Bartosz Ciechanowski
Sound
Invisible and relentless, sound is seemingly just there, traveling through our surroundings to carry...
over a year ago
Invisible and relentless, sound is seemingly just there, traveling through our surroundings to carry beautiful music or annoying noises. In this article I’ll explain what sound is, how it’s created and propagated.
Throughout this presentation you will be hearing different sounds,...
IEEE Spectrum
The Invention That Let Fiber Optics Span the Globe
Plenty of big stories from the year 1985 had their moment in the sun and are now all but forgotten:...
a year ago
Plenty of big stories from the year 1985 had their moment in the sun and are now all but forgotten: New Coke, “We Are the World,” the rise of desktop publishing. But one at-the-time obscure invention from that year has long eclipsed the frothy headlines of its time, because it...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Sleep health is getting interesting | Out-Of-Pocket
The consumer and clinical worlds of sleep are colliding
a month ago
The consumer and clinical worlds of sleep are colliding
Eukaryote Writes...
A love letter to civilian OSINT
What is civilian OSINT, and could it be used altruistically?
over a year ago
What is civilian OSINT, and could it be used altruistically?
Confessions of a...
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,...
over a year ago
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Neolithic Revolution
What was the greatest invention of human civilization? Arguably it was agriculture, which allowed...
5 months ago
What was the greatest invention of human civilization? Arguably it was agriculture, which allowed for civilization itself. Prior to agriculture humans were some combination of hunters, gatherers, scavengers, and fishers. We lived off the land, which was a full-time job. Many...
Explorations of an...
Borneo, October 2022
Borneo, the third largest island in the world behind Greenland and New Guinea, is home to some of...
a year ago
Borneo, the third largest island in the world behind Greenland and New Guinea, is home to some of the planet’s oldest rainforests, containing a stunning array of biodiversity. The conditions in Borneo forests have stimulated the evolution of many different organisms that are...
The Works in...
Issue 10: One word—plastics.
Plus: France's baby bust, why we empathise with animals, building infrastructure faster, and more.
a year ago
Plus: France's baby bust, why we empathise with animals, building infrastructure faster, and more.
Stephen Wolfram...
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...
4 months ago
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...
nanoscale views
Interesting reading - resonators, quantum geometry w/ phonons, and fractional quantum anomalous Hall
Real life continues to be busy, but I wanted to point out three recent articles that I found...
6 months ago
Real life continues to be busy, but I wanted to point out three recent articles that I found interesting:
Mechanical resonators are a topic with a long history, going back to the first bells and the tuning fork. I've written about micromachined resonators before, and the quest...
brr
Snowdrifts
4 days of blown snow into a doorway.
a year ago
4 days of blown snow into a doorway.
Math Is Still...
Teen Mathematicians Tie Knots Through a Mind-Blowing Fractal
Three high schoolers and their mentor revisited a century-old theorem to prove that all knots can be...
3 weeks ago
Three high schoolers and their mentor revisited a century-old theorem to prove that all knots can be found in a fractal called the Menger sponge.
The post Teen Mathematicians Tie Knots Through a Mind-Blowing Fractal first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wanderingspace
Venus from Earth (with Stacking)
Image taken by @TheVastReaches. According to the photographer, “It takes just a few minutes to...
over a year ago
Image taken by @TheVastReaches. According to the photographer, “It takes just a few minutes to collect all the frames. This started as 6 video files, 45,000 frames total. Then they are stacked and combined.”
Probably...
Think Python third edition!
I am happy to announce the third edition of Think Python, which will be published by O’Reilly Media...
10 months ago
I am happy to announce the third edition of Think Python, which will be published by O’Reilly Media later this year. You can read the online version of the book here. I’ve posted the Preface and the first four chapters — more on the way soon! You can read the Early Release and...
Math Is Still...
The Surprisingly Simple Math Behind Puzzling Matchups
If Anna beats Benji in a game and Benji beats Carl, will Anna beat Carl?
The post The...
11 months ago
If Anna beats Benji in a game and Benji beats Carl, will Anna beat Carl?
The post The Surprisingly Simple Math Behind Puzzling Matchups first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
What Is Analog Computing?
You don’t need 0s and 1s to perform computations, and in some cases it’s better to avoid them. ...
4 months ago
You don’t need 0s and 1s to perform computations, and in some cases it’s better to avoid them.
The post What Is Analog Computing? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
symmetry magazine
Physics fashion and collider couture
Symmetry is back with more physics-themed Halloween costumes.
a year ago
Symmetry is back with more physics-themed Halloween costumes.
nanoscale views
Foams! (or, why my split pea side dish boils over every Thanksgiving)
Foams can be great examples of mechanical metamaterials.
Adapted from TOC figure of this...
3 weeks ago
Foams can be great examples of mechanical metamaterials.
Adapted from TOC figure of this paper
Consider my shaving cream. You might imagine that the (mostly water) material would just pool as a homogeneous liquid, since water molecules have a strong attraction for one...
Beautiful Public...
1,000 Photos of Dolphin Fins
Scars, scratches and wounds abound in these photos as encounters with unknown creatures and boat...
a year ago
Scars, scratches and wounds abound in these photos as encounters with unknown creatures and boat propellers leave their marks, imprinting a story of close escapes and cheating death.
Quantum Frontiers
The Book of Mark
Mark Srednicki doesn’t look like a high priest. He’s a professor of physics at the University of...
a year ago
Mark Srednicki doesn’t look like a high priest. He’s a professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB); and you’ll sooner find him in khakis than in sacred vestments. Humor suits his round face better than channeling … Continue reading →
Math Is Still...
New Proof Shows That ‘Expander’ Graphs Synchronize
The proof establishes new conditions that cause connected oscillators to sway in sync. ...
a year ago
The proof establishes new conditions that cause connected oscillators to sway in sync.
The post New Proof Shows That ‘Expander’ Graphs Synchronize first appeared on Quanta Magazine
ToughSF
Piracy in Space is Possible Part II: Armed Merchants and Pirate Patrols
There's more to piracy than just attacking a target and running away afterwards.
Put yourself in...
over a year ago
There's more to piracy than just attacking a target and running away afterwards.
Put yourself in the shoes of a pirate, a merchant or the authorities. What would you do?
Fighting back
Pirates intercepting, attacking and ransoming a merchant crew should be...
IEEE Spectrum
The Incredible Story Behind the First Transistor Radio
But that’s pretty much what Pat Haggerty, vice president of Texas Instruments, did in 1954. The...
2 months ago
But that’s pretty much what Pat Haggerty, vice president of Texas Instruments, did in 1954. The result was the
Regency TR-1, the world’s first commercial transistor radio, which debuted 70 years ago this month. The engineers delivered on Haggerty’s audacious goal, and I...
Math Is Still...
What Is Entropy? A Measure of Just How Little We Really Know.
Exactly 200 years ago, a French engineer introduced an idea that would quantify the universe’s...
a week ago
Exactly 200 years ago, a French engineer introduced an idea that would quantify the universe’s inexorable slide into decay. But entropy, as it’s currently understood, is less a fact about the world than a reflection of our growing ignorance. Embracing that truth is leading to a...
Light from Space
The Cat's Paw
Located very close to the Lobster Nebula in the southern constellation of Scorpius, the Cat's Paw...
over a year ago
Located very close to the Lobster Nebula in the southern constellation of Scorpius, the Cat's Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) does indeed have a striking resemblance to a feline footprint.
It's quite low in the sky here from Tucson (at a maximum of about 22º above
Math Is Still...
The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology
Invisibly to us, insects and other tiny creatures use static electricity to travel, avoid predators,...
2 months ago
Invisibly to us, insects and other tiny creatures use static electricity to travel, avoid predators, collect pollen and more. New experiments explore how evolution may have influenced this phenomenon.
The post The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology first appeared...
Eukaryote Writes...
Internet Harvest (2020, 3)
Repairs, number stations, the only good Twitters, a low-key infohazard about pictures of...
over a year ago
Repairs, number stations, the only good Twitters, a low-key infohazard about pictures of butterflies, and more.
The Works in...
Issue 09: Cheap shots and killer bots
Plus: Why scientific writing is so bad, how to stop snakebites from killing 100,000 people every...
over a year ago
Plus: Why scientific writing is so bad, how to stop snakebites from killing 100,000 people every year, and what science can learn from the fight against global poverty.
Sean Carroll
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe | 23. Criticality and Complexity
Spherical cows are important because they let us abstract away all the complications of the real...
over a year ago
Spherical cows are important because they let us abstract away all the complications of the real world and think about underlying principles. But what about when the complications are the point? Then we enter the realm of complex systems — which, interestingly, has its own...
Explorations of an...
El Valle Encantado (The Enchanted Valley), And A Bump In The Road
January 19, 2023
It is not always easy to find trails worth exploring in the Andes, and the reason...
a year ago
January 19, 2023
It is not always easy to find trails worth exploring in the Andes, and the reason for this is simple. The extreme topographical changes in the mountains, combined with frequent rainfall and thick vegetation do not lend themselves to the construction and regular...
Quantum Frontiers
Beyond NISQ: The Megaquop Machine
On December 11, I gave a keynote address at the Q2B 2024 Conference in Silicon Valley. This is a...
a week ago
On December 11, I gave a keynote address at the Q2B 2024 Conference in Silicon Valley. This is a transcript of my remarks. The slides I presented are here. NISQ and beyond I’m honored to be back at Q2B for … Continue reading →
Sean Carroll
Thanksgiving
This year we give thanks for something we’ve all heard of, but maybe don’t appreciate as much as we...
over a year ago
This year we give thanks for something we’ve all heard of, but maybe don’t appreciate as much as we should: electromagnetism. (We’ve previously given thanks for the Standard Model Lagrangian, Hubble’s Law, the Spin-Statistics Theorem, conservation of momentum, effective field...
Asterisk
The Highway to NIMBYism
San Francisco’s history of collective decision-making helped prevent the city from being carved up...
7 months ago
San Francisco’s history of collective decision-making helped prevent the city from being carved up by highways. Today, that same legacy prevents the city from building what it desperately needs: more housing.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Some Common Mistakes to Avoid When Pitching Angels | Out-Of-Pocket
With some real decks and emails!
10 months ago
With some real decks and emails!
Math Is Still...
What Is Quantum Teleportation?
Teleporting people through space is still science fiction. But quantum teleportation is dramatically...
9 months ago
Teleporting people through space is still science fiction. But quantum teleportation is dramatically different and entirely real. In this episode, Janna Levin interviews the theoretical physicist John Preskill about teleporting bits and the promise of quantum technology. ...
Math Is Still...
Vacuum of Space to Decay Sooner Than Expected (but Still Not Soon)
One of the quantum fields that fills the universe is special because its default value seems poised...
5 months ago
One of the quantum fields that fills the universe is special because its default value seems poised to eventually change, changing everything.
The post Vacuum of Space to Decay Sooner Than Expected (but Still Not Soon) first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
The AI Tools Making Images Look Better
Researchers have discovered ways around a fundamental trade-off between accuracy and beauty in...
a year ago
Researchers have discovered ways around a fundamental trade-off between accuracy and beauty in digital images.
The post The AI Tools Making Images Look Better first appeared on Quanta Magazine
ToughSF
Advanced Solar Energy in Space: Part I
Solar Thermal Rockets can be efficient and have high performance. However, they remain...
over a year ago
Solar Thermal Rockets can be efficient and have high performance. However, they remain temperature-limited to an exhaust velocity of 12km/s.
How do we surpass this limit?
The limits
NASA's Suntower concept.
Solar Thermal Rockets have been shown to have great potential if...
NeuroLogica Blog
Podcast Pseudoscience
A recent BBC article highlights some of the risk of the new age of social media we have crafted for...
a week ago
A recent BBC article highlights some of the risk of the new age of social media we have crafted for ourselves. The BBC investigated the number one ranked UK podcast, Diary of a CEO with host Steven Bartlett, for the accuracy of the medical claims recently made on the show. While...
Blog - Practical...
How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In February 2021, a winter...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In February 2021, a winter storm that swept through Texas caused one of the most severe power crises in American history. The cold weather created shockingly high electricity demands as people tried to keep...
NeuroLogica Blog
Anxiety Biomarkers
Psychiatry, psychology, and all aspects of mental health are a challenging area because the clinical...
a year ago
Psychiatry, psychology, and all aspects of mental health are a challenging area because the clinical entities we are dealing with are complex and mostly subjective. Diagnoses are perhaps best understood as clinical constructs – a way of identifying and understanding a mental...
Math Is Still...
Why Insect Memories May Not Survive Metamorphosis
The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t...
a year ago
The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t persist in adults.
The post Why Insect Memories May Not Survive Metamorphosis first appeared on Quanta Magazine
wadertales
Curlew nest survival
The Eurasian Curlew is designated as ‘Near-Threatened’ by IUCN/BirdLife. It is Red-listed in the UK,...
a year ago
The Eurasian Curlew is designated as ‘Near-Threatened’ by IUCN/BirdLife. It is Red-listed in the UK, largely due to a rapid decline in breeding numbers. In this context, the fact that there are a few pink squares (indicating increased numbers) on the map showing breeding...
Math Is Still...
Flow Proof Helps Mathematicians Find Stability in Chaos
A series of new papers describes how to fully characterize key dynamical systems with relatively...
a year ago
A series of new papers describes how to fully characterize key dynamical systems with relatively little data.
The post Flow Proof Helps Mathematicians Find Stability in Chaos first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
How Tech Automated the January 6 Investigations
Josh Coker’s Facebook page doesn’t show any MAGA memes or Trump quotes. He wasn’t live-streaming on...
11 months ago
Josh Coker’s Facebook page doesn’t show any MAGA memes or Trump quotes. He wasn’t live-streaming on 6 January 2021, and no one has ever stepped forward to identify him as one of the mob that stormed the US Capitol that day.
Oregon, Ohio, with five counts connected to the failed...
Beautiful Public...
Mapping Volcano Eruptions With Drones
Drones have become an essential tool to map, measure and observe the extremely dangerous...
a year ago
Drones have become an essential tool to map, measure and observe the extremely dangerous environments surrounding volcanic eruptions.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Fitbits, Bundled Payments, and Rollercoasters | Out-Of-Pocket
some papers I think are cool
a year ago
some papers I think are cool
NeuroLogica Blog
Gradient Nanostructured Steel
Science fiction writers, who have to think deeply about the possible nature of future technology,...
a year ago
Science fiction writers, who have to think deeply about the possible nature of future technology, often invent new sci-fi materials in order to make their future technology seem plausible. They seem to understand the critical role that material science plays in advancing...
Asterisk
China’s Silicon Future
China dreams of competing with global superpowers in the semiconductor industry. Whether its efforts...
over a year ago
China dreams of competing with global superpowers in the semiconductor industry. Whether its efforts will succeed is far from clear.
wadertales
Learning lessons from Slender-billed Curlews
The 2024 Ibis paper, recommending that the Slender-billed Curlew should be classified as Extinct,...
a week ago
The 2024 Ibis paper, recommending that the Slender-billed Curlew should be classified as Extinct, tells a sad tale. We now know that, by the time that the Slender-billed Curlew Action Plan was published in 1996, it was already too late to save the species. Resources expended...
Beautiful Public...
Nuclear Weapon Test Films
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories has an archive of an estimated 10,000 films of nuclear...
a year ago
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories has an archive of an estimated 10,000 films of nuclear weapons tests from the 1940's - 1960's.
Probably...
Think Stats 3rd Edition
I am excited to announce that I have started work on a third edition of Think Stats, to be published...
2 months ago
I am excited to announce that I have started work on a third edition of Think Stats, to be published by O’Reilly Media in 2025. At this point the content is mostly settled, and I am revising chapters to get them ready for technical review. If you want to start reading now, the...
Interaction Magic -...
Orientation
Using Mahony & Madgwick to calibrate and process Arduino orientation data.
over a year ago
Using Mahony & Madgwick to calibrate and process Arduino orientation data.
NeuroLogica Blog
Finding Small Primordial Black Holes
Astrophysicists come up with a lot of whacky ideas, some of which actually turn out to be possibly...
2 weeks ago
Astrophysicists come up with a lot of whacky ideas, some of which actually turn out to be possibly true (like the Big Bang, black holes, accelerating cosmic expansion, dark matter). Of course, all of these conclusions are provisional, but some are now backed by compelling...
The Works in...
The duplication crisis: the other replication crisis
How bad publishing incentives hinder long-term thinking in computational biology research
3 months ago
How bad publishing incentives hinder long-term thinking in computational biology research
Asterisk
What We Get Wrong About AI & China
Everyone’s afraid of what China can and will do with AI. On the ground, the picture looks a lot more...
a year ago
Everyone’s afraid of what China can and will do with AI. On the ground, the picture looks a lot more complicated.
Probably...
The Center Moves Faster Than You
In May 2022, Elon Musk tweeted this cartoon: The creator of the cartoon, Colin Wright, explained it...
11 months ago
In May 2022, Elon Musk tweeted this cartoon: The creator of the cartoon, Colin Wright, explained it like this: At the outset, I stand happily beside ‘my fellow liberal,’ who is slightly to my left. In 2012 he sprints to the left, dragging out the left end of the political...
Math Is Still...
The Brainstem Fine-Tunes Inflammation Throughout the Body
The evolutionarily ancient part of the brain that controls breathing and heart rate also regulates...
6 months ago
The evolutionarily ancient part of the brain that controls breathing and heart rate also regulates the immune system — a discovery about the brain-body axis made by experts on taste.
The post The Brainstem Fine-Tunes Inflammation Throughout the Body first appeared on...
Wanderingspace
We don’t post enough Mars Scenic Views
I mean… we don’t post enough in general.
over a year ago
I mean… we don’t post enough in general.
Asterisk
It’s 2024 and Drought is Optional
In the early 20th century, the United States diverted and dammed nearly every major river that runs...
7 months ago
In the early 20th century, the United States diverted and dammed nearly every major river that runs through the West, ushering in an era of unparalleled dominion over water. Today, California once again struggles with water scarcity — but solar energy could change all that.
Many Worlds
The Moon Rush Is On. Are We on Earth Ready For That?
An Indian spacecraft landed on the moon this month and a pioneering Japanese lunar lander is...
a year ago
An Indian spacecraft landed on the moon this month and a pioneering Japanese lunar lander is awaiting an imminent launch. A Russian craft trying to land in the same area — the southern polar region — recently crashed, as did a private effort by a joint Japanese-United Arab...
brr
Frost
Everyday objects, but cold.
a year ago
Everyday objects, but cold.
nanoscale views
Items for discussion, including google's latest quantum computing result
As we head toward the end of the calendar year, a few items:
Google published a new result in...
a week ago
As we head toward the end of the calendar year, a few items:
Google published a new result in Nature a few days ago. This made a big news splash, including this accompanying press piece from google themselves, this nice article in Quanta, and the always thoughtful blog post by...
IEEE Spectrum
The Do-or-Die Moments That Determined the Fate of the Internet
CES) and the Game Developers Conference have become regular features of the digital world.
ARPANET...
a year ago
CES) and the Game Developers Conference have become regular features of the digital world.
ARPANET in 1972, or the mid-1980s conferences now known as Interop, alerted experts to new technologies, and, in some cases, altered the balance between competing approaches.
Packet...
symmetry magazine
Kétévi Assamagan pays it forward
Kétévi Assamagan's contributions to physics go beyond his research at the Large Hadron...
a year ago
Kétévi Assamagan's contributions to physics go beyond his research at the Large Hadron Collider.
Kétévi Assamagan first became interested in physics in high school—because he had to be. His school in Togo, in West Africa, required students to declare a major....
Damn Interesting
The Traveler and His Baggage
On 19 May 1943, a news report from Berlin deepened the already dreary gloom that clung to the people...
over a year ago
On 19 May 1943, a news report from Berlin deepened the already dreary gloom that clung to the people of Nazi-occupied Paris. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels proudly announced to the world that the German capital of Berlin was officially judenfrei–free of all Jews. As this...
Math Is Still...
What Can Jellyfish Teach Us About Fluid Dynamics?
Jellyfish and other aquatic creatures embody solutions to diverse problems in engineering, medicine...
a year ago
Jellyfish and other aquatic creatures embody solutions to diverse problems in engineering, medicine and mathematics. John Dabiri, a fluid dynamics expert, talks with Steven Strogatz about what jellyfish can teach us about going with the flow.
The post What Can...
Math Is Still...
A Very Big Small Leap Forward in Graph Theory
Four mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the “Ramsey number,” a crucial property...
a year ago
Four mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the “Ramsey number,” a crucial property describing unavoidable structure in graphs.
The post A Very Big Small Leap Forward in Graph Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
What is a spin glass?
As mentioned previously, structural glasses are materials in which there is no periodic lattice (no...
a year ago
As mentioned previously, structural glasses are materials in which there is no periodic lattice (no long-range spatial order) and the building blocks get "stuck" in some configuration, kinetically unable to get to the true energetic minimum state which would almost certainly be a...
Math Is Still...
The Quest to Quantify Quantumness
What makes a quantum computer more powerful than a classical computer? It’s a surprisingly subtle...
a year ago
What makes a quantum computer more powerful than a classical computer? It’s a surprisingly subtle question that physicists are still grappling with, decades into the quantum age.
The post The Quest to Quantify Quantumness first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
The future of the semiconductor industry, + The Mechanical Universe
Three items of interest:
This article is a nice review of present semiconductor memory...
8 months ago
Three items of interest:
This article is a nice review of present semiconductor memory technology. The electron micrographs in Fig. 1 and the scaling history in Fig. 3 are impressive.
This article in IEEE Spectrum is a very interesting look at how some people think we will get...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Eclipse of the Sun Coming in One Week
Saturday Oct. 14 North America will be treated to an eclipse of the Sun.
The post Eclipse of the Sun...
a year ago
Saturday Oct. 14 North America will be treated to an eclipse of the Sun.
The post Eclipse of the Sun Coming in One Week appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
Math Is Still...
New Elliptic Curve Breaks 18-Year-Old Record
Two mathematicians have renewed a debate about the fundamental nature of some of math’s most...
a month ago
Two mathematicians have renewed a debate about the fundamental nature of some of math’s most important equations.
The post New Elliptic Curve Breaks 18-Year-Old Record first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Too much money in digital health? | Out-Of-Pocket
trying a new format out
a year ago
Probably...
Extremes, outliers, and GOATS
The video from my PyData Global 2023 talk, Extremes, outliers, and GOATS, is available now: The...
10 months ago
The video from my PyData Global 2023 talk, Extremes, outliers, and GOATS, is available now: The slides are here. There are two Jupyter notebooks that contain the analysis I presented: Here’s the abstract: The fastest runners are much faster than we expect from a Gaussian...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Transforming Healthcare Data with Tuva Health | Out-Of-Pocket
The nitty, gritty, and shitty of working with health data
a year ago
The nitty, gritty, and shitty of working with health data
Math Is Still...
What Can Cave Life Tell Us About Alien Ecosystems?
Extremophiles, or microbes that live in the most seemingly hostile environments, are the darlings of...
2 months ago
Extremophiles, or microbes that live in the most seemingly hostile environments, are the darlings of astrobiologists, who study the potential for life beyond Earth. In this episode, co-host Janna Levin speaks with astrobiologist and cave explorer Penelope Boston about how life...
Math Is Still...
Physicists Finally Find a Problem That Only Quantum Computers Can Do
Researchers have shown that a problem relating to the energy of a quantum system is easy for quantum...
9 months ago
Researchers have shown that a problem relating to the energy of a quantum system is easy for quantum computers but hard for classical ones.
The post Physicists Finally Find a Problem That Only Quantum Computers Can Do first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
Want Growth? Kill Small Businesses
The central question of development economics is simple: how can poor countries become rich? The...
5 months ago
The central question of development economics is simple: how can poor countries become rich? The answer is neither small-scale, targeted interventions nor broad generalizations about growth. Instead, we should focus on firms.
The Works in...
The Power of the Earth
On the future of geothermal energy
10 months ago
On the future of geothermal energy
NeuroLogica Blog
The Hardware Demands of AI
I am of the generation that essentially lived through the introduction and evolution of the personal...
a year ago
I am of the generation that essentially lived through the introduction and evolution of the personal computer. I have decades of experience as an active user and enthusiast, so I have been able to notice some patterns. One pattern is the relationship between the power of...
Blog - Practical...
How Fish Survive Hydro Turbines
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Most of the largest dams in...
9 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Most of the largest dams in the US were built before we really understood the impacts they would have on river ecosystems. Or at least they were built before we were conscientious enough to weigh those impacts...
IEEE Spectrum
Jean Sammet: An Accidental Computer Programmer
Jean Sammet rarely let anything get in the way of her professional goals. As a young student, she...
a week ago
Jean Sammet rarely let anything get in the way of her professional goals. As a young student, she was barred from attending prestigious all-boys schools, so she pursued her love of mathematics at the best institutions she could find that were open to girls and women. Following...
Quantum Frontiers
Caltech’s Ginsburg Center
Editor’s Note: On 10 August 2023, Caltech celebrated the groundbreaking for the Dr. Allen and...
a year ago
Editor’s Note: On 10 August 2023, Caltech celebrated the groundbreaking for the Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Center for Quantum Precision Measurement, which will open in 2025. At a lunch following the ceremony, John Preskill made these remarks. Hello everyone. … Continue...
NeuroLogica Blog
GMOs and Butterflies
Are attitudes towards genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our agriculture softening? Back in...
a year ago
Are attitudes towards genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our agriculture softening? Back in 2015 a Pew survey found that the gap between public opinion and that of scientists was greatest on acceptance of GMOs (more than any other topic surveyed), with a 51% gap. But more...
Asterisk
How Long Til We’re All on Ozempic?
Over 100 million Americans, and possibly many more, could benefit from GLP-1 drugs. When can they...
5 months ago
Over 100 million Americans, and possibly many more, could benefit from GLP-1 drugs. When can they expect to get them?
Explorations of an...
2023 Part 1: January Through Early March (Argentina, Uruguay)
Over the next little while I will be making a few photo-heavy blog posts, highlighting a few of my...
12 months ago
Over the next little while I will be making a few photo-heavy blog posts, highlighting a few of my favourite memories from 2023. Laura and I finished our extending traveling in Latin America, but the first four months of 2023 saw us visiting Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil to close...
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: Agglomeration benefits are here to stay
Building more homes in the most productive cities could massively boost productivity
over a year ago
Building more homes in the most productive cities could massively boost productivity
Math Is Still...
Radio Maps May Reveal the Universe’s Biggest Magnetic Fields
A controversial technique has produced detailed maps of the magnetic fields in colossal galaxy...
10 months ago
A controversial technique has produced detailed maps of the magnetic fields in colossal galaxy clusters. If confirmed, the approach could be used to reveal where cosmic magnetic fields come from.
The post Radio Maps May Reveal the Universe’s Biggest Magnetic Fields...
Math Is Still...
A Tower of Conjectures That Rests Upon a Needle
On its surface, the Kakeya conjecture is a simple statement about rotating needles. But it underlies...
a year ago
On its surface, the Kakeya conjecture is a simple statement about rotating needles. But it underlies a wealth of mathematics.
The post A Tower of Conjectures That Rests Upon a Needle first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
What is a Wigner crystal?
Last week I was at the every-2-years Gordon Research Conference on Correlated Electron Systems at...
5 months ago
Last week I was at the every-2-years Gordon Research Conference on Correlated Electron Systems at lovely Mt. Holyoke. It was very fun, but one key aspect of the culture of the GRCs is that attendees are not supposed to post about them on social media, thus encouraging presenters...
brr
Redeployment Part Two
Station opening, and my flight out of Pole!
11 months ago
Station opening, and my flight out of Pole!
NeuroLogica Blog
How Humans Can Adapt to Space
My recent article on settling Mars has generated a lot of discussion, some of it around the basic...
11 months ago
My recent article on settling Mars has generated a lot of discussion, some of it around the basic concept of how difficult it is for humans to live anywhere but a thin envelope of air hugging the surface of the Earth. This is undoubtedly true, as I have discussed before – we...
Marine Madness
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...
over a year ago
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...
Math Is Still...
What Is the Nature of Time?
Time is all around us: in the language we use, in the memories we revisit and in our predictions of...
9 months ago
Time is all around us: in the language we use, in the memories we revisit and in our predictions of the future. But what exactly is it? The physicist and Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek joins Steve Strogatz to discuss the fundamental hallmarks of time.
The post What Is...
Asterisk
How Not To Predict The Future
Good forecasting thrives on a delicate balance of math, expertise, and…vibes.
9 months ago
Good forecasting thrives on a delicate balance of math, expertise, and…vibes.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Things I’m watching in healthcare 2023 | Out-Of-Pocket
it's been a weird year
9 months ago
Many Worlds
Webb Telescope Finds No Signs of a Thick Atmosphere Around a Second TRAPPIST-1 Planet
Among the most eagerly awaited results from the early observations of the James Webb Space Telescope...
a year ago
Among the most eagerly awaited results from the early observations of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is whether or not the seven rocky planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system have atmospheres. The TRAPPIST-1 planets are close to us (40 light-years away), are all solid rather than...
Cremieux Recueil
Why America’s Racial Poverty Statistics Are a Lesson for Researchers
What if a single government employee could tell you an entire literature was wrong?
3 months ago
What if a single government employee could tell you an entire literature was wrong?
Math Is Still...
New Cell Atlases Reveal Untold Variety in the Brain and Beyond
Recent efforts to map every cell in the human body have researchers floored by unfathomable...
a year ago
Recent efforts to map every cell in the human body have researchers floored by unfathomable diversity, with many thousands of subtly different types of cells in the human brain alone.
The post New Cell Atlases Reveal Untold Variety in the Brain and Beyond first...
NeuroLogica Blog
Magnetohydrodynamic Drive – Silent Water Propulsion
DARPA, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is now working on developing a...
a year ago
DARPA, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is now working on developing a magnet-driven silent water propulsion system – the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) drive. The primary reason is to develop silent military naval craft. Imagine a nuclear submarine with an MHD drive,...
Explorations of an...
Marsh Birding In Ceibas And Otamendi
February 18, 2023
Laura and I left Parque Nacional El Palmar and continued south towards Buenos...
a year ago
February 18, 2023
Laura and I left Parque Nacional El Palmar and continued south towards Buenos Aires and beyond. We had just five days remaining in our Argentina trip, with ferry tickets purchased that would take us to Uruguay on February 23. At this point in the trip, potential...
Drew Ex Machina
Memories of Project RAMOS (Russian American Observation Satellites) 1991 – 2004
During the course of my professional career, one of the more important projects I had the pleasure...
a year ago
During the course of my professional career, one of the more important projects I had the pleasure to work on was the joint US/Russian Federation (RF) […]
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Silly little rules in healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket
The industry is chock full of ‘em, here's 3
6 months ago
The industry is chock full of ‘em, here's 3
nanoscale views
Disorganized thoughts on "Oppenheimer"
I saw "Oppenheimer" today. Spoiler warning, I suppose, though I think we all know how this story...
a year ago
I saw "Oppenheimer" today. Spoiler warning, I suppose, though I think we all know how this story ends. Just in case you were wondering, there is no post-credit scene to set up the sequel. (For the humor-impaired: that was a joke.)
The movie was an excellent piece of...
The Roots of...
2023 in review
2023 was another big year for me and The Roots of Progress.
It was a year when ROP as an...
11 months ago
2023 was another big year for me and The Roots of Progress.
It was a year when ROP as an organization really started to take off. Even though the org itself was formed in 2021, at first it was just a vehicle for my own intellectual work, plus a few side projects. Last year we...
Beautiful Public...
The Mirror Fusion Test Facility
A decade-long effort to build a machine to unlock the promise of nuclear fusion fell victim to...
a year ago
A decade-long effort to build a machine to unlock the promise of nuclear fusion fell victim to budget constraints and competing science, and was shut down the day it was dedicated. It was never turned on.
nanoscale views
APS March Meeting 2023, Day 2
I ended up spending more time catching up with people this afternoon than going to talks after my...
a year ago
I ended up spending more time catching up with people this afternoon than going to talks after my session ended, but here are a couple of highlights:
There was an invited session about the metal halide perovskites, and there were some interesting talks. My faculty colleague...
The Roots of...
Quote quiz: “drifting into dependence”
Quote quiz: who said this? (No fair looking it up). I have modified the original quotation slightly,...
a year ago
Quote quiz: who said this? (No fair looking it up). I have modified the original quotation slightly, by making a handful of word substitutions to bring it up to date:
It might be argued that the human race would never be foolish enough to hand over all power to AI. But we are...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Physicians and Pharma Marketing | Out-Of-Pocket
oh we getting that drug money
a year ago
oh we getting that drug money
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New (Experimental) Ways To Tackle The Mental Health Crisis | Out-Of-Pocket
let's try some new stuff to scale mental health care
a year ago
let's try some new stuff to scale mental health care
Wanderingspace
Kind of Cool Image of Io from Juno
Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI
The brightest spot is a radiation signature, but all the...
over a year ago
Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI
The brightest spot is a radiation signature, but all the rest are thought to be active volcanos on the Io surface. The moons are not a primary target of the Juno mission, but they do occasionally take a peek to try and monitor such...
nanoscale views
Items of interest
A couple of interesting papers that I came across this week:
There is long been an interest in...
4 months ago
A couple of interesting papers that I came across this week:
There is long been an interest in purely electronic cooling techniques (no moving parts!) that would work at cryogenic temperatures. You're familiar with ordinary evaporative cooling - that's what helps cool down...
pcloadletter
Write code that you can understand when you get paged at 2am
The older I get, the more I dislike clever code. This is not a controversial take; it is pretty-well...
7 months ago
The older I get, the more I dislike clever code. This is not a controversial take; it is pretty-well agreed upon that clever code is bad.
But I particularly like the on-call responsiblity framing: write code that you can understand when you get paged at 2am.
If you have never...
Math Is Still...
Nobel Prize Honors Inventors of ‘Quantum Dot’ Nanoparticles
The Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to three researchers who harnessed the quantum...
a year ago
The Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to three researchers who harnessed the quantum behaviors of semiconductor nanocrystals.
The post Nobel Prize Honors Inventors of ‘Quantum Dot’ Nanoparticles first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Computation Is All Around Us, and You Can See It if You Try
Computer scientist Lance Fortnow writes that by embracing the computations that surround us, we can...
6 months ago
Computer scientist Lance Fortnow writes that by embracing the computations that surround us, we can begin to understand and tame our seemingly random world.
The post Computation Is All Around Us, and You Can See It if You Try first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
Condensed matter’s rough start
I’m teaching undergrad solid-state for the first time, and it has served as a reminder of how...
a year ago
I’m teaching undergrad solid-state for the first time, and it has served as a reminder of how condensed matter physics got off the ground. I suspect that one reason CM historically had not received a lot of respect in the early years (e.g. Pauli declaring that solid-state...
Math Is Still...
‘Groups’ Underpin Modern Math. Here’s How They Work.
What do the integers have in common with the symmetries of a triangle? In the 19th century,...
3 months ago
What do the integers have in common with the symmetries of a triangle? In the 19th century, mathematicians invented groups as an answer to this question.
The post ‘Groups’ Underpin Modern Math. Here’s How They Work. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Light from Space
The Soul of the Heart Nebula
A spectacular emission Nebula, the Heart Nebula is one of the classics of Northern Hemisphere...
over a year ago
A spectacular emission Nebula, the Heart Nebula is one of the classics of Northern Hemisphere amateury astronomy.
In the gallery below, I've highlighted 3 very different areas of the image:
Left: Planetary Nebula WeBo-1
Middle: Melotte 15 in the... heart of the Heart...
Math Is Still...
Will Better Superconductors Transform the World?
Scientists are pursuing materials that can conduct electricity with perfect efficiency under ambient...
7 months ago
Scientists are pursuing materials that can conduct electricity with perfect efficiency under ambient conditions. In this episode, the physicist Siddharth Shanker Saxena tells co-host Janna Levin about what makes this hunt so difficult and consequential.
The post Will...
Inverted Passion
How to be a messy thinker
I love thinking about thinking. Give me a research paper on rationality, cognitive biases or mental...
7 months ago
I love thinking about thinking. Give me a research paper on rationality, cognitive biases or mental models, and I’ll gobble it up. Given the amount of knowledge I’ve ingested on these topics, I had always assumed that I’m a clear thinker. Recently, though, it hit me like a...
Math Is Still...
A ‘Lobby’ Where a Molecule Mob Tells Genes What to Do
Highly repetitive regions of junk DNA may be the key to a newly discovered mechanism for gene...
10 months ago
Highly repetitive regions of junk DNA may be the key to a newly discovered mechanism for gene regulation.
The post A ‘Lobby’ Where a Molecule Mob Tells Genes What to Do first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quantum Frontiers
Now published: Building Quantum Computers
Building Quantum Computers: A Practical Introduction by Shayan Majidy, Christopher Wilson, and...
2 months ago
Building Quantum Computers: A Practical Introduction by Shayan Majidy, Christopher Wilson, and Raymond Laflamme has been published by Cambridge University Press and will be released in the US on September 30. The authors invited me to write a Foreword for … Continue reading →
Casey Handmer's blog
Anti-aging tech fixes demographic collapse
With the latest studies on GLP-1 drugs showing not just a drop in all-cause mortality but also an...
3 months ago
With the latest studies on GLP-1 drugs showing not just a drop in all-cause mortality but also an apparent slowing of aging, I thought I’d write a quick note on how I think this technology, if it replicates, can drastically improve our lives. It’s hard to believe I’m writing...
NeuroLogica Blog
An Earth-like Climate is Fragile
One of the biggest questions of exoplanet astronomy is how many potentially habitable planets are...
a year ago
One of the biggest questions of exoplanet astronomy is how many potentially habitable planets are out there in the galaxy. By one estimate the answer is 6 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way. But of course we have to set parameters and make estimates, so this number can...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How To Self-Publish A Children's Book and How Much You Can Expect To Make | Out-Of-Pocket
spoiler: you will make very little lol
a year ago
spoiler: you will make very little lol
Quantum Frontiers
My favorite rocket scientist
Whenever someone protests, “I’m not a rocket scientist,” I think of my friend Jamie Rankin. Jamie is...
5 months ago
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 →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Newsletter One + Patient Zero | Out-Of-Pocket
Shall we begin?
a year ago
Quantum Frontiers
May I have this dance?
This July, I came upon a museum called the Haus der Musik in one of Vienna’s former palaces. The...
a year ago
This July, I came upon a museum called the Haus der Musik in one of Vienna’s former palaces. The museum contains a room dedicated to Johann Strauss II, king of the waltz. The room, dimly lit, resembles a twilit gazebo. … Continue reading →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How Health Data Gets Sold: Moving From Third-Party to First-Party | Out-Of-Pocket
The shift from third-party to first-party data consent, and how far should it go?
a year ago
The shift from third-party to first-party data consent, and how far should it go?
NeuroLogica Blog
UFOs and SGU on John Oliver
The most recent episode of John Oliver, Last Week Tonight, featured a discussion of the UFO...
8 months ago
The most recent episode of John Oliver, Last Week Tonight, featured a discussion of the UFO phenomenon. I’m always interested, and often disappointed, in how the mainstream media portrays skeptical topics. One interesting addition here is that Oliver actually referenced an SGU...
Asterisk
Lies, Damned Lies, and Manometer Readings
America’s HVAC labor force is plagued by dishonesty and frequently incapable of meeting industry...
10 months ago
America’s HVAC labor force is plagued by dishonesty and frequently incapable of meeting industry standards. Interventions in indoor air quality are the next frontier in pandemic prevention — but are they up to the task?
Beautiful Public...
FAA Aviation Maps
Among all of the visual information published by the U.S. government, there may be no product with a...
10 months ago
Among all of the visual information published by the U.S. government, there may be no product with a higher information density than the Federal Aviation Administration’s aviation maps.
Asterisk
PEPFAR and the Costs of Cost-Benefit Analysis
In the early aughts, economists said it was a bad use of money to send antiretroviral drugs to treat...
10 months ago
In the early aughts, economists said it was a bad use of money to send antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV in low-income countries. Twenty years later, we can ask why they got it wrong.
Math Is Still...
What Are Sheaves?
These metaphorical gardens have become central objects in modern mathematics.
The post...
5 months ago
These metaphorical gardens have become central objects in modern mathematics.
The post What Are Sheaves? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
The Key to Species Diversity May Be in Their Similarities
New modeling work suggests why nature is more diverse than niche-based ecological theory predicts. ...
a year ago
New modeling work suggests why nature is more diverse than niche-based ecological theory predicts.
The post The Key to Species Diversity May Be in Their Similarities first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
Why Isn’t Solar Scaling in Africa?
The World Bank designed the Scaling Solar program to set Africa on a course to sustainable energy....
10 months ago
The World Bank designed the Scaling Solar program to set Africa on a course to sustainable energy. Instead, it shed light on how a lack of transparency in the climate and development industry hampers progress.
The Roots of...
What if they gave an Industrial Revolution and nobody came?
Imagine you could go back in time to the ancient world to jump-start the Industrial Revolution. You...
a year ago
Imagine you could go back in time to the ancient world to jump-start the Industrial Revolution. You carry with you plans for a steam engine, and you present them to the emperor, explaining how the machine could be used to drain water out of mines, pump bellows for blast furnaces,...
Wanderingspace
JUPITER FROM JUNO
An unusual perspective, captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft in 2018.
a year ago
An unusual perspective, captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft in 2018.
Math Is Still...
‘Magical’ Error Correction Scheme Proved Inherently Inefficient
Locally correctable codes need barely any information to fix errors, but they’re extremely long. Now...
11 months ago
Locally correctable codes need barely any information to fix errors, but they’re extremely long. Now we know that the simplest versions can’t get any shorter.
The post ‘Magical’ Error Correction Scheme Proved Inherently Inefficient first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Cremieux Recueil
Just Pay Them Off
The International Longshoremen's Association is protecting people whose jobs are no longer...
2 months ago
The International Longshoremen's Association is protecting people whose jobs are no longer necessary. Stop fighting and just pay them so they go away.
NeuroLogica Blog
Will AI Make Work Redundant?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is coming for your job. This, at least, is increasingly conventional...
a year ago
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is coming for your job. This, at least, is increasingly conventional wisdom, but I’m not so sure. In a recent interview, Elon Musk predicted that AI would “make paid work redundant.” I encountered the same opinion watching the latest season of...
NeuroLogica Blog
AI-Fueled Scams
Digital life is getting more dangerous. Literally every day I have to fend off attempts at scamming...
7 months ago
Digital life is getting more dangerous. Literally every day I have to fend off attempts at scamming me in one way or another. I get texts trying to lure me into responding. I get e-mails hoping I will click a malicious link on a reflex. I get phone calls from people warning me...
NeuroLogica Blog
Evidence and the Nanny State
One side benefit of our federalist system is that the US essentially has 50 experiments in...
a year ago
One side benefit of our federalist system is that the US essentially has 50 experiments in democracy. States hold a lot of power, which provides an opportunity to compare the effects of different public policies. There are lots of other variables at play, such as economics, rural...
NeuroLogica Blog
Do We Have Free Will?
Let’s dive head first into one of the internet’s most contentious questions – do we have true free...
a year ago
Let’s dive head first into one of the internet’s most contentious questions – do we have true free will? This comes up not infrequently whenever I write here about neuroscience, most recently when I wrote about hunger circuitry, because the notion of the brain as a physical...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Announcing the Out-Of-Pocket Job Board! | Out-Of-Pocket
Recruiting a ton? Get your healthcare jobs in front of the right people
a year ago
Recruiting a ton? Get your healthcare jobs in front of the right people
Explorations of an...
Otamendi Reserve and Laguna Chiquita Mar
January 11, 2023
Laura and I picked up our rental car from Enterprise in Buenos Aires as soon as...
a year ago
January 11, 2023
Laura and I picked up our rental car from Enterprise in Buenos Aires as soon as they opened. The 9 AM start time meant that it was after 10 AM by the time that we had finally hit the open road. For the next six weeks, we are completing a big loop with the car,...
The Works in...
The road from serfdom
Using opt-ins to reform Russia's backwards tsarist agricultural sector
9 months ago
Using opt-ins to reform Russia's backwards tsarist agricultural sector
NeuroLogica Blog
Possible Sign of Life on Exoplanet
The James Webb Space Telescope spectroscopic analysis of K2-18b, an exoplanet 124 light years from...
a year ago
The James Webb Space Telescope spectroscopic analysis of K2-18b, an exoplanet 124 light years from Earth, shows signs that the atmosphere may contain dimethyl sulphide (DMS). This finding is more impressive when you know that DMS on Earth is only produced by living organisms, not...
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, November 2023
A ~monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in...
a year ago
A ~monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests. All emphasis in bold in the quotes below was added by me.
Books
Finished Lynn White, Medieval Technology and Social Change (1962). Last time I talked about the...
Math Is Still...
Inside Scientists’ Life-Saving Prediction of the Iceland Eruption
The Reykjanes Peninsula has entered a new volcanic era. Innovative efforts to map and monitor the...
10 months ago
The Reykjanes Peninsula has entered a new volcanic era. Innovative efforts to map and monitor the subterranean magma are saving lives.
The post Inside Scientists’ Life-Saving Prediction of the Iceland Eruption first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
Assistive Tech at the End of Sight
Seeing his words on the printed page is a big deal to Andrew Leland—as it is to all writers. But the...
a year ago
Seeing his words on the printed page is a big deal to Andrew Leland—as it is to all writers. But the sight of his thoughts in written form is much more precious to him than to most scribes. Leland is gradually losing his vision due to a congenital condition called retinitis...
The Works in...
The value of family
Traditional values don't deliver babies
a year ago
Traditional values don't deliver babies
NeuroLogica Blog
The Gender Boxing Hubub
Both Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan and Imane Khelif of Algeria earned medals in female boxing competition at...
4 months ago
Both Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan and Imane Khelif of Algeria earned medals in female boxing competition at the 2024 Olympics. This has caused a controversy because both boxers, according to reports, have some form of DSD – difference of sex development. This means they have been caught...
wadertales
How successful are headstarted waders
We know that headstarting (hatching eggs in captivity and rearing chicks through to fledging) can...
2 months ago
We know that headstarting (hatching eggs in captivity and rearing chicks through to fledging) can boost the number of young waders in a population. However, the sustainability of this intervention is dependent upon several factors that apply after the point of release. A paper in...
Drew Ex Machina
First Pictures: NASA’s Mars Pathfinder – July 4, 1997
During the morning hours of July 4, 1997, I experienced a strange sense of déjà vu as I sat glued to...
over a year ago
During the morning hours of July 4, 1997, I experienced a strange sense of déjà vu as I sat glued to the television set watching live […]
Math Is Still...
She Tracks the DNA of Elusive Species That Hide in Harsh Places
On Mount Everest and in the Peruvian Andes, Tracie Seimon uses DNA to study how species and...
a year ago
On Mount Everest and in the Peruvian Andes, Tracie Seimon uses DNA to study how species and ecosystems respond to climate change, pathogens and other influences.
The post She Tracks the DNA of Elusive Species That Hide in Harsh Places first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Euclid Space Telescope Delivers Great Images
The first images are coming in from the new Euclid Space Telescope and they are spectacular.
The...
a year ago
The first images are coming in from the new Euclid Space Telescope and they are spectacular.
The post Euclid Space Telescope Delivers Great Images appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
The Works in...
Making architecture easy
Architecture is inherently public, which means buildings should be agreeable, not unpopular works of...
4 weeks ago
Architecture is inherently public, which means buildings should be agreeable, not unpopular works of genius
Math Is Still...
She Studies How Addiction Hijacks Learning in the Brain
Erin Calipari works to understand how drugs like opioids and cocaine alter learning circuits and...
a year ago
Erin Calipari works to understand how drugs like opioids and cocaine alter learning circuits and neurochemistry in one of the country's epicenters of substance use disorder and addiction.
The post She Studies How Addiction Hijacks Learning in the Brain first appeared...
Drew Ex Machina
Tropical Weather Analytics and Phantom Space Partner on Hurricane Hunter Satellite Constellation
Tropical Weather Analytics, Inc. (TWA), with a revolutionary 3D measurement capability for improved...
a year ago
Tropical Weather Analytics, Inc. (TWA), with a revolutionary 3D measurement capability for improved hurricane forecasting and weather intelligence, is announcing a strategic partnership with Phantom Space […]
Melting Asphalt
Crony Beliefs
[Note: if you prefer audio, you can listen to this essay narrated by Grognor on his excellent...
over a year ago
[Note: if you prefer audio, you can listen to this essay narrated by Grognor on his excellent podcast Second Enumerations. —Ed.] Credits up front: This essay draws heavily from Overcoming Bias, Less Wrong, Slate Star Codex, Robert Kurzban, Robert…
Read more ›
nanoscale views
Artificial intelligence, extrapolation, and physical constraints
Disclaimer and disclosure: The "arrogant physicist declaims about some topic far outside their...
6 months ago
Disclaimer and disclosure: The "arrogant physicist declaims about some topic far outside their domain expertise (like climate change or epidemiology or economics or geopolitics or....) like everyone actually in the field is clueless" trope is very overplayed at this point, and...
Quantum Frontiers
Announcing the quantum-steampunk short-story contest!
The year I started studying calculus, I took the helm of my high school’s literary magazine....
over a year ago
The year I started studying calculus, I took the helm of my high school’s literary magazine. Throughout the next two years, the editorial board flooded campus with poetry—and poetry contests. We papered the halls with flyers, built displays in the … Continue reading →
nanoscale views
What are "quantum oscillations"?
For the first time in a couple of decades, I was visiting the Aspen Center for Physics, which is...
a year ago
For the first time in a couple of decades, I was visiting the Aspen Center for Physics, which is always a fun, intellectually stimulating experience. (Side note: I sure hope that the rapidly escalating costs of everything in the Aspen area don't make this venue untenable in the...
NeuroLogica Blog
GMOs – Ask a Farmer
The topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a great target for science communication...
4 months ago
The topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a great target for science communication because public attitudes have largely been shaped by deliberate misinformation, and the research suggests that those attitudes can change in response to more accurate information. It is...
The Works in...
Two Assault Rifles
A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
NeuroLogica Blog
Microbes Aboard the ISS
As I have written many times, including in yesterday’s post, people occupying space is hard. The...
11 months ago
As I have written many times, including in yesterday’s post, people occupying space is hard. The environment of space, or really anywhere not on Earth, is harsh and unforgiving. One of the issues, for example, rarely addressed in science fiction or even discussions of space...
Math Is Still...
A Multitalented Scientist Seeks the Origins of Multicellularity
The pathbreaking geneticist Cassandra Extavour pursues the secrets of multicellular life while...
10 months ago
The pathbreaking geneticist Cassandra Extavour pursues the secrets of multicellular life while balancing careers in both science and singing.
The post A Multitalented Scientist Seeks the Origins of Multicellularity first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
The Computer Scientist Who Builds Big Pictures From Small Details
To better understand machine learning algorithms, Lenka Zdeborová treats them like physical...
2 months ago
To better understand machine learning algorithms, Lenka Zdeborová treats them like physical materials.
The post The Computer Scientist Who Builds Big Pictures From Small Details first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wanderingspace
The First Ever Real-Time Video from Another Planet
When you watch this video, if you find yourself thinking of the Apollo moon landings— here is why:...
over a year ago
When you watch this video, if you find yourself thinking of the Apollo moon landings— here is why: this is the first real-time video taken from another world since 1972, and this is the first ever taken on another planet.
Most “video” you see from other planetary missions are...
Uncharted...
100,000 Gifts
What happened in 2024 and what will happen in 2025
3 days ago
What happened in 2024 and what will happen in 2025
Math Is Still...
The Brain Region That Controls Movement Also Guides Feelings
The cerebellum is responsible for far more than coordinating movement. New techniques reveal that it...
11 months ago
The cerebellum is responsible for far more than coordinating movement. New techniques reveal that it is, in fact, a hub of sensory and emotional processing in the brain.
The post The Brain Region That Controls Movement Also Guides Feelings first appeared on Quanta...
Asterisk
Making Sense of Moral Change
A conversation about abolitionism, moral progress, and the pitfalls of historical counterfactuals.
over a year ago
A conversation about abolitionism, moral progress, and the pitfalls of historical counterfactuals.
Math Is Still...
New Codes Could Make Quantum Computing 10 Times More Efficient
Quantum computing is still really, really hard. But the rise of a powerful class of error-correcting...
a year ago
Quantum computing is still really, really hard. But the rise of a powerful class of error-correcting codes suggests that the task might be slightly more feasible than many feared.
The post New Codes Could Make Quantum Computing 10 Times More Efficient first appeared...
Drew Ex Machina
Top Ten Posts of 2022
Now that we are at the end of 2022, it is time to look back at this year’s material published on...
a year ago
Now that we are at the end of 2022, it is time to look back at this year’s material published on Drew Ex Machina and see […]
Probably...
Too many bronze medals?
In a recent video, Hank Green nerd-sniped me by asking a question I couldn’t not answer. At one...
4 months ago
In a recent video, Hank Green nerd-sniped me by asking a question I couldn’t not answer. At one point in the video, he shows “a graph of the last 20 years of Olympic games showing the gold, silver, and bronze medals from continental Europe. And it “shows continental Europe having...
Blog - Practical...
Why Bridges Need Sensors (and other structures too)
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Almost immediately after I...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Almost immediately after I started making videos about engineering, people started asking me to play video games on the channel. Apparently there’s roughly a billion people who watch online gaming these days,...
Asterisk
The Virtue of Wonder: Martha Nussbaum’s Justice for Animals
Martha Nussbaum’s latest book challenges us to change the way we think — and feel — about animals....
a year ago
Martha Nussbaum’s latest book challenges us to change the way we think — and feel — about animals. What role can wonder and awe play when pathos comes up short?
Math Is Still...
The Symmetry That Makes Solving Math Equations Easy
Learn why the quadratic formula works and why quadratics are easier to solve than cubics. ...
a year ago
Learn why the quadratic formula works and why quadratics are easier to solve than cubics.
The post The Symmetry That Makes Solving Math Equations Easy first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Uncharted...
Interesting News & Game Theory of Sex | Q3 2024
Trans & bathrooms, the end of nation states, woke pendulum, trigger warnings, is breastfeeding...
2 months ago
Trans & bathrooms, the end of nation states, woke pendulum, trigger warnings, is breastfeeding actually good for IQ, are differences in household work justified, and more
NeuroLogica Blog
Tesla Demonstrated its Optimus Robot
At a recent event Tesla showcased the capabilities of its humanoid autonomous robot, Optimus. The...
2 months ago
At a recent event Tesla showcased the capabilities of its humanoid autonomous robot, Optimus. The demonstration has come under some criticism, however, for not being fully transparent about the nature of the demonstration. We interviewed robotics expert, Christian Hubicki, on the...
Math Is Still...
How Simple Math Moves the Needle
The spatial intuition behind a three-point turn offers an on-ramp to a century-old geometry problem....
a year ago
The spatial intuition behind a three-point turn offers an on-ramp to a century-old geometry problem.
The post How Simple Math Moves the Needle first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
False Starts: The Story of Vehicle-to-Grid Power
In 2001, a team of engineers at a then-obscure R&D company called AC Propulsion quietly began a...
a year ago
In 2001, a team of engineers at a then-obscure R&D company called AC Propulsion quietly began a groundbreaking experiment. They wanted to see whether an electric vehicle could feed electricity back to the grid. The experiment seemed to prove the feasibility of the technology. The...
Asterisk
Why You’ve Never Been In A Plane Crash
The United States leads the world in airline safety. That’s because of the way we assign blame when...
10 months ago
The United States leads the world in airline safety. That’s because of the way we assign blame when accidents do happen.
NeuroLogica Blog
Meteostat-12 Meets Flat Earthers
I know this wasn’t the purpose of sending up a €4.3bn satellite into geostationary orbit, but...
a year ago
I know this wasn’t the purpose of sending up a €4.3bn satellite into geostationary orbit, but tweaking flat earthers is a fun side effect. European countries have collaborated on this project, having weather satellites in orbit since 1977. The latest iteration is Meteostat-12,...
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
A.I., Wine, and Beer
There have been many studies using scientific instrumentation, mostly gas chromatography, in...
6 months ago
There have been many studies using scientific instrumentation, mostly gas chromatography, in attempts to find what distinguishes a superb wine from an inexpensive house wine. A typical wine can contain more than 800 different aroma compounds. One study examined two Australian...
NeuroLogica Blog
Age of the Moon Revised
There are a few interesting stories lurking in this news item, but lets start with the top level – a...
a year ago
There are a few interesting stories lurking in this news item, but lets start with the top level – a new study revises the minimum age of the Moon to 4.46 billion years, 40 million years older than the previous estimate. That in itself is interesting, but not game-changing. It’s...
Math Is Still...
The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes
Making ice requires more than subzero temperatures. The unpredictable process takes microscopic...
6 months ago
Making ice requires more than subzero temperatures. The unpredictable process takes microscopic scaffolding, random jiggling and often a little bit of bacteria.
The post The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Are Animals Conscious?
This is a great scientific question because it challenges how we ask and answer scientific...
6 months ago
This is a great scientific question because it challenges how we ask and answer scientific questions. Are animals conscious? This is a question discussed in a recent BBC article that peaked my interest. They eventually get to a question that they should have opened with – how do...
NeuroLogica Blog
Artificial Robotic Muscles
By now we have all seen the impressive robot videos, such as the ones from Boston Dynamics, in which...
3 months ago
By now we have all seen the impressive robot videos, such as the ones from Boston Dynamics, in which robots show incredible flexibility and agility. These are amazing, but I understand they are a bit like trick-shot videos – we are being shown the ones that worked, which may not...
Quantum Frontiers
Noncommuting charges are much like Batman
Understanding a character’s origins enriches their narrative and motivates their actions. Take...
9 months ago
Understanding a character’s origins enriches their narrative and motivates their actions. Take Batman as an example: without knowing his backstory, he appears merely as a billionaire who might achieve more by donating his wealth rather than masquerading as a bat … Continue...
Articles - Chris...
Moved to tears
20 years ago, on January 15 2004, a little before 2 AM Pacific time, was
the payoff.
It was...
10 months ago
20 years ago, on January 15 2004, a little before 2 AM Pacific time, was
the payoff.
It was cause for celebration. But first, I wept.
Math Is Still...
How This Marine Worm Can Tell Moonglow From Sunbeams
For the first time, scientists have decoded the molecular structure of a protein that helps to sync...
a year ago
For the first time, scientists have decoded the molecular structure of a protein that helps to sync a biological clock to the phases of the moon.
The post How This Marine Worm Can Tell Moonglow From Sunbeams first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Clinical Pharmacists, Generative AI, and InpharmD | Out-Of-Pocket
Going under the hood of a generative AI product
11 months ago
Going under the hood of a generative AI product
Stephen Wolfram...
On the Nature of Time
The Computational View of Time Time is a central feature of human experience. But what actually is...
2 months ago
The Computational View of Time Time is a central feature of human experience. But what actually is it? In traditional scientific accounts it’s often represented as some kind of coordinate much like space (though a coordinate that for some reason is always systematically...
Confessions of a...
Shark Bay: a pristine template for marine ecosystems worldwide
Here in Western Australia, we are lucky to be in the global centre of seagrass diversity. As such,...
over a year ago
Here in Western Australia, we are lucky to be in the global centre of seagrass diversity. As such, we have a coastline dominated by many different species of seagrasses – from large, temperate seagrasses like Posidonia australis to small, tropical species like Halodule...
Math Is Still...
Can Thermodynamics Go Quantum?
The Industrial Revolution brought us the laws of thermodynamics, and new ideas about work, energy...
3 months ago
The Industrial Revolution brought us the laws of thermodynamics, and new ideas about work, energy and efficiency. In this episode, co-host Steven Strogatz speaks with theoretical physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern about what these concepts might mean in the age of quantum mechanics....
Math Is Still...
Unfolding the Mysteries of Polygonal Billiards
The surprisingly subtle geometry of a familiar game shows how quickly math gets complicated. ...
10 months ago
The surprisingly subtle geometry of a familiar game shows how quickly math gets complicated.
The post Unfolding the Mysteries of Polygonal Billiards first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
Materials labs of the future + cost
The NSF Division of Materials Research has been soliciting input from the community about both the...
over a year ago
The NSF Division of Materials Research has been soliciting input from the community about both the biggest outstanding problems in condensed matter and materials science, and the future of materials labs - what kind of infrastructure, training, etc. will be needed to address...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Clipper Europa Mission
I wrote earlier this week about the latest successful test of Starship and the capture of the Super...
2 months ago
I wrote earlier this week about the latest successful test of Starship and the capture of the Super Heavy booster by grabbing arms of the landing tower. This was quite a feat, but it should not eclipse what was perhaps even bigger space news this week – the launch of NASAs...
Blog - Practical...
Philadelphia I-95 Bridge Collapse Explained
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
On Jun 11, 2023, a fuel tanker...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
On Jun 11, 2023, a fuel tanker truck caught fire on an exit underneath Interstate 95 in Northeast Philadelphia. The fire severely damaged the northbound bridge, eventually causing it to collapse. Sadly, the...
IEEE Spectrum
What Is an Electronic Sackbut?
If you, like me, think of musical synthesizers as an artifact of 1970s rock and disco, then you,...
10 months ago
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...
Math Is Still...
A New Kind of Symmetry Shakes Up Physics
So-called “higher symmetries” are illuminating everything from particle decays to the behavior of...
a year ago
So-called “higher symmetries” are illuminating everything from particle decays to the behavior of complex quantum systems.
The post A New Kind of Symmetry Shakes Up Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Elliptic Curves Yield Their Secrets in a New Number System
Ana Caraiani and James Newton have extended an important result in number theory to the imaginary...
a year ago
Ana Caraiani and James Newton have extended an important result in number theory to the imaginary realm.
The post Elliptic Curves Yield Their Secrets in a New Number System first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New Clinic Buildouts | Out-Of-Pocket
Has software changed what's necessary in the clinic?
a year ago
Has software changed what's necessary in the clinic?
Math Is Still...
How America’s Fastest Swimmers Use Math to Win Gold
Number theorist Ken Ono is teaching Olympians to swim more efficiently.
The post How...
5 months ago
Number theorist Ken Ono is teaching Olympians to swim more efficiently.
The post How America’s Fastest Swimmers Use Math to Win Gold first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Probably...
Life in a Lognormal World
At PyData Global 2023 I will present a talk, “Extremes, outliers, and GOATs: On life in a lognormal...
a year ago
At PyData Global 2023 I will present a talk, “Extremes, outliers, and GOATs: On life in a lognormal world”. It is scheduled for Wednesday 6 December at 11 am Eastern Time. Here is the abstract: The fastest runners are much faster than we expect from a Gaussian distribution, and...
Math Is Still...
‘The Rest of the World Disappears’: Claire Voisin on Mathematical Creativity
The recipient of the 2024 Crafoord Prize in Mathematics discusses math as art, math as language, and...
9 months ago
The recipient of the 2024 Crafoord Prize in Mathematics discusses math as art, math as language, and math as abstract thought.
The post ‘The Rest of the World Disappears’: Claire Voisin on Mathematical Creativity first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Beautiful Public...
Government Comic Books
Government comics have taught Americans how to prevent forest fires, survive a nuclear blast, and...
a year ago
Government comics have taught Americans how to prevent forest fires, survive a nuclear blast, and how soldiers should handle homosexuality in the military.
Math Is Still...
The Scientist Who Decodes the Songs of Undersea Volcanoes
In the rumbles and groans of underwater volcanoes, Jackie Caplan-Auerbach finds her favorite...
a year ago
In the rumbles and groans of underwater volcanoes, Jackie Caplan-Auerbach finds her favorite harmonies — and clues to the Earth’s interior.
The post The Scientist Who Decodes the Songs of Undersea Volcanoes first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
‘A-Team’ of Math Proves a Critical Link Between Addition and Sets
A team of four prominent mathematicians, including two Fields medalists, proved a conjecture...
a year ago
A team of four prominent mathematicians, including two Fields medalists, proved a conjecture described as a “holy grail of additive combinatorics.”
The post ‘A-Team’ of Math Proves a Critical Link Between Addition and Sets first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
ARPA-E Roadshow
Today, Rice hosted the ARPA-E Roadshow, a series of presentations by ARPA-E program officers, MC-ed...
a year ago
Today, Rice hosted the ARPA-E Roadshow, a series of presentations by ARPA-E program officers, MC-ed by the director, Prof. Evelyn Wang. It was all about the energy transition, and it was pretty fascinating, particularly hearing from leaders of startups who were making...
The Roots of...
Why you, personally, should want a larger human population
What is the ideal size of the human population?
One common answer is “much smaller.” Paul Ehrlich,...
10 months ago
What is the ideal size of the human population?
One common answer is “much smaller.” Paul Ehrlich, co-author of The Population Bomb (1968), has as recently as 2018 promoted the idea that “the world’s optimum population is less than two billion people,” a reduction of the current...
IEEE Spectrum
This Engineer Became a Star in Technology Publishing
Donald Christiansen, who transformed IEEE Spectrum from a promising but erratic technology magazine...
a month ago
Donald Christiansen, who transformed IEEE Spectrum from a promising but erratic technology magazine into a repeat National Magazine Award winner, died on 2 October 2024, at the age of 97, in Huntington, N.Y.
served aboard the aircraft carrier San Jacinto, an experience that led...
Math Is Still...
The Deep Link Equating Math Proofs and Computer Programs
Mathematical logic and the code of computer programs are, in an exact way, mirror images of each...
a year ago
Mathematical logic and the code of computer programs are, in an exact way, mirror images of each other.
The post The Deep Link Equating Math Proofs and Computer Programs first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Echoes of Electromagnetism Found in Number Theory
A new magnum opus posits the existence of a hidden mathematical link akin to the connection between...
a year ago
A new magnum opus posits the existence of a hidden mathematical link akin to the connection between electricity and magnetism.
The post Echoes of Electromagnetism Found in Number Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
A Brief History of the Office Cubicle
Robert Propst, a designer at the Herman Miller furniture company. Four years earlier, he had...
a year ago
Robert Propst, a designer at the Herman Miller furniture company. Four years earlier, he had proposed a radical alternative to the office bullpen: the Action Office. He envisioned it as a holistic and integrated system designed to increase worker efficiency while providing an...
Asterisk
Fracking Eyeballs
How an alliance between psychologists and advertisers at the turn of the 20th century taught us how...
a year ago
How an alliance between psychologists and advertisers at the turn of the 20th century taught us how to measure (and monetize) human attention.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Big Changes Coming | Out-Of-Pocket
What's temporary vs. permanent?
a year ago
What's temporary vs. permanent?
NeuroLogica Blog
DNA Directed Assembly of Nanomaterials
Arguably the type of advance that has the greatest impact on technology is material science....
11 months ago
Arguably the type of advance that has the greatest impact on technology is material science. Technology can advance by doing more with the materials we have, but new materials can change the game entirely. It is no coincidence that we mark different technological ages by the...
Wanderingspace
Phobos over mount Sharp
Taken by the Curiosity rover. This is one of Mars tiny moons as seen from the ground. Impressive as...
over a year ago
Taken by the Curiosity rover. This is one of Mars tiny moons as seen from the ground. Impressive as it is only 14 long and you can actually see its shape from the surface. See Phobos below for reference.
brr
The Last Egg
Five more months until freshies...
a year ago
Five more months until freshies...
NeuroLogica Blog
T-rex Had Lips
One of the challenges of paleontology is that we are trying to infer and entire animal just from the...
a year ago
One of the challenges of paleontology is that we are trying to infer and entire animal just from the hard parts that fossilize, mostly bones and teeth (and sometimes just teeth). But if we look at animals today there are a lot of details we could not guess from their bones alone...
NeuroLogica Blog
Did They Find Amelia Earhart’s Plane
Is this sonar image taken at 16,000 feet below the surface about 100 miles from Howland island, that...
10 months ago
Is this sonar image taken at 16,000 feet below the surface about 100 miles from Howland island, that of a downed Lockheed Model 10-E Electra plane? Tony Romeo hopes it is. He spent $9 million to purchase an underwater drone, the Hugan 6000, then hired a crew and scoured 5,200...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Amazon + One Medical Post | Out-Of-Pocket
I guess I should say something?
9 months ago
I guess I should say something?
NeuroLogica Blog
Dwarf Planet Ring Mystery
Scientists love mysteries, because that is where new discoveries lay. It is nice to find evidence...
a year ago
Scientists love mysteries, because that is where new discoveries lay. It is nice to find evidence consistent with existing theories, providing further confirmation, but it’s exciting to find evidence that cannot be explained with existing theories. Astronomers may have found such...
IEEE Spectrum
This 1920 Chess Automaton Was Wired to Win
The Mechanical Turk was a fraud. The chess-playing automaton, dressed in a turban and elaborate...
a year ago
The Mechanical Turk was a fraud. The chess-playing automaton, dressed in a turban and elaborate Ottoman robes, toured Europe in the closing decades of the 18th century accompanied by its inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen. The Turk wowed Austrian empress Maria Theresa, French emperor...
Drew Ex Machina
Failure to Launch: The First Moon Race 1958-60
While it has been a few months since I have published a new post on the Drew Ex Machina website,...
a year ago
While it has been a few months since I have published a new post on the Drew Ex Machina website, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t […]
Explorations of an...
Heading East Into The Atlantic Forest
The Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica in Portuguese) stretches across the southeastern coastal region...
a year ago
The Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica in Portuguese) stretches across the southeastern coastal region of Brazil, reaching inland as far as southeastern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina. In broad terms, the Atlantic Forest is formed and continues to be maintained by...
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, March 2023
A new monthly feature, let me know what you think.
Books
Matt Ridley, How Innovation Works (2020)....
a year ago
A new monthly feature, let me know what you think.
Books
Matt Ridley, How Innovation Works (2020). About halfway through, lots of interesting case studies, very readable.
Vaclav Smil, Creating the Twentieth Century (2005). I read the first chapter; saving the rest of it for when...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Healthcare in Jail | Out-Of-Pocket
How does it work?
a year ago
Probably...
Why are you so slow?
Recently a shoe store in France ran a promotion called “Rob It to Get It”, which invited customers...
a year ago
Recently a shoe store in France ran a promotion called “Rob It to Get It”, which invited customers to try to steal something by grabbing it and running out of the store. But there was a catch — the “security guard” was a professional sprinter, Méba Mickael Zeze. As you would...
Light from Space
Lagoon and the Hourglass
A view of the center region of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8, Sharpless 25). There's several other...
over a year ago
A view of the center region of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8, Sharpless 25). There's several other objects visible, notably the Hourglass Nebula and open star cluster NGC 6530, as well as numerous Bok globules (the small dark clouds, that will one day form new stars).
Click...
Math Is Still...
He Seeks Mystery Magnetic Fields With His Quantum Compass
Alex Sushkov is updating an old technology with new quantum tricks in hopes of sensing the magnetic...
7 months ago
Alex Sushkov is updating an old technology with new quantum tricks in hopes of sensing the magnetic influence of dark matter.
The post He Seeks Mystery Magnetic Fields With His Quantum Compass first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
The ultra-selfish gene
Genetically modifying malaria-carrying mosquitoes could allow us to wipe out humanity’s most deadly...
a month ago
Genetically modifying malaria-carrying mosquitoes could allow us to wipe out humanity’s most deadly killer.
Confessions of a...
A first step into the unknown world of academia…….
At the beginning of this blog I did promise to include some writings that would at least be...
over a year ago
At the beginning of this blog I did promise to include some writings that would at least be semi-useful (hopefully!) to future students hoping to move into a career in marine science; so here it goes! From today I am beginning a year long Postgraduate Teaching Internship at UWA....
Beautiful Public...
Pilot Manual for a 1940's U.S. Navy Blimp
This 122 page manual contains all of the operating instructions and technical details needed to...
a year ago
This 122 page manual contains all of the operating instructions and technical details needed to pilot this sleek, silver, 250 foot long, weaponized anti-submarine dirigible.
IEEE Spectrum
Franklin’s Franklins Were Freakishly Un-Fakeable
To make something hard to fake, you can use exotic materials or clever tricks. Benjamin Franklin, a...
a year ago
To make something hard to fake, you can use exotic materials or clever tricks. Benjamin Franklin, a printer by vocation, a scientist by avocation, leaned on cleverness, developing measures that are still in use.
Those black arts have now yielded to the latest analytical...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Healthcare in India | Out-Of-Pocket
From the eyes of someone on the ground
a year ago
From the eyes of someone on the ground
NeuroLogica Blog
Gene Editing Chickens to Resist Bird Flu
There are 33 billion chickens in the world, mostly domestic species raised for egg-laying or meat....
a year ago
There are 33 billion chickens in the world, mostly domestic species raised for egg-laying or meat. They are a high efficiency source of high quality protein. It’s the kind of thing we need to do if we want to feed 8 billion people. Similarly we have planted 4.62 billion acres of...
Cremieux Recueil
Grading the World's Shortest Manifesto
It gets an F and the student has earned the death penalty
a week ago
It gets an F and the student has earned the death penalty
ToughSF
Hypervelocity Macron Accelerators
We
look at the various ways of accelerating micro-scale projectiles up to hypervelocity
(10-10,000...
over a year ago
We
look at the various ways of accelerating micro-scale projectiles up to hypervelocity
(10-10,000 km/s) and their use in space.
Going
small to go fast
Macrons
or macroscopic particles are tiny projectiles that sit on the border between
the complex structures we see under a...
NeuroLogica Blog
Hybrid Biopolymer Transistors – Implications for Brain Machine Interface
There are several technologies which seem likely to be transformative in the coming decades. Genetic...
a year ago
There are several technologies which seem likely to be transformative in the coming decades. Genetic bioengineering gives us the ability to control the basic machinery of life, including ourselves. Artificial intelligence is a suite of active, learning, information tools....
IEEE Spectrum
The Pioneer Behind Electromagnetism
Without an understanding of the fundamental relationship between electricity and magnetism, it would...
a year ago
Without an understanding of the fundamental relationship between electricity and magnetism, it would not have been possible to invent motors, telecommunications equipment, kitchen appliances and more.
A key part of our understanding of that relationship, known as classical...
Math Is Still...
How Math Achieved Transcendence
Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to...
a year ago
Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to understand them.
The post How Math Achieved Transcendence first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
A Climate Debate Regarding Health Effects – Part IV
Part 4 This will be the final installment of this mini-debate about climate change and health...
a year ago
Part 4 This will be the final installment of this mini-debate about climate change and health effects, following a typical format of each person getting to make a statement and a response. Scott makes a lot of complaints about tone, format and fairness while simultaneously trying...
Math Is Still...
Do We Need a New Theory of Gravity?
Since Newton had his initial revelation about gravity, our understanding of this fundamental concept...
3 months ago
Since Newton had his initial revelation about gravity, our understanding of this fundamental concept has evolved in unexpected ways. In this week’s episode, theoretical physicist Claudia de Rham and co-host Janna Levin discuss the ways our current understanding of gravity needs...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New Era Of Digital Therapeutics | Out-Of-Pocket
Guess it's time to start defining the term again
a year ago
Guess it's time to start defining the term again
The Roots of...
If you wish to make an apple pie, you must first become dictator of the universe
The word “robot” is derived from the Czech robota, which means “serfdom.” It was introduced over a...
a year ago
The word “robot” is derived from the Czech robota, which means “serfdom.” It was introduced over a century ago by the Czech play R.U.R., for “Rossum’s Universal Robots.” In the play, the smartest and best-educated of the robots leads a slave revolt that wipes out most of...
NeuroLogica Blog
Power-To-X and Climate Change Policy
What is Power-to-X (PtX)? It’s just a fancy marketing term for green hydrogen – using green energy,...
2 weeks ago
What is Power-to-X (PtX)? It’s just a fancy marketing term for green hydrogen – using green energy, like wind, solar, nuclear, or hydroelectric, to make hydrogen from water. This process does not release any CO2, just oxygen, and when the hydrogen is burned back with that oxygen...
Probably...
Young Americans are Marrying Later or Never
I’ve written before about changes in marriage patterns in the U.S., and it’s one of the examples in...
a week ago
I’ve written before about changes in marriage patterns in the U.S., and it’s one of the examples in Chapter 13 of the new third edition of Think Stats. My analysis uses data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Today they released the most recent data, from surveys...
Asterisk
Cows vs. Chemists: The Health Debates Over Plant-Based Meat
Everyone wants to know if plant-based meats are good for you. Despite what you might read, no one...
a year ago
Everyone wants to know if plant-based meats are good for you. Despite what you might read, no one has a definitive answer.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Viz.ai and why workflow > tech | Out-Of-Pocket
Also ?? about AI business models
a year ago
Also ?? about AI business models
Math Is Still...
The New Math of How Large-Scale Order Emerges
The puzzle of emergence asks how regularities emerge on macro scales out of uncountable constituent...
6 months ago
The puzzle of emergence asks how regularities emerge on macro scales out of uncountable constituent parts. A new framework has researchers hopeful that a solution is near.
The post The New Math of How Large-Scale Order Emerges first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Many Worlds
Getting To Know Rogue Planets
In our Earthling minds, planets exist in solar systems with a Sun in the middle and objects large...
a year ago
In our Earthling minds, planets exist in solar systems with a Sun in the middle and objects large and small orbiting around it. This is hardly surprising since planets are pretty much exclusively illustrated in solar systems and, until the onset of the 21st century, no other...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How Value-Based Care Contracting Works with Accorded | Out-Of-Pocket
With calculators and contracts you can see yourself
a year ago
With calculators and contracts you can see yourself
wadertales
Will head-starting work for Curlew?
83 captive-reared Curlew were released successfully in 2019, over 130 in 2021 and a similar number...
over a year ago
83 captive-reared Curlew were released successfully in 2019, over 130 in 2021 and a similar number in 2022 but this does not mean that head-starting is a solution to England’s Curlew problems. We don’t yet know the proportion of youngsters that survive the difficult ‘teenage...
Math Is Still...
Ecologists Struggle to Get a Grip on ‘Keystone Species’
More than 50 years after Bob Paine’s experiment with starfish, hundreds of species have been...
8 months ago
More than 50 years after Bob Paine’s experiment with starfish, hundreds of species have been pronounced “keystones” in their ecosystems. Has the powerful metaphor lost its mathematical meaning?
The post Ecologists Struggle to Get a Grip on ‘Keystone Species’ first...
nanoscale views
APS March Meeting 2024, Day 4 and wrap-up
Because of the timing of my flight back to Houston, I really only went to one session today, in...
9 months ago
Because of the timing of my flight back to Houston, I really only went to one session today, in which my student spoke as did some collaborators. It was a pretty interesting collection of contributed talks.
The work that's been done on spin transport in multiferroic...
NeuroLogica Blog
Converting CO2 to Carbon Nanofibers
One of the dreams of a green economy where the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is stable, and not...
11 months ago
One of the dreams of a green economy where the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is stable, and not slowly increasing, is the ability to draw CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it to a solid form. Often referred to as carbon capture, some form of this is going to be necessary...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Did The FDA Mess Up With Aduhelm? | Out-Of-Pocket
Rethinking the approval, coverage, and reimbursement dynamic
a year ago
Rethinking the approval, coverage, and reimbursement dynamic
Uncharted...
The Latest on Healthcare Research
Cancer research, AI in healthcare, aging research, and much more
a month ago
Cancer research, AI in healthcare, aging research, and much more
Asterisk
Half A Million Kinksters Can’t Be Wrong
The story of how one independent researcher conducted the largest-ever survey on fetishes, and what...
a year ago
The story of how one independent researcher conducted the largest-ever survey on fetishes, and what it has to teach us about sex, pleasure, and social science methodology.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Two new courses! And ~*fun*~ Out-Of-Pocket updates | Out-Of-Pocket
3 months ago
Math Is Still...
Selfish, Virus-Like DNA Can Carry Genes Between Species
Genetic elements called Mavericks that have some viral features could be responsible for the...
a year ago
Genetic elements called Mavericks that have some viral features could be responsible for the large-scale smuggling of DNA between species.
The post Selfish, Virus-Like DNA Can Carry Genes Between Species first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
How ‘Embeddings’ Encode What Words Mean — Sort Of
Machines work with words by embedding their relationships with other words in a string of numbers. ...
3 months ago
Machines work with words by embedding their relationships with other words in a string of numbers.
The post How ‘Embeddings’ Encode What Words Mean — Sort Of first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Betavoltaic Batteries
In 1964 Isaac Asimov, asked to imagine the world 50 years in the future, wrote: “The appliances of...
11 months ago
In 1964 Isaac Asimov, asked to imagine the world 50 years in the future, wrote: “The appliances of 2014 will have no electric cords, of course, for they will be powered by long- lived batteries running on radioisotopes. The isotopes will not be expensive for they will be by-...
Many Worlds
Many Worlds Archive is Available
I had the pleasure of reporting and writing the Many Worlds column — sponsored by NASA’s NExSS...
a year ago
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...
The Works in...
Lost Science
When discoveries are forgotten and then found
11 months ago
When discoveries are forgotten and then found
Stephen Wolfram...
Computing the Eclipse: Astronomy in the Wolfram Language
Basic Eclipse Computation It’s taken millennia to get to the point where it’s possible to accurately...
8 months ago
Basic Eclipse Computation It’s taken millennia to get to the point where it’s possible to accurately compute eclipses. But now—as a tiny part of making “everything in the world” computable—computation about eclipses is just a built-in feature of the Wolfram Language. The core...
Math Is Still...
What Happens in the Brain to Cause Depression?
Drugs that target the neurotransmitter serotonin have long been prescribed to treat depression. Now...
7 months ago
Drugs that target the neurotransmitter serotonin have long been prescribed to treat depression. Now the spotlight is turning to other aspects of brain chemistry. In this episode, the neuropharmacologist John Krystal shares findings that are overturning our understanding of...
Math Is Still...
The ‘Accidental Activist’ Who Changed the Face of Mathematics
Throughout her 60-year career, Lenore Blum has developed new perspectives on logic and computation...
11 months ago
Throughout her 60-year career, Lenore Blum has developed new perspectives on logic and computation while championing women in mathematics and computer science. Now consciousness is on her mind.
The post The ‘Accidental Activist’ Who Changed the Face of Mathematics...
NeuroLogica Blog
A Climate Debate Regarding Health Effects – Part II
Yesterday’s post was the first in an exchange about the effects of climate change on public health....
a year ago
Yesterday’s post was the first in an exchange about the effects of climate change on public health. Today’s post is my response. Part II Climate change is a critically important topic for society today, and it’s important that the public have a working knowledge of the facts,...
The Roots of...
Four lenses on AI risks
All powerful new technologies create both benefits and risks: cars, planes, drugs, radiation. AI is...
a year ago
All powerful new technologies create both benefits and risks: cars, planes, drugs, radiation. AI is on a trajectory to become one of the most powerful technologies we possess; in some scenarios, it becomes by far the most powerful. It therefore will create both extraordinary...
nanoscale views
What is a metal-insulator transition?
The recent excitement about the alleged high temperature superconductor "LK99" has introduced some...
a year ago
The recent excitement about the alleged high temperature superconductor "LK99" has introduced some in the public to the idea of a metal-insulator or insulator-metal transition (MIT/IMT). For example, one strong candidate explanation for the sharp drop in resistance as a function...
nanoscale views
Bob Curl - it is possible to be successful and also a good person
I went to a memorial service today at Rice for my late colleague Bob Curl, who died this past...
over a year ago
I went to a memorial service today at Rice for my late colleague Bob Curl, who died this past summer, and it was a really nice event. I met Bob almost immediately upon my arrival at Rice back in 2000 (though I’d heard about him from my thesis advisor, who’d met him at the Nobel...
Damn Interesting
The Unceasing Cessna Hacienda
Warren “Doc” Bayley was a man of the people. When he and his wife Judy opened their Las Vegas resort...
over a year ago
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...
The Works in...
From MANUALS to YOUTUBE
A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
Wanderingspace
Ganymede from Juno
Some incredibly sharp images from the Juno mission of Ganymede. The first new views of this...
over a year ago
Some incredibly sharp images from the Juno mission of Ganymede. The first new views of this beautiful moon since Galileo. See more from kevinmgill on flickr. Also see the thread building up to these full composites in unmannedspaceflight.com.
NeuroLogica Blog
Fossil Fuels – Reduce Demand or Supply?
This is a bit of a false choice – we can do both, or neither – but it is an important question and a...
a year ago
This is a bit of a false choice – we can do both, or neither – but it is an important question and a somewhat of a dilemma. Is the optimal path to reductions and eventual elimination of fossil fuel burning through reduced demand or supply? There are some interesting tradeoffs...
Math Is Still...
What Is the Nature of Consciousness?
Consciousness, our experience of being in the world, is one of the mind’s greatest mysteries, but as...
a year ago
Consciousness, our experience of being in the world, is one of the mind’s greatest mysteries, but as the neuroscientist Anil Seth explains to Steven Strogatz, research is making progress in understanding this elusive phenomenon.
The post What Is the Nature of...
Drew Ex Machina
USAF Project Able-1: The First Attempt to Reach the Moon
In the years leading up to the beginning of the Space Age, there were many studies made in the West...
over a year ago
In the years leading up to the beginning of the Space Age, there were many studies made in the West about lunar missions which gripped the […]
NeuroLogica Blog
Regret After Transitioning
In my last post I noted that even mentioning general vague support for the LGBTQ community was...
a year ago
In my last post I noted that even mentioning general vague support for the LGBTQ community was enough to trigger very specific feedback, often making erroneous scientific claims. Each claim requires a deep dive and article-length discussion. Even though the discussion that...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
A Comet Visible in Our Evening Sky
A newly discovered comet is now faintly visible in our skies soon after sunset, if you have clear...
2 months ago
A newly discovered comet is now faintly visible in our skies soon after sunset, if you have clear skies and a view low toward the west-southwest horizon. See our diagram from Sky & Telescope magazine, in which the yellow numbers show you the comet’s location in the evening sky...
NeuroLogica Blog
For Movies – Animals Don’t Sound Real Enough
What does a majestic eagle sound like, or the hoot of a spider monkey, or the roar of a bear? Unless...
a year ago
What does a majestic eagle sound like, or the hoot of a spider monkey, or the roar of a bear? Unless you have an interest in movie tropes, or listen regularly to the SGU, you may have a complete misconception about the sounds these and many other animals make. Eagles, for...
nanoscale views
Recent RT superconductivity claim - summary page
In the interests of saving people from lots of googling or scrolling through 170+ comments, here is...
a year ago
In the interests of saving people from lots of googling or scrolling through 170+ comments, here is a bulleted summary of links relevant to the recent claim of room temperature superconductivity in a nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride compound under pressure.
Dias's contributed...
Interaction Magic -...
Metaphors mold minds
Every good design is founded on a great metaphor. How to use metaphors to design more a inclusive...
over a year ago
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.
symmetry magazine
LHC experiments see four top quarks
The ATLAS and CMS experiments have observed a process 4,000 times rarer than the production of Higgs...
a year ago
The ATLAS and CMS experiments have observed a process 4,000 times rarer than the production of Higgs bosons.
The ATLAS and CMS experiments have successfully detected the production of a quartet of top quarks during high-energy proton collisions inside the Large...
Math Is Still...
Can Math and Physics Save an Arrhythmic Heart?
Abnormal waves of electrical activity can cause a heart’s muscle cells to beat out of sync. In this...
a year ago
Abnormal waves of electrical activity can cause a heart’s muscle cells to beat out of sync. In this episode, Flavio Fenton, an expert in cardiac dynamics, talks with Steve Strogatz about ways to treat heart arrhythmias without resorting to painful defibrillators.
The...
IEEE Spectrum
RCA’s Lucite Phantom Teleceiver Introduced the Idea of TV
addressed a small crowd outside the RCA pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. “Today we are on the...
a year ago
addressed a small crowd outside the RCA pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. “Today we are on the eve of launching a new industry, based on imagination, on scientific research and accomplishment,” he proclaimed. That industry was television.
RCA president David Sarnoff’s...
Math Is Still...
These Moons Are Dark and Frozen. So How Can They Have Oceans?
The moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn appear to have subsurface oceans — tantalizing targets in the...
a year ago
The moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn appear to have subsurface oceans — tantalizing targets in the search for life beyond Earth. But it’s not clear why these seas exist at all.
The post These Moons Are Dark and Frozen. So How Can They Have Oceans? first appeared on...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Actually good 2024 healthcare predictions | Out-Of-Pocket
I know, enough predictions. But these are good!
a year ago
I know, enough predictions. But these are good!
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Six Stages Of Health Tech Grief Pt. 1 | Out-Of-Pocket
we should pay people to be healthy + building a new EMR
a year ago
we should pay people to be healthy + building a new EMR
nanoscale views
Fiber optics + a different approach to fab
Two very brief items of interest:
This article is a nice popular discussion of the history of...
3 months ago
Two very brief items of interest:
This article is a nice popular discussion of the history of fiber optics and the remarkable progress it's made for telecommunications. If you're interested in a more expansive but very accessible take on this, I highly recommend City of...
Asterisk
California vs. Big Soda
Sugar-sweetened beverage taxes work. But during the time it took to figure this out, enacting them...
6 months ago
Sugar-sweetened beverage taxes work. But during the time it took to figure this out, enacting them became much harder.
Melting Asphalt
Going Critical
Background: This is an interactive blog post. I wanted to host it here, but don't know how to make...
over a year ago
Background: This is an interactive blog post. I wanted to host it here, but don't know how to make it play nice with WordPress. So I decided to host it on another part of the site instead. Click here for…
Read more ›
Explorations of an...
Birds And Herps In The Summer Heat
January 31, 2023
Our success with the Chaco Owl and Black-bodied Woodpecker afforded us the luxury...
a year ago
January 31, 2023
Our success with the Chaco Owl and Black-bodied Woodpecker afforded us the luxury of a sleep-in this morning. With the exception of the rare Chaco Eagle, as well as several species that were heard but not seen (Black-legged Seriema, Olive-crowned Crescentchest,...
Math Is Still...
The Mystery of the Missing Multicellular Prokaryotes
Why have bacteria never evolved complex multicellularity? A new hypothesis suggests that it could...
7 months ago
Why have bacteria never evolved complex multicellularity? A new hypothesis suggests that it could come down to how prokaryotic genomes respond to a small population size.
The post The Mystery of the Missing Multicellular Prokaryotes first appeared on Quanta...
Probably...
Logarithms and Heteroskedasticity
Here’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
6 months ago
Here’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous installments are available from the Data Q&A landing page. log_heterosked Logarithms and heteroskedasticity¶ Here’s a question from the Reddit statistics forum. Is it correct to use...
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