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Why the Art of Invention Is Always Being Reinvented Every invention begins with a problem—and the creative act of seeing a problem where others might...
1st Nov 2024
81

Why the Art of Invention Is Always Being Reinvented

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

1st Nov 2024
Every invention begins with a problem—and the creative act of seeing a problem where others might just see unchangeable reality. For one 5-year-old, the problem was simple: She liked to have her tummy rubbed as she fell asleep. But her mom, exhausted from working two jobs, often...
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...
2nd Sep 2024
45

Anti-aging tech fixes demographic collapse

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

2nd Sep 2024
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...
An Eclipse of the Sun Coming to N. America April 8th A rare eclipse of the Sun will be visible all over North America on April 8th. The post An Eclipse...
23rd Mar 2024
48

An Eclipse of the Sun Coming to N. America April 8th

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

23rd Mar 2024
A rare eclipse of the Sun will be visible all over North America on April 8th. The post An Eclipse of the Sun Coming to N. America April 8th appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
Who’s afraid of artificial flavors? ‘Artificial’ didn’t scare Americans in the 19th century. Why does it scare them now?
8th May 2026
1

Who’s afraid of artificial flavors?

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

8th May 2026
‘Artificial’ didn’t scare Americans in the 19th century. Why does it scare them now?
Adornment "Form follows function" is a maxim that an object's shape and appearance should be defined only by...
2nd Sep 2024
44

Adornment

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

2nd Sep 2024
"Form follows function" is a maxim that an object's shape and appearance should be defined only by its purpose or function. A quick perusal of any antique shop will show that this maxim is generally ignored. Humans (Homo sapiens) have been called "naked apes," but we and our...
Cursed circuits #5: capacitance multiplier Capacitor vendors don't want you to know this! Save money on capacitors by spending more on other...
5th Jul 2026
1

Cursed circuits #5: capacitance multiplier

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

5th Jul 2026
Capacitor vendors don't want you to know this! Save money on capacitors by spending more on other components
Richard Kurin: American History in 101 Objects ### American objects Figuratively holding up one museum item after another, Kurin spun tales from...
19th Nov 2013
1

Richard Kurin: American History in 101 Objects

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

19th Nov 2013
### American objects Figuratively holding up one museum item after another, Kurin spun tales from them. (The Smithsonian has 137 million objects; he displayed just thirty or so.) The Burgess Shale shows fossilized soft-tissue creatures ("very early North Americans") from 500...
Towards a Computational Formalization for Foundations of Medicine A Theory of Medicine? As it’s practiced today, medicine is almost always about particulars: “this...
3rd Feb 2025
92

Towards a Computational Formalization for Foundations of Medicine

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

3rd Feb 2025
A Theory of Medicine? As it’s practiced today, medicine is almost always about particulars: “this has gone wrong; this is how to fix it”. But might it also be possible to talk about medicine in a more general, more abstract way—and perhaps to create a framework in which one can...
Book Club: ‘Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia’ by Christina Thompson Who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific? Where did they come from? How did they get...
1st Feb 2022
69

Book Club: ‘Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia’ by Christina Thompson

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

1st Feb 2022
Who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific? Where did they come from? How did they get there, and how do we know? The answers to these and more questions are all explored in this mesmerizing novel by Pacific historian Christina Thompson.  For over a millennium,...
McMurdo Postal Mail How to mail things to and from Antarctica!
25th Nov 2022
65

McMurdo Postal Mail

from brr [alt+shift+b] in science

25th Nov 2022
How to mail things to and from Antarctica!
My friend Mark Wise Mark Wise, the John A. McCone Professor of High Energy Physics at Caltech, passed away on July 10 at...
18th Jul 2026
1

My friend Mark Wise

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

18th Jul 2026
Mark Wise, the John A. McCone Professor of High Energy Physics at Caltech, passed away on July 10 at age 72. At a recent memorial service, John Preskill made these remarks. I’m John Preskill, Mark’s colleague on the Caltech physics … Continue reading →
Kim Stanley Robinson: How Climate Will Evolve Government and Society Humanity’s adaptation to climate change will require novel, global cooperation and societal...
1st Aug 2017
1
1st Aug 2017
Humanity’s adaptation to climate change will require novel, global cooperation and societal evolution. The award-winning science fiction author of _2312_ , the _Mars_ Trilogy, and _Aurora_ shares his vision for how the world must change in advance of his 02017 novel _New York...
The prehistoric psychopath Life in the state of nature was less violent than you might think. But this made them vulnerable to...
1st Apr 2025
44

The prehistoric psychopath

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

1st Apr 2025
Life in the state of nature was less violent than you might think. But this made them vulnerable to a few psychopaths.
Euclid Space Telescope Delivers Great Images The first images are coming in from the new Euclid Space Telescope and they are spectacular. The...
8th Nov 2023
42

Euclid Space Telescope Delivers Great Images

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Nov 2023
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.
Life beyond the screen Since early 2020, I've been teaching courses in Interaction Technologies and Prototyping. Switches,...
15th Jul 2021
25

Life beyond the screen

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

15th Jul 2021
Since early 2020, I've been teaching courses in Interaction Technologies and Prototyping. Switches, light, gesture, motion, sound, haptics: this is all about exploring life beyond the screen.
Benjamin Bratton: A Philosophy of Planetary Computation We find ourselves in a pre-paradigmatic moment in which our technology has outpaced our theories of...
20th Mar 2025
1

Benjamin Bratton: A Philosophy of Planetary Computation

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

20th Mar 2025
We find ourselves in a pre-paradigmatic moment in which our technology has outpaced our theories of what to do with it. The task of philosophy today is to catch up. In his Long Now Talk, Philosopher of Technology Benjamin Bratton took us on a whirlwind philosophical journey...
Brian Christian: Algorithms to Live By ### Solving hard decisions Deciding when to stop your quest for the ideal apartment, or ideal...
21st Jun 2016
1

Brian Christian: Algorithms to Live By

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

21st Jun 2016
### Solving hard decisions Deciding when to stop your quest for the ideal apartment, or ideal spouse, depends entirely on how long you expect to be looking, says Brian Christian. The first one you check will be the best you’ve seen, but it’s unlikely to be the best you’ll ever...
Storks Take Orders From the State Pronatal benefits and economic booms lead to greater numbers of births
2nd May 2025
39

Storks Take Orders From the State

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

2nd May 2025
Pronatal benefits and economic booms lead to greater numbers of births
Engineering beneath the ice sheet Living in Greenland, deploying electronic beacons deep beneath the ice.
25th Nov 2024
59

Engineering beneath the ice sheet

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

25th Nov 2024
Living in Greenland, deploying electronic beacons deep beneath the ice.
The Rosette Nebula Next to the Orion Nebula, the Rosette Nebula is definitely a must-do on the list of every aspiring...
26th Feb 2023
56

The Rosette Nebula

from Light from Space [alt+shift+b] in science

26th Feb 2023
Next to the Orion Nebula, the Rosette Nebula is definitely a must-do on the list of every aspiring astrophotographer. Located not too far from Orion in Monoceros, this large H II region has spectacular features, centered around a star cluster. Click or tap to...
How Diplomats See the World Inside the boring-by-design U.S. fact-checking machine.
4th Aug 2026
1

How Diplomats See the World

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Aug 2026
Inside the boring-by-design U.S. fact-checking machine.
James Carse: Religious War In Light of the Infinite Game ### Finite and infinite games Countless readers have been hooked by the opening line of James P....
15th Jan 2005
1

James Carse: Religious War In Light of the Infinite Game

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

15th Jan 2005
### Finite and infinite games Countless readers have been hooked by the opening line of James P. Carse's [_Finite and Infinite Games_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345341848/qid=1105811409/lono0a-20) -- "There are at least two kinds of games. One could be...
My Science Fiction Story “Who Speaks for Earth” Just Published; Free Link I am tickled to report that The Worlds Within magazine has just published my science-fiction story...
22nd Mar 2026
1

My Science Fiction Story “Who Speaks for Earth” Just Published; Free Link

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd Mar 2026
I am tickled to report that The Worlds Within magazine has just published my science-fiction story “Who Speaks for Earth.”  It concerns a Congressional hearing about a future President, who had to bomb a radio telescope owned by a religious group that insisted on answering an...
128 New Moons Found Around Saturn An international team of astronomers announced recently that they had discovered 128 new, small...
9th Apr 2025
50

128 New Moons Found Around Saturn

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Apr 2025
An international team of astronomers announced recently that they had discovered 128 new, small moons orbiting the planet Saturn.  That brings the total number of moons known around the ringed planet to 274, breaking all planetary records. Jupiter, the runner-up, has “only” 95...
Alexander Rose, Brian Eno, & Stewart Brand: Long Finance: The Enduring Value Conference ### Enduring Value In February 02010, [Brian Eno](../../../../people/board/prospect4/), [Stewart...
1st Feb 2010
1
1st Feb 2010
### Enduring Value In February 02010, [Brian Eno](../../../../people/board/prospect4/), [Stewart Brand](../../../../people/board/sb1/), and [Alexander Rose](../../../../people/staff/zander/) spoke at the [Long Finance...
Planning for your midlife crisis Yesterday I presented a talk at ODSC East 2026, called “Counterfactual Analysis with Bayesian...
1st May 2026
3

Planning for your midlife crisis

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

1st May 2026
Yesterday I presented a talk at ODSC East 2026, called “Counterfactual Analysis with Bayesian Models: What Drives the Life Expectancy Gap?” Here’s the abstract Across nearly every country in the world, women live longer than men—but the size of this gap varies from about two...
Bayesian Decision Analysis At PyData Global 2025 I presented a workshop on Bayesian Decision Analysis with PyMC. The video is...
9th Jan 2026
1

Bayesian Decision Analysis

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

9th Jan 2026
At PyData Global 2025 I presented a workshop on Bayesian Decision Analysis with PyMC. The video is available now. This workshop is based on the first session of the Applied Bayesian Modeling Workshop I teach along with my colleagues at PyMC Labs. If you would like to learn more,...
Peak Oil Is Coming In early markets, hybrids always prevail because there’s not enough electric infrastructure. As it...
3rd Feb 2026
1

Peak Oil Is Coming

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

3rd Feb 2026
In early markets, hybrids always prevail because there’s not enough electric infrastructure. As it develops and people can charge their cars more easily, the share of EVs increases.
Multiple Regression with StatsModels This is the third is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from...
4th Dec 2024
24

Multiple Regression with StatsModels

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

4th Dec 2024
This is the third is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. It’s from Chapter 10, which is about multiple regression. You can read the complete chapter here, or run the Jupyter notebook on Colab. In the previous...
Your Allergies Are Probably Fake You might be avoiding medications that don't do anything to you
4th Feb 2026
2

Your Allergies Are Probably Fake

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

4th Feb 2026
You might be avoiding medications that don't do anything to you
Rick Doblin: Transformational Psychedelics Humans have consumed psychedelics for at least the last 10,000 years. The outlawing of psychedelics...
11th Jun 2020
1

Rick Doblin: Transformational Psychedelics

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

11th Jun 2020
Humans have consumed psychedelics for at least the last 10,000 years. The outlawing of psychedelics in most of the world in the 20th century didn’t stop that, but it did put an end to promising research into their psychotherapeutic applications to treat depression, addiction,...
Unleashing the Advantage of Quantum AI As experimental capabilities advance rapidly, the quantum computing community faces a critical...
10th Apr 2026
1

Unleashing the Advantage of Quantum AI

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

10th Apr 2026
As experimental capabilities advance rapidly, the quantum computing community faces a critical elephant in the room: What will these quantum machines eventually be useful for? Will they deliver the promised broad societal impact, or will they remain highly specialized devices …...
The Soul of the Heart Nebula A spectacular emission Nebula, the Heart Nebula is one of the classics of Northern Hemisphere...
5th Nov 2022
57

The Soul of the Heart Nebula

from Light from Space [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Nov 2022
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...
Why didn’t suicides rise during Covid? Covid-19 brought death, suffering and financial straits, so it was unsurprising that depression rose...
20th May 2021
1

Why didn’t suicides rise during Covid?

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

20th May 2021
Covid-19 brought death, suffering and financial straits, so it was unsurprising that depression rose around the world. But when the data came in, we found suicide did not – and it’s a mystery why.
Kara Platoni: Transforming Perception, One Sense at a Time Kara Platoni, author and journalism professor at UC-Berkeley, set out to find the sensory pioneers...
3rd Jul 2017
1

Kara Platoni: Transforming Perception, One Sense at a Time

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

3rd Jul 2017
Kara Platoni, author and journalism professor at UC-Berkeley, set out to find the sensory pioneers who are changing the way we experience the world. Her boot-strapped and crowd-sourced quest led her to laboratories and workshops around the world. In her book _[We Have The...
Baratunde Thurston & Blaise Agüera y Arcas: On Interdependence In this conversation, Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Baratunde Thurston explored what a story of...
4 days ago
1

Baratunde Thurston & Blaise Agüera y Arcas: On Interdependence

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

4 days ago
In this conversation, Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Baratunde Thurston explored what a story of symbiosis and interdependence might teach us about living alongside AI. Agüera y Arcas began by calling individual human intelligence a myth: we’ve always been a collective intelligence,...
Sam Harris: The View from the End of the World ### On necessary heresy With gentle demeanor and tight argument, Sam Harris carried an overflow...
10th Dec 2005
1

Sam Harris: The View from the End of the World

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

10th Dec 2005
### On necessary heresy With gentle demeanor and tight argument, Sam Harris carried an overflow audience into the core of one of the crucial issues of our time: What makes some religions lethal? How do they employ aggressive irrationality to justify threatening and controlling...
Don’t compete The Internet is full of people winning all the time. Someone is traveling to exotic locations,...
22nd Mar 2025
80

Don’t compete

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

22nd Mar 2025
The Internet is full of people winning all the time. Someone is traveling to exotic locations, someone else is raising funds, and another person is winning awards. Essentially, everyone around you is succeeding while you do spend your days as the nature intended – sleeping,...
More Than 110 New Species Discovered In Deep Waters Off Australia Scientists have identified more than 110 new species found in deep water beyond the edges of...
1st Apr 2026
4

More Than 110 New Species Discovered In Deep Waters Off Australia

from Yale E360 [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Apr 2026
Scientists have identified more than 110 new species found in deep water beyond the edges of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Read more on E360 →
Conservation beyond boundaries When an environmental impact assessment concludes that only a small number of shorebirds will be...
7th Apr 2023
57

Conservation beyond boundaries

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

7th Apr 2023
When an environmental impact assessment concludes that only a small number of shorebirds will be affected by a new airport, because relatively small flocks are counted during field surveys, is there an assumption that the birds encountered are always the same individuals? What if...
What If We Had Bigger Brains? Imagining Minds beyond Ours Cats Don’t Talk We humans have perhaps 100 billion neurons in our brains. But what if we had many...
21st May 2025
1

What If We Had Bigger Brains? Imagining Minds beyond Ours

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

21st May 2025
Cats Don’t Talk We humans have perhaps 100 billion neurons in our brains. But what if we had many more? Or what if the AIs we built effectively had many more? What kinds of things might then become possible? At 100 billion neurons, we know, for example, that compositional...
Joline Blais & Jon Ippolito: At the Edge of Art ### Artibodies Art, like the antibodies in our immune system, creates alien forces in service of...
15th Dec 2007
1

Joline Blais & Jon Ippolito: At the Edge of Art

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

15th Dec 2007
### Artibodies Art, like the antibodies in our immune system, creates alien forces in service of the whole. It anticipates threats and models them. It is a diversity agent. Two forms of that process were explained and shown by Ippolito and Blais: perversion, and execution. One...
Scam Cities Criminal networks throughout Southeast Asia are demonstrating the dangers of making “the ultimate...
6th Oct 2025
1

Scam Cities

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Oct 2025
Criminal networks throughout Southeast Asia are demonstrating the dangers of making “the ultimate exit.”
Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 1: Introduction, Phoenix to Miller Canyon Earlier this summer, Laura and I were trying to determine where we would visit for a couple of mini...
22nd Sep 2024
23

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

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

22nd Sep 2024
Earlier this summer, Laura and I were trying to determine where we would visit for a couple of mini vacations. Due to the variations in her work schedule, Laura had two blocks of time - a five-day chunk in early August, and six days in early September - and we wanted to make the...
2024 Healthcare Predictions, Out-Of-Pocket Style | Out-Of-Pocket I'm not a fortune teller, I'm a fortune, teller
12th Dec 2023
50

2024 Healthcare Predictions, Out-Of-Pocket Style | Out-Of-Pocket

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

12th Dec 2023
I'm not a fortune teller, I'm a fortune, teller
Eight highlights from publishing a science book for the general public What’s it like to publish a book? I’ve faced the question again and again this year, as my book...
19th Dec 2022
55

Eight highlights from publishing a science book for the general public

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

19th Dec 2022
What’s it like to publish a book? I’ve faced the question again and again this year, as my book Quantum Steampunk hit bookshelves in April. Two responses suggest themselves. On the one hand, I channel the Beatles: It’s a hard … Continue reading →
The golden age of vaccine development The first vaccine was a lucky accident. Now we can design new vaccines in weeks, atom by atom.
7th Jan 2026
1

The golden age of vaccine development

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

7th Jan 2026
The first vaccine was a lucky accident. Now we can design new vaccines in weeks, atom by atom.
The Illogic of Nuclear Escalation How much is enough? It’s the most basic question in the nuclear arms race. For over sixty years, few...
1st Nov 2022
27

The Illogic of Nuclear Escalation

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Nov 2022
How much is enough? It’s the most basic question in the nuclear arms race. For over sixty years, few have asked it, and even fewer have received an answer.
Is a Random Perfect Group Nontrivial? So it’s finals season, and earlier today some of the younger grad students were asking me for...
20th Mar 2026
1

Is a Random Perfect Group Nontrivial?

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

20th Mar 2026
So it’s finals season, and earlier today some of the younger grad students were asking me for help studying for their topology finals. One of their practice problems was to build a cell complex with one 0-cell, two 1-cells, and two 2-cells which has nontrivial $\pi_1$ but...
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...
18th Aug 2021
45

Kind of Cool Image of Io from Juno

from Wanderingspace [alt+shift+b] in science

18th Aug 2021
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...
To Conquer the Primary Energy Consumption Layer of Our Entire Civilization [Originally posted on the Terraform blog April 3, 2025.] Three years ago we set out to make cheap...
8th Apr 2025
81

To Conquer the Primary Energy Consumption Layer of Our Entire Civilization

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

8th Apr 2025
[Originally posted on the Terraform blog April 3, 2025.] Three years ago we set out to make cheap synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air. At the time I didn’t fully appreciate that we had kicked off the process of recompiling the foundation layer of our entire industrial...
Rusty Schweickart: The Asteroid Threat Over the Next 100,000 Years ### Asteroid threat report Schweickart filled the hall with some 240 at the Presidio Officers Club...
13th Mar 2004
1

Rusty Schweickart: The Asteroid Threat Over the Next 100,000 Years

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

13th Mar 2004
### Asteroid threat report Schweickart filled the hall with some 240 at the Presidio Officers Club and gave a dazzling lecture. He left the next day for Washington DC to lobby Congress to apply its will to making the Earth safe for the very long term. "For life to survive in...
Brittany Cox: Horological Heritage: Generating bird song, magic, and music through mechanism From kings and philosophers to craftsmen and inventors, horology has been prized as an extraordinary...
6th Nov 2019
1
6th Nov 2019
From kings and philosophers to craftsmen and inventors, horology has been prized as an extraordinary marriage between art and science. Antiquarian Horologist Brittany Nicole Cox shared her unique experience with objects born from this lineage. We traced their origins to discover...
If only we had taller been Ray Bradbury once explained with a poem why he writes science fiction and why space travel is so...
4th Mar 2017
1

If only we had taller been

from John Salvatier [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Mar 2017
Ray Bradbury once explained with a poem why he writes science fiction and why space travel is so important to him. It is perhaps my favorite poem. Text version: The fence we walked between the years We ached and almost touched that stuff; O, Thomas, will a Race one day stand...
How to Turn a Philanderer Into a Father What your dad has in common with the African striped mouse.
5 days ago
1

How to Turn a Philanderer Into a Father

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

5 days ago
What your dad has in common with the African striped mouse.
A Nihilist's Guide to Meaning I've never been plagued by the big existential questions. You know, like What's my purpose? or What...
11th Jul 2016
35

A Nihilist's Guide to Meaning

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

11th Jul 2016
I've never been plagued by the big existential questions. You know, like What's my purpose? or What does it all mean? Growing up I was a very science-minded kid — still am — and from an early age I learned… Read more ›
Can we “cure” cancer? In an excellent recent essay on “big visions for biology,” Sam Rodriques writes: Ask most biologists...
1st Feb 2023
61

Can we “cure” cancer?

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

1st Feb 2023
In an excellent recent essay on “big visions for biology,” Sam Rodriques writes: Ask most biologists about the cure for cancer, and they will tell you it doesn’t exist: cancer is many diseases that are mostly unrelated to each other, and that all have to be cured one at a...
Orville Schell: China Thinks Long-term, But Can It Relearn to Act Long-term? ### Giant contradictions “China is the most unresolved nation of consequence in the world,” Orville...
23rd Sep 2006
1
23rd Sep 2006
### Giant contradictions “China is the most unresolved nation of consequence in the world,” Orville Schell began. It is defined by its massive contradictions. And by its massiveness— China’s population is estimated to be 1.25 to 1.3 billion; the margin of error in the estimate...
AMA | June 2026 Welcome to the June 2026 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded...
1st Jun 2026
1

AMA | June 2026

from Sean Carroll [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jun 2026
Welcome to the June 2026 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who […]
What Can We Gain by Losing Infinity? Most mathematicians take the notion of infinity for granted — it’s deeply rooted in math’s most...
5th May 2026
1

What Can We Gain by Losing Infinity?

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

5th May 2026
Most mathematicians take the notion of infinity for granted — it’s deeply rooted in math’s most fundamental assumptions. But a small group of researchers hopes to banish infinity completely. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with math editor Jordana...
Craig Childs: Apocalyptic Planet: Field Guide to the Everending Earth ### How the world keeps ending “This Earth is a story teller,” Childs began. “And it is not a...
30th Jul 2013
1
30th Jul 2013
### How the world keeps ending “This Earth is a story teller,” Childs began. “And it is not a stable place to live. It is always ending. We think of endings as sudden, but it is always a process.” For his book _Apocalyptic Planet_ he sought out some of the world’s most...
Pushing the Envelope As is often the case with people in dangerous professions, the Apollo astronauts found that life...
15th Apr 2021
38

Pushing the Envelope

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

15th Apr 2021
As is often the case with people in dangerous professions, the Apollo astronauts found that life insurance policies were prohibitively expensive. Rather than pay the exorbitant insurance fees, the astronauts devised a system to ensure their wives and children would be financially...
Dittemore’s Law A quick note to formalize some observations on elite organization dysfunction. The Space Mirror...
17th Jan 2025
83

Dittemore’s Law

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

17th Jan 2025
A quick note to formalize some observations on elite organization dysfunction. The Space Mirror Memorial at Kennedy Space Center in Florida commemorates the 25 US astronauts who have died in flight.  Ron Dittemore is the retired former Space Shuttle program manager who was...
Moult, captured on camera Autumn moult is an important part of the annual cycle of migratory shorebirds, typically squeezed in...
9th Oct 2025
25

Moult, captured on camera

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Oct 2025
Autumn moult is an important part of the annual cycle of migratory shorebirds, typically squeezed in between chick-rearing and the onset of winter. The process of changing an individual’s feathers lasts as long as the whole of the breeding season but is far well less well...
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...
17th Aug 2022
47

USAF Project Able-1: The First Attempt to Reach the Moon

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

17th Aug 2022
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 […]
How much of HN is AI? I have a complicated relationship with Hacker News. The site is the most important aggregator of...
12th Mar 2026
1

How much of HN is AI?

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

12th Mar 2026
I have a complicated relationship with Hacker News. The site is the most important aggregator of geek news and a major source of traffic to this blog. At the same time, it has a fair number of toxic commenters, making it a dependable source of insults hurled in my general...
Iran: The Day After What's going to happen in the coming days and weeks?
3rd Mar 2026
6

Iran: The Day After

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

3rd Mar 2026
What's going to happen in the coming days and weeks?
Eukaryote Skips Town – why I’m leaving DC I’m hesitant to write this piece because it’s directly about my EA ambitions, and I’ve talked to a...
26th Mar 2025
63

Eukaryote Skips Town – why I’m leaving DC

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

26th Mar 2025
I’m hesitant to write this piece because it’s directly about my EA ambitions, and I’ve talked to a lot of EAs trying to get into biosecurity who want advice, and I have no idea what they should take away from my story or if any of this should be taken as any kind of advice.
Milestone Experiment Proves Quantum Communication Really Is Faster In a Paris lab, researchers have shown for the first time that quantum methods of transmitting...
7th Nov 2019
1

Milestone Experiment Proves Quantum Communication Really Is Faster

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

7th Nov 2019
In a Paris lab, researchers have shown for the first time that quantum methods of transmitting information are superior to classical ones. The post Milestone Experiment Proves Quantum Communication Really Is Faster first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Scant Evidence of Power Laws Found in Real-World Networks A new study challenges one of the most celebrated and controversial ideas in network science. ...
11th Oct 2018
1

Scant Evidence of Power Laws Found in Real-World Networks

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

11th Oct 2018
A new study challenges one of the most celebrated and controversial ideas in network science. The post Scant Evidence of Power Laws Found in Real-World Networks first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Juan Enriquez: Mapping the Frontier of Knowledge ### Mapping Life "All life is imperfectly transmitted code," Enriquez began, "and it is...
13th Oct 2007
1

Juan Enriquez: Mapping the Frontier of Knowledge

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

13th Oct 2007
### Mapping Life "All life is imperfectly transmitted code," Enriquez began, "and it is promiscuous." Thus discoveries like the one last month of an entire bacterial genome inside the DNA of a fruitfly is exploding the old tree-of-life models of evolution. The emerging map...
A Movie about a Galaxy Far, Far Away & Long, Long Ago (from Webb Telescope) Explains a new movie of distant galaxies and remote time from the Webb Telescope. The post A Movie...
19th Jul 2023
27

A Movie about a Galaxy Far, Far Away & Long, Long Ago (from Webb Telescope)

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Jul 2023
Explains a new movie of distant galaxies and remote time from the Webb Telescope. The post A Movie about a Galaxy Far, Far Away & Long, Long Ago (from Webb Telescope) appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
How the Higgs Field (Actually) Gives Mass to Elementary Particles In this article adapted from his new book, "Waves in an Impossible Sea," physicist Matt Strassler...
3rd Sep 2024
64

How the Higgs Field (Actually) Gives Mass to Elementary Particles

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

3rd Sep 2024
In this article adapted from his new book, "Waves in an Impossible Sea," physicist Matt Strassler explains that the origin of mass in the universe has a lot to do with music. The post How the Higgs Field (Actually) Gives Mass to Elementary Particles first appeared on...
Paul Ehrlich: The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment ### Becoming a Benign Dominant To track how humans became Earth's dominant animal, Ehrlich began...
28th Jun 2008
1
28th Jun 2008
### Becoming a Benign Dominant To track how humans became Earth's dominant animal, Ehrlich began with a photo of a tarsier in a tree. The little primate had a predator's binocular vision and an insect-grabber's fingers. When (possibly) climate change drove some primates out of...
Robert Neuwirth: The 21st Century Medieval City ### World squatter reality Humanity is urbanizing at a world-changing pace and in a world-changing...
11th Jun 2005
1

Robert Neuwirth: The 21st Century Medieval City

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

11th Jun 2005
### World squatter reality Humanity is urbanizing at a world-changing pace and in a world-changing way. A billion squatters are re-inventing their lives and their cities simultaneously. One of the few to experience the range of the phenomenon first hand is Robert Neuwirth,...
Building a Visceral Understanding of Quantum Phenomena A great childhood memory that I have comes from first playing “The Incredible Machine” on PC in the...
6th Aug 2024
112

Building a Visceral Understanding of Quantum Phenomena

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

6th Aug 2024
A great childhood memory that I have comes from first playing “The Incredible Machine” on PC in the early 90’s. For those not in the know, this is a physics-based puzzle game about building Rube Goldberg style contraptions to achieve … Continue reading →
Colliding Black Holes Tell New Story of Stars Just months after their discovery, gravitational waves coming from the mergers of black holes...
13th Oct 2016
1

Colliding Black Holes Tell New Story of Stars

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

13th Oct 2016
Just months after their discovery, gravitational waves coming from the mergers of black holes are shaking up astrophysics. The post Colliding Black Holes Tell New Story of Stars first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Liberté, égalité, radioactivité France built 40 nuclear reactors in a decade. Here’s how they did it, and how the world can follow...
4th Sep 2025
1

Liberté, égalité, radioactivité

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

4th Sep 2025
France built 40 nuclear reactors in a decade. Here’s how they did it, and how the world can follow their lead today.
Kim Carson: Inspired by Intelligence What if AI is not here actually to replace us, but to remind us who we actually are? That was the...
13th Jun 2025
1

Kim Carson: Inspired by Intelligence

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

13th Jun 2025
What if AI is not here actually to replace us, but to remind us who we actually are? That was the question at the heart of Kim Carson’s Long Now Talk. In _Inspired by Intelligence: Purpose and Creativity in the AI Era_, Carson challenged us to avoid the easy narratives of...
US Government UFO (UAP) Footage For decades, the public suspected that the US Government was hiding secret intelligence about UFOs —...
10th Feb 2025
72

US Government UFO (UAP) Footage

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

10th Feb 2025
For decades, the public suspected that the US Government was hiding secret intelligence about UFOs — (now known as UAPs). Turns out…it kind of was.
WWII Tank, Aircraft, and Ship Identification guides How do you tell friend from foe in a split second? These beautifully designed WWII guides used...
21st Sep 2026
1

WWII Tank, Aircraft, and Ship Identification guides

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

21st Sep 2026
How do you tell friend from foe in a split second? These beautifully designed WWII guides used silhouettes and vehicle details into a system for recognizing tanks, planes, and ships on sight.
The Mystery at the Heart of Physics That Only Math Can Solve The accelerating effort to understand the mathematics of quantum field theory will have profound...
2nd Sep 2021
1

The Mystery at the Heart of Physics That Only Math Can Solve

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

2nd Sep 2021
The accelerating effort to understand the mathematics of quantum field theory will have profound consequences for both math and physics. The post The Mystery at the Heart of Physics That Only Math Can Solve first appeared on Quanta Magazine
WWII Japanese Mass Incarceration collections Haunting photos and documents document a shameful chapter of America’s history—the forced...
18th Mar 2025
65

WWII Japanese Mass Incarceration collections

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

18th Mar 2025
Haunting photos and documents document a shameful chapter of America’s history—the forced displacement and incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII.
Will Making Your Kids Tall Shorten Their Lives? Bonus: How to get human growth hormone (HGH) for cheap
1st Jul 2026
1

Will Making Your Kids Tall Shorten Their Lives?

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

1st Jul 2026
Bonus: How to get human growth hormone (HGH) for cheap
Here’s All the Rocks We Hauled Back From the Moon The 12 human beings who walked on the Moon collected, catalogued and returned 842 pounds of lunar...
2nd May 2023
109

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

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

2nd May 2023
The 12 human beings who walked on the Moon collected, catalogued and returned 842 pounds of lunar rock and soil. Each sample has been meticulously documented in NASA's Lunar Sample Catalog.
What I’ve been reading, March 2023 A new monthly feature, let me know what you think. Books Matt Ridley, How Innovation Works (2020)....
9th Mar 2023
61

What I’ve been reading, March 2023

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

9th Mar 2023
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...
The Visible Human Project Researchers created a dataset of photos of thousands of paper-thin slices of a male and female...
3 weeks ago
1

The Visible Human Project

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

3 weeks ago
Researchers created a dataset of photos of thousands of paper-thin slices of a male and female cadaver to create one of the most detailed datasets about the human body.
How Math Has Changed the Shape of Gerrymandering New tools make it possible to detect hidden manipulation of maps. The post How Math Has...
1st Jun 2023
107

How Math Has Changed the Shape of Gerrymandering

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

1st Jun 2023
New tools make it possible to detect hidden manipulation of maps. The post How Math Has Changed the Shape of Gerrymandering first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Visualizing Rivers and Floodplains with USGS Data Using USGS elevation data to visualize stunning views of the flow of water through rivers and...
7th Nov 2022
60

Visualizing Rivers and Floodplains with USGS Data

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

7th Nov 2022
Using USGS elevation data to visualize stunning views of the flow of water through rivers and floodplains.
Jason Scott: The Web In An Eye Blink Jason Scott is an activist archiver who preserves artifacts of digital culture for the future. Users...
1st Nov 2017
1

Jason Scott: The Web In An Eye Blink

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

1st Nov 2017
Jason Scott is an activist archiver who preserves artifacts of digital culture for the future. Users today have many ways to create content online, but they often lack the skills, tools or guidance to preserve the media they make. As startups fail, platforms disappear, and...
The housing theory of everything Western housing shortages do not just prevent many from ever affording their own home. They also...
14th Sep 2021
1

The housing theory of everything

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

14th Sep 2021
Western housing shortages do not just prevent many from ever affording their own home. They also drive inequality, climate change, low productivity growth, obesity, and even falling fertility rates.
A Cold War Kit for Surviving a Nuclear Attack On 29 August 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested its first nuclear weapon. Over the next year...
1st Aug 2025
47

A Cold War Kit for Surviving a Nuclear Attack

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

1st Aug 2025
On 29 August 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested its first nuclear weapon. Over the next year and a half, U.S. President Harry S. Truman resurrected the Office of Civilian Defense (which had been abolished at the end of World War II) and signed into law the Federal Civil...
A love letter to civilian OSINT What is civilian OSINT, and could it be used altruistically?
10th Jul 2020
63

A love letter to civilian OSINT

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

10th Jul 2020
What is civilian OSINT, and could it be used altruistically?
Can AI solve the pain of endless hold times? | Out-Of-Pocket A look at how it works under the hood + what Assort is doing
11th Nov 2025
2

Can AI solve the pain of endless hold times? | Out-Of-Pocket

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

11th Nov 2025
A look at how it works under the hood + what Assort is doing
14,000 Photos of Army Uniforms and Rations from the 70s and 80s An incredible archive of 14,000 photos of Army uniforms, military gear and rations from the 70s and...
20th Nov 2024
123

14,000 Photos of Army Uniforms and Rations from the 70s and 80s

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

20th Nov 2024
An incredible archive of 14,000 photos of Army uniforms, military gear and rations from the 70s and 80s.
Cambodian Forest Defenders at Risk for Exposing Illegal Logging The lush forests that have long sustained Cambodia’s Indigenous people have steadily fallen to...
2nd Jun 2025
6

Cambodian Forest Defenders at Risk for Exposing Illegal Logging

from Yale E360 [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jun 2025
The lush forests that have long sustained Cambodia’s Indigenous people have steadily fallen to illicit logging. Now, community members face intimidation and risk arrest as they patrol their forests to document the losses and try to push the government to stop the cutting. Read...
John Preskill receives 2025 Quantum Leadership Award The 2025 Quantum Leadership Awards were announced at the Quantum World Congress on 18 September...
18th Sep 2025
33

John Preskill receives 2025 Quantum Leadership Award

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

18th Sep 2025
The 2025 Quantum Leadership Awards were announced at the Quantum World Congress on 18 September 2025. Upon receiving the Academic Pioneer of the Year Award, John Preskill made these remarks. I’m enormously excited and honored to receive this Quantum Leadership … Continue reading...
Many Worlds Archive is Available I had the pleasure of reporting and writing the Many Worlds column — sponsored by NASA’s NExSS...
14th Nov 2023
72

Many Worlds Archive is Available

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

14th Nov 2023
I had the pleasure of reporting and writing the Many Worlds column — sponsored by NASA’s NExSS initiative and the Lunar & Planetary Institute — for almost eight years. But the run came to an end in October. Now an archive of the more than 400 columns is easily available at...
Terraform Talent Development Originally posted at the Terraform Blog on November 17, 2025. Terraform Industries is the vehicle by...
24th Nov 2025
1

Terraform Talent Development

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

24th Nov 2025
Originally posted at the Terraform Blog on November 17, 2025. Terraform Industries is the vehicle by which I build the people that build the team I need to build the future I am determined to build. One of the unexpected privileges of founding an ambitious, future-oriented...
Ruliology of the “Forgotten” Code 10 My All-Time Favorite Science Discovery June 1, 1984—forty years ago today—is when it would be fair...
1st Jun 2024
126

Ruliology of the “Forgotten” Code 10

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

1st Jun 2024
My All-Time Favorite Science Discovery June 1, 1984—forty years ago today—is when it would be fair to say I made my all-time favorite science discovery. Like with basically all significant science discoveries (despite the way histories often present them) it didn’t happen without...
Paul Hawken: The New Great Transformation ### Humanity's immune system The title of Paul Hawken's talk, "The New Great Transformation," has...
9th Jun 2007
1

Paul Hawken: The New Great Transformation

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

9th Jun 2007
### Humanity's immune system The title of Paul Hawken's talk, "The New Great Transformation," has two referents, he explained. Economist Karl Polanyi's 1944 book, _The Great Transformation_ , said that the "market society" and modern nation state emerged together in Europe after...
Cognitive Legos We have all likely had the experience that when we learn a task it becomes easier to learn a...
1st Dec 2025
2

Cognitive Legos

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

1st Dec 2025
We have all likely had the experience that when we learn a task it becomes easier to learn a distinct but related task. Learning to cook one dish makes it easier to learn other dishes. Learning how to repair a radio helps you learn to repair other electronics. Even more...
Wade Davis: The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World ### Native guidance What does it mean to be human and alive? The thousands of different cultures...
14th Jan 2010
1
14th Jan 2010
### Native guidance What does it mean to be human and alive? The thousands of different cultures and languages on Earth have compellingly different answers to that question. "We are a wildly imaginative and creative species," Davis declared, and then proved it with his accounts...
Building Objects with Category Theory Typically category theory is useful for showing the uniqueness of certain objects by checking that...
20th Feb 2023
30

Building Objects with Category Theory

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

20th Feb 2023
Typically category theory is useful for showing the uniqueness of certain objects by checking that they satisfy some universal property. This makes them unique up to unique isomorphism. However, category theory can also be used in order to show that objects exist at all, usually...
Blaise Agüera y Arcas: What is Intelligence? Blaise Agüera y Arcas’s talk took us on a journey through What is Intelligence?, his groundbreaking...
9th Oct 2025
1

Blaise Agüera y Arcas: What is Intelligence?

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

9th Oct 2025
Blaise Agüera y Arcas’s talk took us on a journey through What is Intelligence?, his groundbreaking new work connecting the evolutionary dots between life, computation, and symbiogenesis. He explores how, in our symbiotic world, things combine to make larger things all the...
Watt lies beneath The earth’s core is hot. So hot, that if we drilled deep enough, we could power the world millions...
15th Nov 2023
1

Watt lies beneath

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

15th Nov 2023
The earth’s core is hot. So hot, that if we drilled deep enough, we could power the world millions of times over with cheap, clean energy, supporting renewables when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. But getting there is tough.
Daniel Kahneman: Thinking Fast and Slow ### On taking thought Before a packed house, Kahneman began with the distinction between what he...
14th Aug 2013
1

Daniel Kahneman: Thinking Fast and Slow

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

14th Aug 2013
### On taking thought Before a packed house, Kahneman began with the distinction between what he calls mental “System 1”---fast thinking, intuition---and “System 2”---slow thinking, careful consideration and calculation. System 1 operates on the illusory principle: _What you see...
Weekend projects: Chicken Squisher 3000 If it clucks like a duck...
14th Oct 2025
1

Weekend projects: Chicken Squisher 3000

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

14th Oct 2025
If it clucks like a duck...
Government Comic Books Government comics have taught Americans how to prevent forest fires, survive a nuclear blast, and...
27th Nov 2023
66

Government Comic Books

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

27th Nov 2023
Government comics have taught Americans how to prevent forest fires, survive a nuclear blast, and how soldiers should handle homosexuality in the military.
A Debate Over the Physics of Time According to our best theories of physics, the universe is a fixed block where time only appears to...
8th Sep 2016
1

A Debate Over the Physics of Time

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

8th Sep 2016
According to our best theories of physics, the universe is a fixed block where time only appears to pass. The post A Debate Over the Physics of Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Things I Learned at the 2025 Progress Conference Neural Implants with Actual Neurons, Drone Delivery, Freedom of Speech and AI, Fact-Checking...
3rd Dec 2025
1

Things I Learned at the 2025 Progress Conference

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

3rd Dec 2025
Neural Implants with Actual Neurons, Drone Delivery, Freedom of Speech and AI, Fact-Checking Tech, When AI Will Manage Entire Companies, Ecoterrorists Could Stop Global Warming, and more
When Does Life Begin? What *actually* makes conception special?
15th Jul 2022
31

When Does Life Begin?

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Jul 2022
What *actually* makes conception special?
a review on protein language models Protein “language” is a lot like human language. Given the similarities, researchers have been...
12th May 2024
45

a review on protein language models

from Apoorva Srinivasan [alt+shift+b] in science

12th May 2024
Protein “language” is a lot like human language. Given the similarities, researchers have been building and training language models on protein sequence data, replicating the success seen in other domains, with profound implications. In this post, I will explore how transformer...
An Empty Product of Nonempty Sets A few days ago I saw a cute question on mse asking about a particularly non-intuitive failing of...
4th Jun 2025
43

An Empty Product of Nonempty Sets

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

4th Jun 2025
A few days ago I saw a cute question on mse asking about a particularly non-intuitive failing of the axiom of choice. I remember when I was an undergrad talking to a friend of mine about various statements equivalent to choice, and being particularly hung up on the same...
ISS Looks Like a Toy These animated gifs of The International Space Station look just like metal toys — but they are...
4th Jul 2021
62

ISS Looks Like a Toy

from Wanderingspace [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Jul 2021
These animated gifs of The International Space Station look just like metal toys — but they are real. Each frame is taken with ground based amateur telescopes and then pieced together with common image software like Adobe Photoshop. It is incredible to me that there are people...
Moto-Orion: Mechanized Nuclear Pulse Propulsion The Orion nuclear pulse propulsion concept has been around for over six decades now. It is powerful...
4th Jan 2021
1

Moto-Orion: Mechanized Nuclear Pulse Propulsion

from ToughSF [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Jan 2021
The Orion nuclear pulse propulsion concept has been around for over six decades now. It is powerful and robust, but lacks the flexibility and features we expect from many more modern designs. Can we give it those additional capabilities? That cutaway is one of Matthew Paul...
Could There Be Laws Of Biology? Physics has such nice equations and universal laws. Could we ever expect to find similar principles...
10th Mar 2023
40

Could There Be Laws Of Biology?

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Mar 2023
Physics has such nice equations and universal laws. Could we ever expect to find similar principles or axioms for biology?
Issue 17: No great stagnation in cruise ships Plus: animals as chemical factories, how progress lost its glamour, and how Madrid built 120 miles...
5th Dec 2024
75

Issue 17: No great stagnation in cruise ships

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

5th Dec 2024
Plus: animals as chemical factories, how progress lost its glamour, and how Madrid built 120 miles of metro in twelve years.
How Can Europe Improve Its Immigration Through getting better immigrants, rejecting coutnerproductive ones, and managing the existing ones...
2nd Jun 2026
2

How Can Europe Improve Its Immigration

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

2nd Jun 2026
Through getting better immigrants, rejecting coutnerproductive ones, and managing the existing ones better.
Human behavior is an intuition-pump for AI risk I just finished this excellent book: If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies. This book influenced my...
17th Nov 2025
1

Human behavior is an intuition-pump for AI risk

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

17th Nov 2025
I just finished this excellent book: If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies. This book influenced my opinions on p(doom). Before reading the book, I was uncertain about whether AI could pose an existential risk for humanity. After reading the book, I’m starting to entertain the...
6 Questions You Asked Yourself about Solar How fast will it take over, how fast are costs shrinking, why is it so cheap, what industries will...
2nd Nov 2024
43

6 Questions You Asked Yourself about Solar

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

2nd Nov 2024
How fast will it take over, how fast are costs shrinking, why is it so cheap, what industries will it birth, how much surface will it take up, where will it appear first?
Cellular reprogramming, pneumatic launch systems, and terraforming Mars In December, I went to the Foresight Institute’s Vision Weekend 2023 in San Francisco. I had a lot...
4th Jan 2024
45

Cellular reprogramming, pneumatic launch systems, and terraforming Mars

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

4th Jan 2024
In December, I went to the Foresight Institute’s Vision Weekend 2023 in San Francisco. I had a lot of fun talking to a bunch of weird and ambitious geeks about the glorious abundant technological future. Here are few things I learned about (with the caveat that this is mostly...
Nicole’s guide to navigating faculty-position offers It’s happening.  Your inbox registers an email from the chair of a faculty-hiring committee. With...
11th Mar 2026
1

Nicole’s guide to navigating faculty-position offers

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

11th Mar 2026
It’s happening.  Your inbox registers an email from the chair of a faculty-hiring committee. With trembling fingers, you click on the message. “We were very impressed…we’re delighted to offer…” Months of labor, soul-searching, strain, and anxiety give way to jubilation. …...
James Holland Jones: The Science of Climate Fiction: Can Stories Lead to Social Action? The warming planet is increasingly the subject of all kinds of fiction. Beyond entertainment or...
4th Apr 2019
1
4th Apr 2019
The warming planet is increasingly the subject of all kinds of fiction. Beyond entertainment or distraction could climate fiction (“Cli-Fi”) actually help us in solving the climate dilemma? Biological anthropologist and environmental scientist [James Holland...
NSF, spending, and the end of the fiscal year We are less than one month away from the end of the federal fiscal year, and traditionally there are...
5th Sep 2026
0

NSF, spending, and the end of the fiscal year

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

5th Sep 2026
We are less than one month away from the end of the federal fiscal year, and traditionally there are internal deadlines for agencies to allocate their final spending by around September 9. Right now, the NSF is on track to issue about 4000 fewer (!!) awards in FY26 than it did...
China's Fossil Fuel Emissions Dropped Last Year as Solar Boomed In China, the world's leading carbon emitter, a massive buildout of solar power is beginning to push...
2nd Mar 2026
1

China's Fossil Fuel Emissions Dropped Last Year as Solar Boomed

from Yale E360 [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Mar 2026
In China, the world's leading carbon emitter, a massive buildout of solar power is beginning to push fossil fuels into decline. Last year China saw its emissions drop, even as demand for energy rose.  Read more on E360 →
Life as a physical process It’s always hard to define life. Everyone has their favorite definition – some describe it as a...
4th Jun 2025
47

Life as a physical process

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

4th Jun 2025
It’s always hard to define life. Everyone has their favorite definition – some describe it as a struggle against entropy, while others describe it as an emergent property of chemicals. Countless books have been written on the topic, yet we’re far from a consensus. Against the...
Saul Griffith: Infrastructure and Climate Change ## Green infrastructure Griffith began with an eyeroll at the first round of responses in the US...
22nd Sep 2015
1

Saul Griffith: Infrastructure and Climate Change

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

22nd Sep 2015
## Green infrastructure Griffith began with an eyeroll at the first round of responses in the US to reducing greenhouse gases, a program he calls “peak Al Gore.” Some activities feel virtuous —becoming vegetarian, installing LED lights, avoiding bottled water, reading news...
Instant Supercompute: Launching Wolfram Compute Services To immediately enable Wolfram Compute Services in Version 14.3 Wolfram Desktop systems,...
2nd Dec 2025
1

Instant Supercompute: Launching Wolfram Compute Services

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

2nd Dec 2025
To immediately enable Wolfram Compute Services in Version 14.3 Wolfram Desktop systems, run RemoteBatchSubmissionEnvironment["WolframBatch"]. (The functionality is automatically available in the Wolfram Cloud.) Scaling Up Your Computations Let’s say you’ve done a computation in...
Should You Be Able to Experiment on Your Own Cancer? A researcher in virology and immunotherapy got bad news: Her cancer was back with a vengeance; the...
26th Sep 2024
33

Should You Be Able to Experiment on Your Own Cancer?

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

26th Sep 2024
A researcher in virology and immunotherapy got bad news: Her cancer was back with a vengeance; the treatments weren’t working. She decided to treat it herself.
Get your fine, handcrafted artisanal essays right here I don’t use AI to draft my writing. These are fine handcrafted artisanal essays, every word placed...
10th Jun 2026
1

Get your fine, handcrafted artisanal essays right here

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

10th Jun 2026
I don’t use AI to draft my writing. These are fine handcrafted artisanal essays, every word placed individually with loving care. I use AI a lot for researching, occasionally for brainstorming, and increasingly for fact-checking. But not for outlining, drafting, or directly...
The Ruthless Liquidity of Modern Love Sex & Relationship Updates, H1 2026
6th May 2026
2

The Ruthless Liquidity of Modern Love

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

6th May 2026
Sex & Relationship Updates, H1 2026
Confidence In the Press This is the fifth in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from Lulu.com...
4th Jan 2025
28

Confidence In the Press

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

4th Jan 2025
This is the fifth in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. It’s based on Chapter 16, which is part of the political alignment case study. You can read the complete example here, or run the Jupyter notebook on...
First Pictures: Color View of the Earth & A Tropical Depression from Space – October 5, 1954 While today we are inundated with color images of the Earth, our earliest views from space were...
5th Oct 2024
88
5th Oct 2024
While today we are inundated with color images of the Earth, our earliest views from space were confined to monochromatic or black and white images (see […]
Kishore Mahbubani: Has the West Lost It? Can Asia Save It? In Kishore Mahbubani’s view, global power is shifting from the West to the Rest—from Europe and...
1st May 2018
1

Kishore Mahbubani: Has the West Lost It? Can Asia Save It?

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

1st May 2018
In Kishore Mahbubani’s view, global power is shifting from the West to the Rest—from Europe and North America to Asia and Africa. He argues that changes will be required both in the West and the Rest to manage the shift gracefully for long-term stability. The rest of the world...
Why does correlation not equal causation? In this blog post I will explain why it makes sense to think about causal explanations when we see...
24th Nov 2023
1

Why does correlation not equal causation?

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

24th Nov 2023
In this blog post I will explain why it makes sense to think about causal explanations when we see correlation, why correlation does not always imply causation, and which alternative causal models to consider when you are trying to figure out why two variables in your data are...
Drew Ex Machina 10th Anniversary: Top Ten Posts I find it difficult to believe but, it was ten years ago today that I posted the first article on my...
27th Mar 2024
111

Drew Ex Machina 10th Anniversary: Top Ten Posts

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

27th Mar 2024
I find it difficult to believe but, it was ten years ago today that I posted the first article on my then-new website, Drew Ex Machina. […]
The Hidden Engineering of Pressure Regulators [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] If you have a fluid-filled...
6th Oct 2026
1

The Hidden Engineering of Pressure Regulators

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

6th Oct 2026
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] If you have a fluid-filled system of pipes in your life, whether liquid or gas, (and who among us doesn’t?) there’s a very good chance that it passes through a simple device at some point on its journey to you....
Hunting For Kobyla On a January day in 1964, something remarkable happened: Simon Wiesenthal took the afternoon off. He...
7th Feb 2022
46

Hunting For Kobyla

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

7th Feb 2022
On a January day in 1964, something remarkable happened: Simon Wiesenthal took the afternoon off. He parked himself at a table on the terrace of Tel Aviv’s Café Roval, soaking up the sunshine as if he wished to bottle it. The friend he’d come to meet was late, but Wiesenthal had...
Ten lessons I learned from John Preskill Last August, Toronto’s Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control (CQIQC) gave me 35 minutes...
20th Jan 2025
96

Ten lessons I learned from John Preskill

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

20th Jan 2025
Last August, Toronto’s Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control (CQIQC) gave me 35 minutes to make fun of John Preskill in public. CQIQC was hosting its biannual conference, also called CQIQC, in Toronto. The conference features the awarding of … Continue reading →
Emily Levine & Jill Tarter: Long Conversation 4 of 19 **This is one conversation out of the 19 that took place as part of the Long Conversation.[Media...
16th Oct 2010
1

Emily Levine & Jill Tarter: Long Conversation 4 of 19

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

16th Oct 2010
**This is one conversation out of the 19 that took place as part of the Long Conversation.[Media links for the other Conversations are available here.](https://longnow.org/seminars/02010/oct/16/long-conversation/)** Long Conversation, an epic relay of one-to-one conversations...
How a Human Smell Receptor Works Is Finally Revealed After decades of frustration, researchers have finally determined how an airborne scent molecule...
1st May 2023
158

How a Human Smell Receptor Works Is Finally Revealed

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

1st May 2023
After decades of frustration, researchers have finally determined how an airborne scent molecule links to a human smell receptor. The post How a Human Smell Receptor Works Is Finally Revealed first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Pregnancy taught me a lot about healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket A personal story and a patient journey
3rd Aug 2026
1

Pregnancy taught me a lot about healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket

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

3rd Aug 2026
A personal story and a patient journey
Drone Madness: Here is the Antidote For those of us who, through the years, have been through wave after wave of uncritical and...
16th Dec 2024
96

Drone Madness: Here is the Antidote

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Dec 2024
For those of us who, through the years, have been through wave after wave of uncritical and sensational UFO stories in the media, the current obsession with (and jumping to unwarranted conclusions about) mysterious drones seems all too familiar.  As before, untrained observers,...
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,...
13th Aug 2013
75

Shark Bay: a pristine template for marine ecosystems worldwide

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

13th Aug 2013
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...
Taking the Measure of the Earthquake That Destroyed Tokyo At 11:58 am on Saturday, 1 September 1923, the Kanto region of Japan started to shake. The...
1st Sep 2023
49

Taking the Measure of the Earthquake That Destroyed Tokyo

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

1st Sep 2023
At 11:58 am on Saturday, 1 September 1923, the Kanto region of Japan started to shake. The earthquake began with a violent horizontal back-and-forth motion, followed by two vertical jolts, and then another horizontal shock even stronger than the first. The intensity of the tremor...
Making an Aging Clock Is this really where longevity science needs to go?
5 days ago
1

Making an Aging Clock

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

5 days ago
Is this really where longevity science needs to go?
Learn to write well BEFORE you have something worth saying Lessons learned from trip reports and journal articles.
29th Dec 2024
116

Learn to write well BEFORE you have something worth saying

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

29th Dec 2024
Lessons learned from trip reports and journal articles.
Plastic archeology The history, science and engineering of Lego bricks, on the cusp between trash and treasure.
20th Nov 2023
38

Plastic archeology

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

20th Nov 2023
The history, science and engineering of Lego bricks, on the cusp between trash and treasure.
How funny are the frontier AI models? TLDR: yes, models are getting funnier over time I love laughing. Well, who doesn’t? Good jokes have...
6th Oct 2026
2

How funny are the frontier AI models?

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

6th Oct 2026
TLDR: yes, models are getting funnier over time I love laughing. Well, who doesn’t? Good jokes have a certain notion of cleverness to them and I do believe that great comedians display high intelligence. Cracking a good joke requires astute observations about odd situations, and...
The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End In a landmark series of calculations, physicists have proved that black holes can shed information. ...
4th Feb 2021
1

The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End

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

4th Feb 2021
In a landmark series of calculations, physicists have proved that black holes can shed information. The post The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Jonathan Rose: The Well Tempered City ### Coherent cities What holds a city together? Rose noted that the earliest cities were built...
21st Sep 2016
1

Jonathan Rose: The Well Tempered City

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

21st Sep 2016
### Coherent cities What holds a city together? Rose noted that the earliest cities were built around a temple and the spirituality it embodied. As the early communities became larger and more diverse and complex, their economic activity intensified. To be effective in trade...
Modelling my brain A 22 hour medical experiment breathing 12% oxygen, and the 7000 images of my brain that came out of...
29th Mar 2021
31

Modelling my brain

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

29th Mar 2021
A 22 hour medical experiment breathing 12% oxygen, and the 7000 images of my brain that came out of it.
Chuck E. Cheese’s Animatronics Band Bows Out That may have been the last time I entered a Chuck E. Cheese pizzeria. And yet, when I heard that...
2nd Dec 2024
135

Chuck E. Cheese’s Animatronics Band Bows Out

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

2nd Dec 2024
That may have been the last time I entered a Chuck E. Cheese pizzeria. And yet, when I heard that the company was phasing out the animatronic bands from all but five locations by the end of this year, I felt a twinge of nostalgia. Much to my surprise, I was truly sad that the...
What Will Happen to Indian IT? The past and future of the “world’s back office.”
6th Oct 2026
1

What Will Happen to Indian IT?

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Oct 2026
The past and future of the “world’s back office.”
Little ray of sunshine A common saying goes, you should never meet your heroes, because they’ll disappoint you. But you...
28th Jul 2025
33

Little ray of sunshine

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

28th Jul 2025
A common saying goes, you should never meet your heroes, because they’ll disappoint you. But you shouldn’t trust every common saying; some heroes impress you more, the better you know them. Ray Laflamme was such a hero. I first heard … Continue reading →
Approximation game The number 22/7 and the pigeon flock of Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.
28th Feb 2026
1

Approximation game

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

28th Feb 2026
The number 22/7 and the pigeon flock of Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.
Walter Mischel: The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control ### Thinking hot and cool **In the 1960s, Mischel** and colleagues at Stanford launched a series of...
3rd May 2016
1

Walter Mischel: The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control

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

3rd May 2016
### Thinking hot and cool **In the 1960s, Mischel** and colleagues at Stanford launched a series of delayed-gratification experiments with young children using a method that later came to be known as “the marshmallow test.” A researcher whom the child knew and trusted, after...
Notes on Progress: An Englishman in New York Reflections on the revolution in Manhattan
7th Oct 2022
50

Notes on Progress: An Englishman in New York

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

7th Oct 2022
Reflections on the revolution in Manhattan
What is a biological individual? Some individuals have no clear boundaries. Here’s an assortment of some of the most interesting...
6th Sep 2021
20

What is a biological individual?

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Sep 2021
Some individuals have no clear boundaries. Here’s an assortment of some of the most interesting problem cases
Interacting collaborators reveal noninteracting fermions By day, I work as an experimentalist on laser-cooling molecules, but I’ve never fully surrendered my...
10th Aug 2026
1

Interacting collaborators reveal noninteracting fermions

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

10th Aug 2026
By day, I work as an experimentalist on laser-cooling molecules, but I’ve never fully surrendered my theoretical-physics license. I started as an undergraduate in Lincoln Carr’s group at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO. I learned from his … Continue reading →
Some Climate Change Trends and Thoughts Climate change is a challenging issue on multiple levels – it’s challenging for scientists to...
2nd Dec 2024
76

Some Climate Change Trends and Thoughts

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

2nd Dec 2024
Climate change is a challenging issue on multiple levels – it’s challenging for scientists to understand all of the complexities of a changing climate, it’s difficult to know how to optimally communicate to the public about climate change, and of course we face an enormous...
The road from serfdom Using opt-ins to reform Russia's backwards tsarist agricultural sector
6th Mar 2024
107

The road from serfdom

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

6th Mar 2024
Using opt-ins to reform Russia's backwards tsarist agricultural sector
Octopus, solar & e-paper energy dashboards I built a custom energy dashboard for my house using this beautiful, 2-bit colour, e-paper display....
19th May 2025
1

Octopus, solar & e-paper energy dashboards

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

19th May 2025
I built a custom energy dashboard for my house using this beautiful, 2-bit colour, e-paper display. Hardware, software, data and design.
Powering the Mars base This post is part of the series on space topics. This post is not the last word on this topic. The...
5th Nov 2024
68

Powering the Mars base

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

5th Nov 2024
This post is part of the series on space topics. This post is not the last word on this topic. The usual caveats apply. I’m curious if you have strong opinions on different fuel mixes. A growing Mars base has a prodigious need for power. I’ve previously written two posts on...
Chips Need to Chill Out Diamonds, lasers, and oil aren’t the first things you may think of when considering ways to keep...
1st Nov 2025
1

Chips Need to Chill Out

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

1st Nov 2025
Diamonds, lasers, and oil aren’t the first things you may think of when considering ways to keep chips and computers cool. But as modern chip designs pack and stack more transistors into ever smaller spaces, heat has emerged as a critical problem. To solve it, the semiconductor...
Lessons in frustration Assa Auerbach’s course was the most maddening course I’ve ever taken.  I was a master’s student in...
17th Feb 2025
64

Lessons in frustration

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

17th Feb 2025
Assa Auerbach’s course was the most maddening course I’ve ever taken.  I was a master’s student in the Perimeter Scholars International program at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Perimeter trotted in world experts to lecture about modern physics. Many … Continue...
Why we duel Duels can be brutal and even lethal. But duels emerged in societies around the world for an...
21st Apr 2022
1

Why we duel

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

21st Apr 2022
Duels can be brutal and even lethal. But duels emerged in societies around the world for an important reason: to control and manage violence, not just to celebrate it.
We’re All One Crisis Away From Taking Unlicensed Research Peptides For health hackers, the risk is not experimenting.
3rd Jun 2026
1
3rd Jun 2026
For health hackers, the risk is not experimenting.
FAA Aviation Maps Among all of the visual information published by the U.S. government, there may be no product with a...
29th Jan 2024
203

FAA Aviation Maps

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

29th Jan 2024
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.
George Dyson: There's Plenty of Room at the Top: Long-term Thinking About Large-scale Computing ### Long-term thinking about large-scale computing Ever since his 1997 breakthrough book, _Darwin...
10th Jan 2004
1
10th Jan 2004
### Long-term thinking about large-scale computing Ever since his 1997 breakthrough book, _Darwin Among the Machines_ , Dyson has become regarded as a leading historian and interpreter of computer science, bringing a rigorous and unconventional perspective. Thus his willingness...
Life in Johnstone's Topological Topos 1 -- Fundamentals I’ve been thinking a lot about the internal logic of topoi again, and I want to have more examples...
3rd Jul 2024
64

Life in Johnstone's Topological Topos 1 -- Fundamentals

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

3rd Jul 2024
I’ve been thinking a lot about the internal logic of topoi again, and I want to have more examples of topoi that I understand well enough to externalize some statements. There’s more to life than just a localic $\mathsf{Sh}(B)$, and since I’m starting to feel like I understand...
Lofty Ambitions One summer day in 1933, in a brief pocket of time between the two World Wars, a British man named...
14th Dec 2022
34

Lofty Ambitions

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

14th Dec 2022
One summer day in 1933, in a brief pocket of time between the two World Wars, a British man named Maurice Wilson clutched the stick of his tiny, open air biplane and watched his fuel gauge dwindle. He had only learned to fly two months earlier, but inexperience was not his...
In praise of questions Prende y se apaga sola, sale después de hora. CHARLY GARCÍA La máquina de ser feliz I’ve learned to...
8th Oct 2026
1

In praise of questions

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

8th Oct 2026
Prende y se apaga sola, sale después de hora. CHARLY GARCÍA La máquina de ser feliz I’ve learned to tolerate them, and sometimes even like them, but Zoom meetings are weird. Even in familiar contexts: I have weekly check-ins with … Continue reading →
The bad science behind expensive nuclear How a dubious theory of radiation damage based on fruit flies and a secretive weapons testing...
27th May 2025
1

The bad science behind expensive nuclear

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

27th May 2025
How a dubious theory of radiation damage based on fruit flies and a secretive weapons testing program came to be – and why its time may now be up.
George Dyson, Freeman Dyson, & Esther Dyson: The Difficulty of Looking Far Ahead ### Finessing the future Instead of one podium there were four chairs on the stage of Wednesday's...
6th Oct 2005
1
6th Oct 2005
### Finessing the future Instead of one podium there were four chairs on the stage of Wednesday's seminar. In three seats, three Dysons: Esther, George and Freeman. They were appearing together on stage for the first time. The fourth held Stewart Brand who led the three through...
A Good Memory or a Bad One? One Brain Molecule Decides. When the brain encodes memories as positive or negative, one molecule determines which way they will...
4th Jan 2023
1

A Good Memory or a Bad One? One Brain Molecule Decides.

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

4th Jan 2023
When the brain encodes memories as positive or negative, one molecule determines which way they will go. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Retro” by Wayne Jones.
Deep Learning Poised to 'Blow Up' Famed Fluid Equations For centuries, mathematicians have tried to prove that Euler’s fluid equations can produce...
3rd Aug 2022
1

Deep Learning Poised to 'Blow Up' Famed Fluid Equations

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

3rd Aug 2022
For centuries, mathematicians have tried to prove that Euler’s fluid equations can produce nonsensical answers. A new approach to machine learning has researchers betting that “blowup” is near. Read more at quantamagazine.org. Music is “Pulse” by Geographer.
Interaction20 Round-up Summary of all the amazing, curious and challenging ideas from last week's IXDA Interaction 20...
13th Feb 2020
22

Interaction20 Round-up

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

13th Feb 2020
Summary of all the amazing, curious and challenging ideas from last week's IXDA Interaction 20 conference.
Notes on Progress: A winter's tale Melting snow can make the season easier
4th May 2023
55

Notes on Progress: A winter's tale

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

4th May 2023
Melting snow can make the season easier
Proving Another "Real Theorem" with Topos Theory Another day, another post that starts with “So I was on mse…”, lol. Somebody asked whether...
25th Mar 2024
61

Proving Another "Real Theorem" with Topos Theory

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

25th Mar 2024
Another day, another post that starts with “So I was on mse…”, lol. Somebody asked whether maximizing over a compact set is a continuous thing to do. That is, given a continuous function $f : K \times X \to \mathbb{R}$ is the function $x \mapsto \max_{k \in K} f(k,x)$...
Beth Shapiro: How to Clone a Mammoth ## De-extinction science When people hear about “ancient DNA” in fossils, Shapiro began, the first...
12th May 2015
1

Beth Shapiro: How to Clone a Mammoth

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

12th May 2015
## De-extinction science When people hear about “ancient DNA” in fossils, Shapiro began, the first question always is “Can we clone a dinosaur?” Dinosaurs died out so many millions of years ago, their fossils are nothing but rock (and by the way, there’s no workaround with...
A.I., Wine, and Beer There have been many studies using scientific instrumentation, mostly gas chromatography, in...
10th Jun 2024
26

A.I., Wine, and Beer

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

10th Jun 2024
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...
Fusion without Fissiles: Superbombs and Wilderness Orion Fusion technology today relies on expensive, building-sized equipment for ignition, or the help of...
25th Mar 2022
1

Fusion without Fissiles: Superbombs and Wilderness Orion

from ToughSF [alt+shift+b] in science

25th Mar 2022
Fusion technology today relies on expensive, building-sized equipment for ignition, or the help of an already powerful fission detonation. What if we could do away with both? Fusion power without the need for fissiles, but also small enough to be launched into space. It is...
Are All the Good Men Married? Why do married men earn so much? Is it because the good men get married, or does marriage make men...
13th Sep 2025
1

Are All the Good Men Married?

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

13th Sep 2025
Why do married men earn so much? Is it because the good men get married, or does marriage make men good?
Escape to the country What makes a successful New Town?
1st Aug 2024
79

Escape to the country

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

1st Aug 2024
What makes a successful New Town?
Free Things Are Complicated (Especially the Sphere Spectrum!) I’ve spent the last week at CT2025, which has just come to a close. It was great getting to see so...
20th Jul 2025
40

Free Things Are Complicated (Especially the Sphere Spectrum!)

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

20th Jul 2025
I’ve spent the last week at CT2025, which has just come to a close. It was great getting to see so many old friends and meet so many new ones, and every time I go to a CT I’m reminded of just how much category theory there is in the world, as well as just how much I enjoy all...
Scaling Career and Family: Systems Thinking, Public School, Home Enrichment Originally posted on November 29, 2025 by Dr. Christine Corbett Moran When asked on The Cheeky Pint...
3rd Dec 2025
1

Scaling Career and Family: Systems Thinking, Public School, Home Enrichment

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

3rd Dec 2025
Originally posted on November 29, 2025 by Dr. Christine Corbett Moran When asked on The Cheeky Pint podcast how we educate our children, my husband Casey Handmer replied “benign neglect.” It’s a cheeky answer that captures something real: we’re neither tiger nor helicopter...
Brain As Receiver Is Still Wrong I have a love-hate relationship with TikTok, as I do social media in general. It is a great...
2nd Apr 2026
2

Brain As Receiver Is Still Wrong

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

2nd Apr 2026
I have a love-hate relationship with TikTok, as I do social media in general. It is a great communication tool and allows scientists and science communicators to get their content out to a larger audience cheaply and easily. If you know how to use the internet and social media as...
The world of tomorrow When the future arrived, it felt… ordinary. What happened to the glamour of tomorrow?
2nd Jun 2025
26

The world of tomorrow

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

2nd Jun 2025
When the future arrived, it felt… ordinary. What happened to the glamour of tomorrow?
Who regulates the regulators? IRBs Scott Alexander reviews a book about institutional review boards (IRBs), the panels that review...
4th May 2023
97

Who regulates the regulators?

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

4th May 2023
IRBs Scott Alexander reviews a book about institutional review boards (IRBs), the panels that review the ethics of medical trials: From Oversight to Overkill, by Dr. Simon Whitney. From the title alone, you can see where this is going. IRBs are supposed to (among other things)...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 10: The Owlet Lodge (February 11 and 12, 2024) February 11, 2024 Laura and I were looking forward to our one-night visit to the Owlet Lodge. Up to...
20th Jul 2024
27

A Month In Northern Peru, Part 10: The Owlet Lodge (February 11 and 12, 2024)

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

20th Jul 2024
February 11, 2024 Laura and I were looking forward to our one-night visit to the Owlet Lodge. Up to this point we had only stayed at cheap hotels, while we had also eaten simply, with at least two meals each day consisting of sandwiches/snacks that we prepared. For once, someone...
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