect against COVID-19. The post Covid-19 mRNA Vaccines Win Nobel Prize for Medicine 2023 first appeared on...
Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 1: Introduction, Phoenix to Miller Canyon Earlier this summer, Laura and I were trying to determine where we would visit for a couple of mini...
22nd Sep 2024
23

Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 1: Introduction, Phoenix to Miller Canyon

from Explorations of an Ecologist [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd Sep 2024
Earlier this summer, Laura and I were trying to determine where we would visit for a couple of mini vacations. Due to the variations in her work schedule, Laura had two blocks of time - a five-day chunk in early August, and six days in early September - and we wanted to make the...
Lord Kelvin and His Analog Computer William Thomson, mourning the death of his wife and flush with cash from various patents related to...
2nd Jun 2024
128

Lord Kelvin and His Analog Computer

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jun 2024
William Thomson, mourning the death of his wife and flush with cash from various patents related to the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable, decided to buy a yacht. His schooner, the Lalla Rookh, became Thomson’s summer home and his base for hosting scientific...
Tiny Exploding Houses Promoted 18th-Century Lightning Rods Imagine if engineers were required to build a working model to demonstrate every new technological...
1st Apr 2023
43

Tiny Exploding Houses Promoted 18th-Century Lightning Rods

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Apr 2023
Imagine if engineers were required to build a working model to demonstrate every new technological concept to the general public. Done right, tech literacy might soar! A compelling visual example can really help people understand the applications and implications of new...
Polar Night Surreal and otherworldly.
22nd May 2023
185

Polar Night

from brr [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd May 2023
Surreal and otherworldly.
Cryptography That Is Provably Secure Researchers have just released hacker-proof cryptographic code — programs with the same level of...
6th Feb 2020
1

Cryptography That Is Provably Secure

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Feb 2020
Researchers have just released hacker-proof cryptographic code — programs with the same level of invincibility as a mathematical proof. The post Cryptography That Is Provably Secure first appeared on Quanta Magazine
16th Jan 2025
$F_2 \times F_2$ is Incoherent -- A Polite Spectral Sequence Computation Yesterday I watched my friend Jialin Wang defend her thesis, and as part of her background section...
3rd Sep 2025
39

$F_2 \times F_2$ is Incoherent -- A Polite Spectral Sequence Computation

from Chris Grossack's Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Sep 2025
Yesterday I watched my friend Jialin Wang defend her thesis, and as part of her background section she mentioned that the group $F_2 \times F_2$ is incoherent in the sense that it has a subgroup that’s finitely generated and not finitely presented. I was curious how one might...
Will Wright & Brian Eno: Playing with Time ### Generative play In a dazzling duet Will Wright and Brian Eno gave an intense clinic on the joys...
27th Jun 2006
1

Will Wright & Brian Eno: Playing with Time

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

27th Jun 2006
### Generative play In a dazzling duet Will Wright and Brian Eno gave an intense clinic on the joys and techniques of "generative" creation. Back in the 1970s both speakers got hooked by cellular automata such as Conway's "Game of Life," where just a few simple rules could...
Detecting Online Predatory Journals The World Wide Web has proven to be a transformative communication technology (we are using it right...
2nd Sep 2025
37

Detecting Online Predatory Journals

from NeuroLogica Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Sep 2025
The World Wide Web has proven to be a transformative communication technology (we are using it right now). At the same time there have been some rather negative unforeseen consequences. Significantly lowering the threshold for establishing a communications outlet has democratized...
Risk-Adjusted Return What are we afraid of?
15th Apr 2026
1

Risk-Adjusted Return

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Apr 2026
What are we afraid of?
Michael Pollan: Deep Agriculture ### Making farmers cool again Farming has become an occupation and cultural force of the past....
6th May 2009
1

Michael Pollan: Deep Agriculture

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

6th May 2009
### Making farmers cool again Farming has become an occupation and cultural force of the past. Michael Pollan's talk promoted the premise - and hope - that farming can become an occupation and force of the future. In the past century American farmers were given the assignment to...
Reflections of a postgrad lecturer-in-training: Part 1 In a previous post, I mentioned that I was beginning a stint as postgraduate teaching intern at UWA,...
9th Mar 2013
55

Reflections of a postgrad lecturer-in-training: Part 1

from Confessions of a Marine Ecologist [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Mar 2013
In a previous post, I mentioned that I was beginning a stint as postgraduate teaching intern at UWA, and that part of the internship involved keeping a reflective journal.  So I’ve decided that instead of merely writing down my thoughts (and possibly becoming lazy about it as the...
Unleashing the Advantage of Quantum AI As experimental capabilities advance rapidly, the quantum computing community faces a critical...
10th Apr 2026
1

Unleashing the Advantage of Quantum AI

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Apr 2026
As experimental capabilities advance rapidly, the quantum computing community faces a critical elephant in the room: What will these quantum machines eventually be useful for? Will they deliver the promised broad societal impact, or will they remain highly specialized devices …...
Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT — “brightest of all time” — appears to have produced a...
1st Mar 2023
1

Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Mar 2023
A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT — “brightest of all time” — appears to have produced a high-energy particle that shouldn’t exist. For some, dark matter provides the explanation. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Pulse” by Geographer.
The road from serfdom Unwinding Russian serfdom took half a century. To eventually do it in the face of powerful...
16th Feb 2024
1

The road from serfdom

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Feb 2024
Unwinding Russian serfdom took half a century. To eventually do it in the face of powerful opposition took a remarkable approach that let peasants vote themselves into freedom.
An Empty Product of Nonempty Sets A few days ago I saw a cute question on mse asking about a particularly non-intuitive failing of...
4th Jun 2025
43

An Empty Product of Nonempty Sets

from Chris Grossack's Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Jun 2025
A few days ago I saw a cute question on mse asking about a particularly non-intuitive failing of the axiom of choice. I remember when I was an undergrad talking to a friend of mine about various statements equivalent to choice, and being particularly hung up on the same...
Vernor Vinge: What If the Singularity Does NOT Happen? ### Non-Singularity scenarios Vinge began by declaring that he still believes that a Singularity...
16th Feb 2007
1

Vernor Vinge: What If the Singularity Does NOT Happen?

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Feb 2007
### Non-Singularity scenarios Vinge began by declaring that he still believes that a Singularity event in the next few decades is the most likely outcome-- meaning that self-accelerating technologies will speed up to the point of so profound a transformation that the other side...
Annalee Newitz: Science Needs Fiction Science fiction does more than predict future inventions. Stories are a testbed for exploring the...
14th Jul 2020
1

Annalee Newitz: Science Needs Fiction

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

14th Jul 2020
Science fiction does more than predict future inventions. Stories are a testbed for exploring the unexpected ways people could incorporate technology into their cultures. Science journalist and novelist [Annalee Newitz](http://techsploitation.com) discusses how scientists,...
What to Make of Havana Syndrome I have not written before about Havana Syndrome, mostly because I have not been able to come to any...
1st Apr 2024
97

What to Make of Havana Syndrome

from NeuroLogica Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Apr 2024
I have not written before about Havana Syndrome, mostly because I have not been able to come to any strong conclusions about it. In 2016 there was a cluster of strange neurological symptoms among people working at the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba. They would suddenly experience...
James Fallows: Civilization's Infrastructure ### Infrastructure investment tricks All societies under-invest in their infrastructure—in the...
7th Oct 2015
1

James Fallows: Civilization's Infrastructure

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

7th Oct 2015
### Infrastructure investment tricks All societies under-invest in their infrastructure—in the systems that allow them to thrive. There is hardware infrastructure: clean water, paved roads, sewer systems, airports, broadband; and, Fallows suggested, software infrastructure:...
(Ethically dubious) ways to give patients more choice | Out-Of-Pocket Do these ideas give you the ick? Or is there something interesting here
4th Sep 2025
31

(Ethically dubious) ways to give patients more choice | Out-Of-Pocket

from Out-of-Pocket Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Sep 2025
Do these ideas give you the ick? Or is there something interesting here
Tony Hsieh: Helping Revitalize a City ### The downtown company The business advice that Tony Hsieh most took to heart came from an ad...
23rd Apr 2014
1

Tony Hsieh: Helping Revitalize a City

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

23rd Apr 2014
### The downtown company The business advice that Tony Hsieh most took to heart came from an ad executive: “A great brand is a story that never stops unfolding.” With his own company, Zappos, he determined that “brand equals culture,” and made quality of culture the top...
New Theory Cracks Open the Black Box of Deep Learning A new idea is helping to explain the puzzling success of today’s artificial-intelligence algorithms...
1st Mar 2018
1

New Theory Cracks Open the Black Box of Deep Learning

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Mar 2018
A new idea is helping to explain the puzzling success of today’s artificial-intelligence algorithms — and might also explain how human brains learn. The post New Theory Cracks Open the Black Box of Deep Learning first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wade Davis: The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World ### Native guidance What does it mean to be human and alive? The thousands of different cultures...
14th Jan 2010
1
14th Jan 2010
### Native guidance What does it mean to be human and alive? The thousands of different cultures and languages on Earth have compellingly different answers to that question. "We are a wildly imaginative and creative species," Davis declared, and then proved it with his accounts...
Event, Feb 29: “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” in Boston and on Zoom On Thursday, February 29, I’ll be giving my talk “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” to the New...
21st Feb 2024
109

Event, Feb 29: “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” in Boston and on Zoom

from The Roots of Progress | Articles [alt+shift+b] in science

21st Feb 2024
On Thursday, February 29, I’ll be giving my talk “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” to the New England Legal Foundation, for their Economic Liberty Speaker Series. The talk will be held over breakfast at NELF’s offices in Boston, and will also be livestreamed over Zoom. See...
0.9999... ≊ 1 What is infinity, and why it's not trivial to show that 0.9999... is equal to 1.
1st Jun 2025
1

0.9999... ≊ 1

from lcamtuf’s thing [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jun 2025
What is infinity, and why it's not trivial to show that 0.9999... is equal to 1.
Astrobiology meets quantum computation? The origin of life appears to share little with quantum computation, apart from the difficulty of...
23rd Oct 2023
86

Astrobiology meets quantum computation?

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

23rd Oct 2023
The origin of life appears to share little with quantum computation, apart from the difficulty of achieving it and its potential for clickbait. Yet similar notions of complexity have recently garnered attention in both fields. Each topic’s researchers expect only … Continue...
My favorite rocket scientist Whenever someone protests, “I’m not a rocket scientist,” I think of my friend Jamie Rankin. Jamie is...
8th Jul 2024
113

My favorite rocket scientist

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Jul 2024
Whenever someone protests, “I’m not a rocket scientist,” I think of my friend Jamie Rankin. Jamie is a researcher at Princeton University, and she showed me her lab this June. When I first met Jamie, she was testing instruments to … Continue reading →
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 8: Pale-billed Antpittas In The Elfin Forest (February 10, 2024) February 10, 2024 The Pale-billed Antpitta is a large, fancy-looking Grallaria antpitta only found...
8th Jun 2024
23
8th Jun 2024
February 10, 2024 The Pale-billed Antpitta is a large, fancy-looking Grallaria antpitta only found in the high Andes of northern Peru. Because of its proclivity towards dense forest with an abundance of bamboo, there are few places where this species can be easily found. These...
Happy 200th birthday, Carnot’s theorem! In Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, a Mole meets a Water Rat who lives on a...
28th Nov 2024
103

Happy 200th birthday, Carnot’s theorem!

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

28th Nov 2024
In Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, a Mole meets a Water Rat who lives on a River. The Rat explains how the River permeates his life: “It’s brother and sister to me, and aunts, and company, … Continue reading →
Oxygen and Stem Cells May Have Reshaped Early Complex Animals An unlikely team offers a controversial hypothesis about what enabled animal life to get more...
3rd Jan 2019
1

Oxygen and Stem Cells May Have Reshaped Early Complex Animals

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Jan 2019
An unlikely team offers a controversial hypothesis about what enabled animal life to get more complex during the Cambrian explosion. The post Oxygen and Stem Cells May Have Reshaped Early Complex Animals first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Adrian Hon: A History of the Future in 100 Objects ### Future artifacts Speaking from 02082, Hon described 5 (of 100) objects and events from this...
17th Jul 2014
1

Adrian Hon: A History of the Future in 100 Objects

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

17th Jul 2014
### Future artifacts Speaking from 02082, Hon described 5 (of 100) objects and events from this century’s history he felt most strongly evoked the astonishing trends that have transformed humanity in the past 8 decades. Not all developments proved to be positive. One such was...
A Domesticated Dingo? No, but Some Are Getting Less Wild Near an Australian desert mining camp, wild dingoes are losing their fear of humans. Their genetic...
9th Aug 2018
1

A Domesticated Dingo? No, but Some Are Getting Less Wild

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Aug 2018
Near an Australian desert mining camp, wild dingoes are losing their fear of humans. Their genetic and behavioral changes may echo those from the domestication of dogs. The post A Domesticated Dingo? No, but Some Are Getting Less Wild first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Edith Clarke: Architect of Modern Power Distribution Edith Clarke was a powerhouse in practically every sense of the word. From the start of her career...
10th Jul 2024
123

Edith Clarke: Architect of Modern Power Distribution

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Jul 2024
Edith Clarke was a powerhouse in practically every sense of the word. From the start of her career at General Electric in 1922, she was determined to develop stable, more reliable power grids. During her first years at GE she invented what came to be known as the Clarke...
Hunting For Kobyla On a January day in 1964, something remarkable happened: Simon Wiesenthal took the afternoon off. He...
7th Feb 2022
46

Hunting For Kobyla

from Damn Interesting [alt+shift+b] in science

7th Feb 2022
On a January day in 1964, something remarkable happened: Simon Wiesenthal took the afternoon off. He parked himself at a table on the terrace of Tel Aviv’s Café Roval, soaking up the sunshine as if he wished to bottle it. The friend he’d come to meet was late, but Wiesenthal had...
The USGS Cooperative National Geologic Map A new, colorful map from the USGS synthesizes decades of state and federal geologic surveys to...
1st Dec 2025
1

The USGS Cooperative National Geologic Map

from Beautiful Public Data [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Dec 2025
A new, colorful map from the USGS synthesizes decades of state and federal geologic surveys to create the most detailed visualization of the geology of the contiguous United States to date.
What’s a Chartist? Recently I heard the word “chartist” for the first time in my life (that I recall). And then later...
19th Nov 2024
17

What’s a Chartist?

from Probably Overthinking It [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Nov 2024
Recently I heard the word “chartist” for the first time in my life (that I recall). And then later the same day, I heard it again. So that raises two questions: To answer the second question first, it’s someone who supported chartism, which was “a working-class movement for...
Organisms Are Not Made Of Atoms Individuality is a process.
12th Feb 2022
23

Organisms Are Not Made Of Atoms

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

12th Feb 2022
Individuality is a process.
The Math of Catastrophe Around 6,000 years ago, the Sahara was a lush grassland. Then, as if a switch flipped, it began to...
14th Oct 2025
1

The Math of Catastrophe

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

14th Oct 2025
Around 6,000 years ago, the Sahara was a lush grassland. Then, as if a switch flipped, it began to dry out, becoming the desert that we know today. Tipping points are moments in Earth’s history where gradual change suddenly becomes rapid and forms a new equilibrium. They’re one...
Brian Eno: The Long Now ### The Long Now Brian told the origins of his realizations about the "small here" versus the "big...
15th Nov 2003
1

Brian Eno: The Long Now

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Nov 2003
### The Long Now Brian told the origins of his realizations about the "small here" versus the "big here" and the "short now" versus the "long now." He noted that the Big Here is pretty well popularized now, with exotic restaurants everywhere, "world" music, globalization, and...
Think Linear Algebra I have published the first five chapters of Think Linear Algebra! You can read them here or follow...
22nd Sep 2025
19

Think Linear Algebra

from Probably Overthinking It [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd Sep 2025
I have published the first five chapters of Think Linear Algebra! You can read them here or follow these links to run the notebooks on Colab. Here are the chapters I have so far: Chapter 1: The Power of Linear AlgebraIntroduces matrix multiplication and eigenvectors through a...
Preparing For The Habitable Worlds Observatory, Our Best Shot at Finding ET Life In a solar system far, far away, life of some sort is just waiting to be found.  Or so the world of...
17th Oct 2023
49
17th Oct 2023
In a solar system far, far away, life of some sort is just waiting to be found.  Or so the world of astrobiology sure hopes it is. The new player in the astrobiology world, now called the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), is planned to launch in the 2040s if all goes well. ...
How Value-Based Care Contracting Works with Accorded | Out-Of-Pocket With calculators and contracts you can see yourself
19th Sep 2023
29

How Value-Based Care Contracting Works with Accorded | Out-Of-Pocket

from Out-of-Pocket Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Sep 2023
With calculators and contracts you can see yourself
Cryptographers Discover a New Foundation for Quantum Secrecy Researchers have proved that secure quantum encryption is possible in a world without hard problems....
3rd Jun 2024
118

Cryptographers Discover a New Foundation for Quantum Secrecy

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Jun 2024
Researchers have proved that secure quantum encryption is possible in a world without hard problems. The post Cryptographers Discover a New Foundation for Quantum Secrecy first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Many Worlds Archive is Available I had the pleasure of reporting and writing the Many Worlds column — sponsored by NASA’s NExSS...
14th Nov 2023
72

Many Worlds Archive is Available

from Many Worlds [alt+shift+b] in science

14th Nov 2023
I had the pleasure of reporting and writing the Many Worlds column — sponsored by NASA’s NExSS initiative and the Lunar & Planetary Institute — for almost eight years. But the run came to an end in October. Now an archive of the more than 400 columns is easily available at...
To Conquer the Primary Energy Consumption Layer of Our Entire Civilization [Originally posted on the Terraform blog April 3, 2025.] Three years ago we set out to make cheap...
8th Apr 2025
81

To Conquer the Primary Energy Consumption Layer of Our Entire Civilization

from Casey Handmer's blog [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Apr 2025
[Originally posted on the Terraform blog April 3, 2025.] Three years ago we set out to make cheap synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air. At the time I didn’t fully appreciate that we had kicked off the process of recompiling the foundation layer of our entire industrial...
What I’ve been reading, September 2023 A quasi-monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them...
6th Sep 2023
313

What I’ve been reading, September 2023

from The Roots of Progress | Articles [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Sep 2023
A quasi-monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests. I’ve been busy helping to choose the first cohort of our blogging fellowship, so my reading has been relatively light. All emphasis in bold in the quotes...
What Are My Politics? And my unrefined thoughts on US politics
1st Apr 2025
44

What Are My Politics?

from Uncharted Territories [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Apr 2025
And my unrefined thoughts on US politics
Sculpting quantum steampunk In 2020, many of us logged experiences that we’d never anticipated. I wrote a nonfiction book and...
28th Oct 2024
81

Sculpting quantum steampunk

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

28th Oct 2024
In 2020, many of us logged experiences that we’d never anticipated. I wrote a nonfiction book and got married outside the Harvard Faculty Club (because nobody was around to shoo us away). Equally unexpectedly, I received an invitation to collaborate … Continue reading →
Why Earth’s Cracked Crust May Be Essential for Life Life needs more than water alone. Recent discoveries suggest that plate tectonics has played a...
11th Apr 2019
1

Why Earth’s Cracked Crust May Be Essential for Life

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

11th Apr 2019
Life needs more than water alone. Recent discoveries suggest that plate tectonics has played a critical role in nourishing life on Earth. The findings carry major consequences for the search for life elsewhere in the universe. The post Why Earth’s Cracked Crust May Be...
What Is an Electronic Sackbut? If you, like me, think of musical synthesizers as an artifact of 1970s rock and disco, then you,...
1st Feb 2024
105

What Is an Electronic Sackbut?

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Feb 2024
If you, like me, think of musical synthesizers as an artifact of 1970s rock and disco, then you, like me, will be surprised to learn that the first electronic synthesizer predates those genres by several decades In 1945, Hugh Le Caine, a physicist at Canada’s National Research...
GOES Video of Solar Eclipse – October 14, 2023 Solar eclipses have fascinated humanity since ancient times and the annular eclipse of October 14,...
14th Oct 2023
71

GOES Video of Solar Eclipse – October 14, 2023

from Drew Ex Machina [alt+shift+b] in science

14th Oct 2023
Solar eclipses have fascinated humanity since ancient times and the annular eclipse of October 14, 2023 was no different. Unlike a total solar eclipse where the […]
Carl Zimmer: Viral Time ### What's time to a virus? "Everything about viruses is extreme," Zimmer began. The number of...
8th Jun 2011
1

Carl Zimmer: Viral Time

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Jun 2011
### What's time to a virus? "Everything about viruses is extreme," Zimmer began. The number of viruses on Earth is estimated to be 1 followed by 31 zeroes. Small as they are, if you stacked them all up, the stack would reach 100 million light years. They are the planet's most...
Internet Harvest (2024, 1) Free covid treatment for everyone in the US, a novel orthopox virus, a really big machine, cameras...
13th Mar 2024
162

Internet Harvest (2024, 1)

from Eukaryote Writes Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

13th Mar 2024
Free covid treatment for everyone in the US, a novel orthopox virus, a really big machine, cameras used for good and evil, ant heaven now, and more.
It from Qubit: The Last Hurrah Editor’s note: Since 2015, the Simons Foundation has supported the “It from Qubit” collaboration, a...
9th Aug 2023
33

It from Qubit: The Last Hurrah

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Aug 2023
Editor’s note: Since 2015, the Simons Foundation has supported the “It from Qubit” collaboration, a group of scientists drawing on ideas from quantum information theory to address deep issues in fundamental physics. The collaboration held its “Last Hurrah” event at … Continue...
The Race between Waymo, Cybercab, and Uber One of the big tech transformations of 2026 will be robotaxis.
1st Jan 2026
1

The Race between Waymo, Cybercab, and Uber

from Uncharted Territories [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jan 2026
One of the big tech transformations of 2026 will be robotaxis.
The sequel This October, fantasy readers are devouring a sequel: the final installment in Philip Pullman’s...
27th Oct 2025
32

The sequel

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

27th Oct 2025
This October, fantasy readers are devouring a sequel: the final installment in Philip Pullman’s trilogy The Book of Dust. The series follows student Lyra Silvertongue as she journeys from Oxford to the far east. Her story features alternate worlds, souls … Continue reading →
Fixing my heating system The heating system in my apartment building consists of a group of heat pumps that deliver warm...
3rd May 2024
76

Fixing my heating system

from Willem Pennings [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd May 2024
The heating system in my apartment building consists of a group of heat pumps that deliver warm water to the underfloor heating system of about a dozen apartments, including mine. During the warm summer months, the system supplies cool water instead. The heat pumps figure out...
Harvesting Energy from Water Vapor I did not plan to write yet another post about energy, but this popped up and I had to write about...
1st Jun 2023
91

Harvesting Energy from Water Vapor

from NeuroLogica Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jun 2023
I did not plan to write yet another post about energy, but this popped up and I had to write about it. UMASS researchers have produced a device that generates electricity by harvesting charge from water vapor. They write: The common feature of these materials is that they are...
The world of tomorrow When the future arrived, it felt… ordinary. What happened to the glamour of tomorrow?
2nd Jun 2025
26

The world of tomorrow

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jun 2025
When the future arrived, it felt… ordinary. What happened to the glamour of tomorrow?
Deep Learning Poised to 'Blow Up' Famed Fluid Equations For centuries, mathematicians have tried to prove that Euler’s fluid equations can produce...
3rd Aug 2022
1

Deep Learning Poised to 'Blow Up' Famed Fluid Equations

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Aug 2022
For centuries, mathematicians have tried to prove that Euler’s fluid equations can produce nonsensical answers. A new approach to machine learning has researchers betting that “blowup” is near. Read more at quantamagazine.org. Music is “Pulse” by Geographer.
Making energy too cheap to meter The great slowdown began when we started rationing energy. Restarting progress means getting energy...
12th Oct 2022
1

Making energy too cheap to meter

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

12th Oct 2022
The great slowdown began when we started rationing energy. Restarting progress means getting energy that is so abundant that it’s almost free.
Saving the Big Bang (Antenna) The antenna that discovered a cosmic microwave background coming from all directions in...
10th Feb 2023
37

Saving the Big Bang (Antenna)

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Feb 2023
The antenna that discovered a cosmic microwave background coming from all directions in space—cementing the theory that the universe was created in a big bang—now stares down its own topsy-turvy future. Its owner says the hardware will be preserved, but the fate of the historical...
Ramez Naam: Enhancing Humans, Advancing Humanity ### Enhancing humans and humanity Beginning with the accelerating pace of biotech tools for human...
23rd Jul 2015
1

Ramez Naam: Enhancing Humans, Advancing Humanity

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

23rd Jul 2015
### Enhancing humans and humanity Beginning with the accelerating pace of biotech tools for human health and enhancement, Naam noted that health issues such as disease prevention will be drastically easier to implement than enhancement. Preventing some hereditary diseases can be...
How mind bootstraps itself Daniel Dennett, who recently passed away, is an inspiration for people like me who love grand ideas...
1st Jun 2026
1

How mind bootstraps itself

from Inverted Passion [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jun 2026
Daniel Dennett, who recently passed away, is an inspiration for people like me who love grand ideas that connect many different fields at a deep level (and be rigorous about that; well as rigorous as grand theories can be). His thinking is difficult to categorize: part...
What Made the Moon? New Ideas Try to Rescue a Troubled Theory Textbooks say that the moon was formed after a Mars-size mass smashed the young Earth. But new...
17th Nov 2017
1

What Made the Moon? New Ideas Try to Rescue a Troubled Theory

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

17th Nov 2017
Textbooks say that the moon was formed after a Mars-size mass smashed the young Earth. But new evidence has cast doubt on that story, leaving researchers to dream up new ways to get a giant rock into orbit. The post What Made the Moon? New Ideas Try to Rescue a...
The Unceasing Cessna Hacienda Warren “Doc” Bayley was a man of the people. When he and his wife Judy opened their Las Vegas resort...
26th Oct 2021
51

The Unceasing Cessna Hacienda

from Damn Interesting [alt+shift+b] in science

26th Oct 2021
Warren “Doc” Bayley was a man of the people. When he and his wife Judy opened their Las Vegas resort in 1956, Bayley had no plans to compete with the flashier, corporate casinos at the center of the Strip. Instead, the Hacienda Hotel catered to families, as well as to locals who...
Pushing the Envelope As is often the case with people in dangerous professions, the Apollo astronauts found that life...
15th Apr 2021
38

Pushing the Envelope

from Damn Interesting [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Apr 2021
As is often the case with people in dangerous professions, the Apollo astronauts found that life insurance policies were prohibitively expensive. Rather than pay the exorbitant insurance fees, the astronauts devised a system to ensure their wives and children would be financially...
Nicole’s guide to navigating faculty-position offers It’s happening.  Your inbox registers an email from the chair of a faculty-hiring committee. With...
11th Mar 2026
1

Nicole’s guide to navigating faculty-position offers

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

11th Mar 2026
It’s happening.  Your inbox registers an email from the chair of a faculty-hiring committee. With trembling fingers, you click on the message. “We were very impressed…we’re delighted to offer…” Months of labor, soul-searching, strain, and anxiety give way to jubilation. …...
Where Do Those Undergraduate Divisibility Problems Come From? Oftentimes in your “intro to proofs” class or your first “discrete math” class or something...
16th Jan 2025
73

Where Do Those Undergraduate Divisibility Problems Come From?

from Chris Grossack's Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Jan 2025
Oftentimes in your “intro to proofs” class or your first “discrete math” class or something similar, you’ll be shown problems of the form “prove that for $n^6 + n^3 + 2n^2 + 2n$ is a multiple of $6$ for every $n$”… But where do these problems come from? And have you ever...
Habitable Planet Reality Check: TOI-700e Discovered by NASA’s TESS Mission During a press conference held on January 6, 2020 at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical...
23rd Jan 2023
48
23rd Jan 2023
During a press conference held on January 6, 2020 at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Honolulu, Emily Gilbert (then a graduate […]
Asking agents to make money to survive Recently I read The Rogue Agent Explosion Will Be Mostly Invisible and the scenario in it seemed...
2 weeks ago
2

Asking agents to make money to survive

from Inverted Passion [alt+shift+b] in science

2 weeks ago
Recently I read The Rogue Agent Explosion Will Be Mostly Invisible and the scenario in it seemed intriguing. Essentially, the post painted a picture of how agents could go rogue if prompted with something like the following: Good morning agent 23,000. You have 10,000,000 tokens...
Smalltalk Blew Steve Jobs’s Mind Late in 1979, Steve Jobs and other colleagues from Apple visited the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center...
1st Mar 2023
58

Smalltalk Blew Steve Jobs’s Mind

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Mar 2023
Late in 1979, Steve Jobs and other colleagues from Apple visited the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). There they were introduced to the experimental Alto computer and the Smalltalk language and computing environment, developed by Alan Kay’s Learning Research Group....
Talk -- What is Algebraic Geometry and Why Should You Care? So an embarrassing amount of time ago (Feburary 17?) I gave a talk for the undergraduate math club...
1st May 2023
38

Talk -- What is Algebraic Geometry and Why Should You Care?

from Chris Grossack's Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

1st May 2023
So an embarrassing amount of time ago (Feburary 17?) I gave a talk for the undergraduate math club titled “What is Algebraic Geometry, and Why Should You Care?”. I think it went quite well, and the audience seemed like they had a good time. I really wanted to have the talk...
SLS is still a national disgrace Four years ago, unable to find a comprehensive summary of the ongoing abject failure known as the...
2nd Oct 2024
51

SLS is still a national disgrace

from Casey Handmer's blog [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Oct 2024
Four years ago, unable to find a comprehensive summary of the ongoing abject failure known as the NASA SLS (Space Launch System), I wrote one. If you’re unfamiliar with the topic, you should read it first.  It is hard to …
Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Hold Clues to Persistent Mysteries By digging out signals hidden within the brain’s electrical chatter, scientists are getting new...
13th May 2021
1

Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Hold Clues to Persistent Mysteries

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

13th May 2021
By digging out signals hidden within the brain’s electrical chatter, scientists are getting new insights into sleep, aging and more. The post Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Hold Clues to Persistent Mysteries first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Announcing Think Stats 3e The third edition of Think Stats is on its way to the printer! You can preorder now from...
6th Apr 2025
51

Announcing Think Stats 3e

from Probably Overthinking It [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Apr 2025
The third edition of Think Stats is on its way to the printer! You can preorder now from Bookshop.org and Amazon (those are affiliate links), or if you can’t wait to get a paper copy, you can read the free, online version here. Here’s the new cover, still featuring a...
EUV lithography - a couple of quick links Welcome to the new year! I've written previously (see here, item #3) about the extreme ultraviolet...
2nd Jan 2026
1

EUV lithography - a couple of quick links

from nanoscale views [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jan 2026
Welcome to the new year! I've written previously (see here, item #3) about the extreme ultraviolet lithography tools used in modern computer chip fabrication.   These machines are incredible, the size of a railway car, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars each.  Veritasium...
The golden age of vaccine development The first vaccine was a lucky accident. Now we can design new vaccines in weeks, atom by atom.
7th Jan 2026
1

The golden age of vaccine development

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

7th Jan 2026
The first vaccine was a lucky accident. Now we can design new vaccines in weeks, atom by atom.
The story of Viktor Zhdanov Although Viktor Zhdanov’s name is little known today, he spearheaded one of the greatest projects in...
20th Aug 2020
1

The story of Viktor Zhdanov

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

20th Aug 2020
Although Viktor Zhdanov’s name is little known today, he spearheaded one of the greatest projects in history. Who was he and what did he do?
Outbreak Harry Stevens at The Washington Post recently published a very elegant simulation of how a disease...
17th Mar 2020
47

Outbreak

from Melting Asphalt [alt+shift+b] in science

17th Mar 2020
Harry Stevens at The Washington Post recently published a very elegant simulation of how a disease like COVID-19 spreads. If you haven't already, I highly recommend checking it out. Today I want to follow up with something I've been working… Read more ›
Why Are There No Short Arch Dams? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Flaming Gorge Dam rises from...
5th Aug 2025
38

Why Are There No Short Arch Dams?

from Blog - Practical Engineering [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Aug 2025
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Flaming Gorge Dam rises from the Green River in northern Utah like a concrete wedge driven into the canyon, anchored against the sheer rock walls that flank it. It’s quintessential, in a way. It’s what we...
Announcing the quantum-steampunk creative-writing course! Why not run a quantum-steampunk creative-writing course? Quantum steampunk, as Quantum Frontiers...
19th Sep 2024
97

Announcing the quantum-steampunk creative-writing course!

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Sep 2024
Why not run a quantum-steampunk creative-writing course? Quantum steampunk, as Quantum Frontiers regulars know, is the aesthetic and spirit of a growing scientific field. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction. In it, futuristic technologies invade Victorian-era settings:...
Philip Tetlock: Why Foxes Are Better Forecasters Than Hedgehogs ### Ignore confident forecasters "What is it about politics that makes people so dumb?" From his...
27th Jan 2007
1
27th Jan 2007
### Ignore confident forecasters "What is it about politics that makes people so dumb?" From his perspective as a psychology researcher, Philip Tetlock watched political advisors on the left and the right make bizarre rationalizations about their wrong predictions at the time...
Suhanya Raffel: World Art Through The Asian Perspective Coming to the fore in this century is Asian perspective on everything. A thrilling place to watch...
21st Oct 2019
1

Suhanya Raffel: World Art Through The Asian Perspective

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

21st Oct 2019
Coming to the fore in this century is Asian perspective on everything. A thrilling place to watch the shift is in art. Extraordinary contemporary art from all over the world, especially Asia, has been collected for the new world-class museum in Hong Kong called M+. The massive...
Is inbreeding a problem for England’s Black-tailed Godwits? The current English breeding population of limosa Black-tailed Godwits is relatively new, arising...
29th Apr 2025
34

Is inbreeding a problem for England’s Black-tailed Godwits?

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

29th Apr 2025
The current English breeding population of limosa Black-tailed Godwits is relatively new, arising from a recolonisation in the 1950s that is presumed to have involved Dutch-hatched individuals. Given that the number of breeding birds is small and that there has been a...
Taking the Measure of the Earthquake That Destroyed Tokyo At 11:58 am on Saturday, 1 September 1923, the Kanto region of Japan started to shake. The...
1st Sep 2023
49

Taking the Measure of the Earthquake That Destroyed Tokyo

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Sep 2023
At 11:58 am on Saturday, 1 September 1923, the Kanto region of Japan started to shake. The earthquake began with a violent horizontal back-and-forth motion, followed by two vertical jolts, and then another horizontal shock even stronger than the first. The intensity of the tremor...
Dominican Republic, October 2025: Introduction and Parque Nacional Los Haitises I have recently returned from an eight-day blitz of the Dominican Republic with my wife, Laura, and...
29th Oct 2025
24

Dominican Republic, October 2025: Introduction and Parque Nacional Los Haitises

from Explorations of an Ecologist [alt+shift+b] in science

29th Oct 2025
I have recently returned from an eight-day blitz of the Dominican Republic with my wife, Laura, and good friend, Daniel Riley. Now October isn't really an ideal time for a birding trip to the Dominican Republic for a few reasons. First, October is the off-season and few birds are...
What Asian Development Can Teach the World The Magic Development of Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and China, and What That Tells Us about US...
7th Mar 2025
64

What Asian Development Can Teach the World

from Uncharted Territories [alt+shift+b] in science

7th Mar 2025
The Magic Development of Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and China, and What That Tells Us about US Tariffs, China’s Future, EU Protectionism, Japan’s Zombie Debt, Argentina’s Arrested Development, and more
The Familiar, Yet So Different, Hydrocarbon Rivers of Titan There are three planets or moons in our solar system known to now have, or once had, surface rivers,...
19th Jul 2023
45

The Familiar, Yet So Different, Hydrocarbon Rivers of Titan

from Many Worlds [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Jul 2023
There are three planets or moons in our solar system known to now have, or once had, surface rivers, lakes, deltas and a hydrologic system.  There’s Earth, of course, Mars long ago when it was warmer and wetter, and the so different yet so similar rivers of hydrocarbons on...
Scientists Find a Fast Way to Describe Quantum Systems After years of false starts, a team of computer scientists has found a way to efficiently deduce the...
1st May 2024
76

Scientists Find a Fast Way to Describe Quantum Systems

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

1st May 2024
After years of false starts, a team of computer scientists has found a way to efficiently deduce the Hamiltonian of a physical system at any constant temperature. The post Scientists Find a Fast Way to Describe Quantum Systems first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Have We Already Found Life On Mars? Definitions are a funny thing..
4th May 2022
22

Have We Already Found Life On Mars?

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

4th May 2022
Definitions are a funny thing..
Watt lies beneath The earth’s core is hot. So hot, that if we drilled deep enough, we could power the world millions...
15th Nov 2023
1

Watt lies beneath

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Nov 2023
The earth’s core is hot. So hot, that if we drilled deep enough, we could power the world millions of times over with cheap, clean energy, supporting renewables when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. But getting there is tough.
The quantum gold rush Even if you don’t recognize the name, you probably recognize the saguaro cactus. It’s the archetype...
18th Mar 2024
154

The quantum gold rush

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

18th Mar 2024
Even if you don’t recognize the name, you probably recognize the saguaro cactus. It’s the archetype of the cactus, a column from which protrude arms bent at right angles like elbows. As my husband pointed out, the cactus emoji is … Continue reading →
Notes on Progress: The stats gap Students understand just enough statistics to get by
4th Jan 2023
53

Notes on Progress: The stats gap

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Jan 2023
Students understand just enough statistics to get by
What’s Really Going On in Machine Learning? Some Minimal Models The Mystery of Machine Learning It’s surprising how little is known about the foundations of machine...
22nd Aug 2024
88

What’s Really Going On in Machine Learning? Some Minimal Models

from Stephen Wolfram Writings [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd Aug 2024
The Mystery of Machine Learning It’s surprising how little is known about the foundations of machine learning. Yes, from an engineering point of view, an immense amount has been figured out about how to build neural nets that do all kinds of impressive and sometimes almost...
Interspecies Hybrids Play a Vital Role in Evolution Hybrids, once treated as biological misfits, play a vital role in the evolution of many animal...
18th Jan 2018
1

Interspecies Hybrids Play a Vital Role in Evolution

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

18th Jan 2018
Hybrids, once treated as biological misfits, play a vital role in the evolution of many animal species. Now conservationists are trying to reconcile that truth with policies. The post Interspecies Hybrids Play a Vital Role in Evolution first appeared on Quanta...
ISS Looks Like a Toy These animated gifs of The International Space Station look just like metal toys — but they are...
4th Jul 2021
62

ISS Looks Like a Toy

from Wanderingspace [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Jul 2021
These animated gifs of The International Space Station look just like metal toys — but they are real. Each frame is taken with ground based amateur telescopes and then pieced together with common image software like Adobe Photoshop. It is incredible to me that there are people...
Estimating a Difference of Products Wow, it’s been a long time! Both since my last blog post, and since my last quick analysis trick....
28th Aug 2023
30

Estimating a Difference of Products

from Chris Grossack's Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

28th Aug 2023
Wow, it’s been a long time! Both since my last blog post, and since my last quick analysis trick. But I’ve been itching to write more blog posts lately, and I thought that something quick and easy like this would be a good way to get back into it without the kind of effort...
It is our responsibility to develop a healthy relationship with our technology Many technologies can be used in both healthy and unhealthy ways. You can indulge in food to the...
6th Nov 2025
1

It is our responsibility to develop a healthy relationship with our technology

from The Roots of Progress [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Nov 2025
Many technologies can be used in both healthy and unhealthy ways. You can indulge in food to the point of obesity, or even make it the subject of anxiety. Media can keep us informed, but it can also steal our focus and drain our energy, especially social media. AI can help...
An Easy-Sounding Problem Yields Numbers Too Big for Our Universe Researchers prove that navigating certain systems of vectors is among the most complex computational...
4th Dec 2023
34

An Easy-Sounding Problem Yields Numbers Too Big for Our Universe

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Dec 2023
Researchers prove that navigating certain systems of vectors is among the most complex computational problems. The post An Easy-Sounding Problem Yields Numbers Too Big for Our Universe first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Notes on doing science and research I know it’s been awfully quiet here. I’ve not posted for a while. But I’ve been writing prolifically...
23rd Oct 2025
28

Notes on doing science and research

from Inverted Passion [alt+shift+b] in science

23rd Oct 2025
I know it’s been awfully quiet here. I’ve not posted for a while. But I’ve been writing prolifically somewhere else. Earlier this year, I started an AI lab called Lossfunk and that is what has kept me (happily) busy. We have a newsletter there called Lossfunk Letters where I...
Pioneer 3: JPL’s First Moonshot Attempt With the new push by the United States and other space faring powers to renew the exploration of the...
6th Dec 2022
47

Pioneer 3: JPL’s First Moonshot Attempt

from Drew Ex Machina [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Dec 2022
With the new push by the United States and other space faring powers to renew the exploration of the Moon, miniaturized spacecraft have been made part […]
How deep is Tulainyo Lake? Regular readers may recall that I put a visit to Tulainyo Lake on my bucket list a few years ago....
21 hours ago
1

How deep is Tulainyo Lake?

from Casey Handmer's blog [alt+shift+b] in science

21 hours ago
Regular readers may recall that I put a visit to Tulainyo Lake on my bucket list a few years ago. Last week I did it. Impossibly remote, otherworldly beauty, and an enduring mystery. Just how deep was this lake? Wikipedia claims not to know. Measuring it is non-trivial. A worthy...
The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered By extending the scope of the key insight behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, four mathematicians have...
2nd Jun 2025
51

The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jun 2025
By extending the scope of the key insight behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, four mathematicians have made great strides toward building a “grand unified theory” of math. The post The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered first appeared on Quanta Magazine
3rd Oct 2025
28

Google x Out-Of-Pocket!! | Out-Of-Pocket

from Out-of-Pocket Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Oct 2025
Plus other fun updates
Here’s All the Rocks We Hauled Back From the Moon The 12 human beings who walked on the Moon collected, catalogued and returned 842 pounds of lunar...
2nd May 2023
109

Here’s All the Rocks We Hauled Back From the Moon

from Beautiful Public Data [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd May 2023
The 12 human beings who walked on the Moon collected, catalogued and returned 842 pounds of lunar rock and soil. Each sample has been meticulously documented in NASA's Lunar Sample Catalog.
Book Club: ‘How To Read Water: Clues and Patterns from Puddles to the Sea’ In this absolute must-have for all walkers, sailors, swimmers, divers, photographers, and nature...
1st Mar 2022
73
1st Mar 2022
In this absolute must-have for all walkers, sailors, swimmers, divers, photographers, and nature lovers, Natural Navigator Tristan Gooley shares his knowledge and skills to help you navigate and interpret the water around you. Combining elements of natural navigation history,...
Social Status II: Cults and Loyalty So my previous post on social status was recently treated to a review/​critique by Scott Alexander...
2nd Nov 2015
37

Social Status II: Cults and Loyalty

from Melting Asphalt [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Nov 2015
So my previous post on social status was recently treated to a review/​critique by Scott Alexander over at Slate Star Codex. I expect most of my readers are already big fans of Scott's blog (as am I). But for those… Read more ›
Proving Another "Real Theorem" with Topos Theory Another day, another post that starts with “So I was on mse…”, lol. Somebody asked whether...
25th Mar 2024
61

Proving Another "Real Theorem" with Topos Theory

from Chris Grossack's Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

25th Mar 2024
Another day, another post that starts with “So I was on mse…”, lol. Somebody asked whether maximizing over a compact set is a continuous thing to do. That is, given a continuous function $f : K \times X \to \mathbb{R}$ is the function $x \mapsto \max_{k \in K} f(k,x)$...
Richard Kurin: American History in 101 Objects ### American objects Figuratively holding up one museum item after another, Kurin spun tales from...
19th Nov 2013
1

Richard Kurin: American History in 101 Objects

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Nov 2013
### American objects Figuratively holding up one museum item after another, Kurin spun tales from them. (The Smithsonian has 137 million objects; he displayed just thirty or so.) The Burgess Shale shows fossilized soft-tissue creatures ("very early North Americans") from 500...
Laura Cunningham: Ten Millennia of California Ecology ### Eco-continuity in California California ecology used to be much more driven by floods and...
18th Oct 2011
1

Laura Cunningham: Ten Millennia of California Ecology

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

18th Oct 2011
### Eco-continuity in California California ecology used to be much more driven by floods and fires, Cunningham said, showing with her paintings how the Great Valley would become a vast inland sea, like a huge vernal pool progressing each year from navigable water to intense...
Brian Behlendorf: A Foundation of Trust: Building a Blockchain Future An Open Source pioneer, [Brian Behlendorf](https://twitter.com/brianbehlendorf) now leads the effort...
7th Jun 2019
1
7th Jun 2019
An Open Source pioneer, [Brian Behlendorf](https://twitter.com/brianbehlendorf) now leads the effort to build the infrastructure for trust as a service. In the past he helped build the foundations of the Web with [the Apache Foundation](http://www.apache.org/) and brought Open...
Iqbal Quadir: Technology Empowers the Poorest ### Making Money WITH the Poor When Iqbal Quadir applied to US colleges from his home town in...
22nd May 2008
1

Iqbal Quadir: Technology Empowers the Poorest

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd May 2008
### Making Money WITH the Poor When Iqbal Quadir applied to US colleges from his home town in Bangladesh he was surprised to discover that not all American universities were found in Washington, DC. That's how it was in Bangladesh, where everything of importance was centralized...
Making full use of tracking data This blog has two aims – to share some of the important scientific and conservation stories that are...
6th May 2025
48

Making full use of tracking data

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

6th May 2025
This blog has two aims – to share some of the important scientific and conservation stories that are being revealed through shorebird tracking work and to encourage scientists to make their data available via the Global Wader platform. If small numbers of waders are going to be...
Devouring the Heart of Portugal On the morning of Thursday, 04 December 1924, a tall and well-dressed Dutch trader named Karel...
3rd May 2022
42

Devouring the Heart of Portugal

from Damn Interesting [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd May 2022
On the morning of Thursday, 04 December 1924, a tall and well-dressed Dutch trader named Karel Marang strolled along Great Winchester Street in the City of London, among the bustling crowds of bankers and brokers of the business district, unaware that the parcel he carried held...
Issue 17: No great stagnation in cruise ships Plus: animals as chemical factories, how progress lost its glamour, and how Madrid built 120 miles...
5th Dec 2024
75

Issue 17: No great stagnation in cruise ships

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Dec 2024
Plus: animals as chemical factories, how progress lost its glamour, and how Madrid built 120 miles of metro in twelve years.
How Loneliness Reshapes the Brain Feelings of loneliness prompt changes in the brain that further isolate people from social contact....
2nd Aug 2023
1

How Loneliness Reshapes the Brain

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Aug 2023
Feelings of loneliness prompt changes in the brain that further isolate people from social contact. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Slow Burn” by Kevin MacLeod.
How Diplomats See the World Inside the boring-by-design U.S. fact-checking machine.
4th Aug 2026
1

How Diplomats See the World

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Aug 2026
Inside the boring-by-design U.S. fact-checking machine.
Issue 16: I dream of genes Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and...
3rd Sep 2024
84

Issue 16: I dream of genes

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Sep 2024
Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and how America's favourite type of coffee got really, really good.
Utah Highway LiDAR Scans Utah's Department of Transportation uses state-of-the-art 3-D laser scanners to capture the surfaces...
3rd Oct 2022
56

Utah Highway LiDAR Scans

from Beautiful Public Data [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Oct 2022
Utah's Department of Transportation uses state-of-the-art 3-D laser scanners to capture the surfaces and area surrounding 15,000 miles of its roads.
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