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
Blog - Practical...
How Flood Tunnels Work
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is Waterloo Park in...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is Waterloo Park in downtown Austin, Texas, just a couple of blocks away from the state capitol building. It’s got walking trails, an ampitheater, Waller Creek runs right through the center, and it has...
Math Is Still...
In New Paradox, Black Holes Appear to Evade Heat Death
The puzzling behavior of black hole interiors has led researchers to propose a new physical law: the...
a year ago
The puzzling behavior of black hole interiors has led researchers to propose a new physical law: the second law of quantum complexity.
The post In New Paradox, Black Holes Appear to Evade Heat Death first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Inverted Passion
Not everything is physics
The first book I ever read was The Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I liked it so much that...
3 months ago
The first book I ever read was The Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I liked it so much that I re-read it 8 times. As a young boy, the book had made a lasting impression on me, making me fall in love with ideas such as the arrow of time, black holes, entropy,…
Read...
ToughSF
Hypervelocity Tether Rockets
Rotating tethers can reach incredible velocities when they are built out of high strength materials....
over a year ago
Rotating tethers can reach incredible velocities when they are built out of high strength materials. With some design features, they can greatly surpass the exhaust velocities of chemical or even nuclear rockets. They can become propulsion systems with impressive performance......
Inverted Passion
You can’t jail an AI
Here’s why I worry about AI. We know that people can get away with anything to pursue their goals...
7 months ago
Here’s why I worry about AI. We know that people can get away with anything to pursue their goals (of profit, power, etc.) as long as they know they can get away with it, without negative consequences. We have had Hitlers, and insider traders. But the world keeps them in check...
Wanderingspace
ISS Looks Like a Toy
These animated gifs of The International Space Station look just like metal toys — but they are...
over a year ago
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...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
“There Are Too Many Entrenched Interests” | Out-Of-Pocket
The Six Stages Of Health Tech Grief Part 3
a year ago
The Six Stages Of Health Tech Grief Part 3
Uncharted...
Is Desalination Everywhere Realistic?
Which countries are doing it already? Are they happy? Is desalinated water safe to drink? Does it...
a month ago
Which countries are doing it already? Are they happy? Is desalinated water safe to drink? Does it taste good? Does it pollute too much? Can we shrink its cost?
Sean Carroll
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion
Just in case there are any blog readers out there who haven’t heard from other channels: I have a...
over a year ago
Just in case there are any blog readers out there who haven’t heard from other channels: I have a new book out! The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion is Volume One of a planned three-volume series. It grew out of the videos that I did in 2020, trying to offer...
wadertales
WaderTales blogs in 2022
Here are brief summaries of the sixteen WaderTales blogs that were published in 2022. I have grouped...
over a year ago
Here are brief summaries of the sixteen WaderTales blogs that were published in 2022. I have grouped the blogs into sections; problems with trees, more research from Iceland, Curlews, news from the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, tracking and updates. As ever, I am grateful to...
Explorations of an...
A Quest Nature Tours Adventure To Sulawesi
The island of Sulawesi must be on the bucket list for any naturalist with a strong interest in...
a year ago
The island of Sulawesi must be on the bucket list for any naturalist with a strong interest in biogeography. Though Borneo is situated only a few hundred kilometers to the west, and the Moluccas are not far to the east, the species composition of Sulawesi is significantly...
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...
wadertales
Flexible nesting behaviour
In April and May, tens of thousands of Black-tailed Godwits return to Iceland, having spent the...
2 months ago
In April and May, tens of thousands of Black-tailed Godwits return to Iceland, having spent the summer in Western Europe, particularly Britain & Ireland but also France, Portugal and Spain. For early arrivals, the conditions they encounter vary markedly between years. In a cold...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Healthcare in Jail | Out-Of-Pocket
How does it work?
a year ago
Blog - Practical...
Do Droughts Make Floods Worse?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Do you remember the summer of...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Do you remember the summer of 2022 when a record drought had gripped not only a large part of the United States, but most of Europe too? Reservoirs were empty, wildfires spread, crop yields dropped, and rivers...
Uncharted...
The Moral Case for More People on Earth
Today we’re going to cover four points that have emerged from the last few articles on growing our...
3 weeks ago
Today we’re going to cover four points that have emerged from the last few articles on growing our population, but which I haven’t covered yet:
Math Is Still...
Electric ‘Ripples’ in the Resting Brain Tag Memories for Storage
New experiments reveal how the brain chooses which memories to save and add credence to advice about...
7 months ago
New experiments reveal how the brain chooses which memories to save and add credence to advice about the importance of rest.
The post Electric ‘Ripples’ in the Resting Brain Tag Memories for Storage first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Some Climate Change Trends and Thoughts
Climate change is a challenging issue on multiple levels – it’s challenging for scientists to...
2 weeks ago
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
Will Hydrogen BEV Hybrids Be A Thing?
I recently recorded a YouTube video on the notion of hydrogen fuel cell cars (it will be posted...
a year ago
I recently recorded a YouTube video on the notion of hydrogen fuel cell cars (it will be posted soon, and I will add the link when it’s up). One question I did not get into in the video, but which is an interesting thought experiment, is hydrogen – plug-in battery hybrid...
Math Is Still...
Cryptographers Solve Decades-Old Privacy Problem
Three researchers have found a long-sought way to pull information from large databases secretly,...
a year ago
Three researchers have found a long-sought way to pull information from large databases secretly, moving us closer to fully private internet searches.
The post Cryptographers Solve Decades-Old Privacy Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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) […]
Cremieux Recueil
High-Frequency Trading Is Good
Sichuan Mala has written a guest post on one of the most unfairly maligned parts of the financial...
3 months ago
Sichuan Mala has written a guest post on one of the most unfairly maligned parts of the financial industry
Sean Carroll
What I Look for in Podcast Guests
People often suggest guests to appear on Mindscape — which I very much appreciate! Several of my...
over a year ago
People often suggest guests to appear on Mindscape — which I very much appreciate! Several of my best conversations were with people I had never heard of before they were effectively suggested by someone. Suggestions could be made here (in comments below), or on the subreddit, or...
Asterisk
What Comes After COVID
The next pandemic is coming. Is it possible to say when?
a year ago
The next pandemic is coming. Is it possible to say when?
Quantum Frontiers
Quantum Frontiers salutes an English teacher
If I ever mention a crazy high-school English teacher to you, I might be referring to Mr. Lukacs....
6 months ago
If I ever mention a crazy high-school English teacher to you, I might be referring to Mr. Lukacs. One morning, before the first bell rang, I found him wandering among the lockers, wearing a white beard and a mischievous grin. … Continue reading →
NeuroLogica Blog
Eating Methane
Methane is the forgotten greenhouse gas (sort of). Often, when discussing how best to reduce...
a year ago
Methane is the forgotten greenhouse gas (sort of). Often, when discussing how best to reduce anthropogenic climate change, we talk about decarbonizing our electrical and transport sectors, and carbon removal. But methane is also a greenhouse gas, contributing to global warming,...
Math Is Still...
Physicists Discover ‘Unobservable’ Phase Transition in Quantum Entanglement
Measurement and entanglement both have a “spooky” nonlocal flavor to them. Now physicists are...
a year ago
Measurement and entanglement both have a “spooky” nonlocal flavor to them. Now physicists are harnessing that nonlocality to probe the spread of quantum information and control it.
The post Physicists Discover ‘Unobservable’ Phase Transition in Quantum Entanglement...
NeuroLogica Blog
Woman with Catatonia for Years Wakes After Treatment
The story of a woman, in a severe state of catatonia for years and “waking up” after being treated...
a year ago
The story of a woman, in a severe state of catatonia for years and “waking up” after being treated for an autoimmune disease, is making the rounds and deserves a little bit of context. April Burrell was diagnosed with a severe form of schizophrenia resulting in catatonia, and has...
Wanderingspace
COMET 67P/CG ANIMATED FROM ROSETTA STILLS
COMET #67P/CHURYUMOV-GERASIMENKO
INTERNATIONAL #ROSETTA MISSION
Date 18 jul 2015
Distance to...
over a year ago
COMET #67P/CHURYUMOV-GERASIMENKO
INTERNATIONAL #ROSETTA MISSION
Date 18 jul 2015
Distance to Target 182 km
Orange+Blue filtershttps://t.co/ZuYVehJOLx
ESA/Rosetta/MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA/J. Roger pic.twitter.com/Fg8rNmjbNy
— landru79 (@landru79) June 13, 2022
Hit...
Melting Asphalt
Outbreak
Harry Stevens at The Washington Post recently published a very elegant simulation of how a disease...
over a year ago
Harry Stevens at The Washington Post recently published a very elegant simulation of how a disease like COVID-19 spreads. If you haven't already, I highly recommend checking it out. Today I want to follow up with something I've been working…
Read more ›
Asterisk
Shutting the California Prison System’s Revolving Door
Between 2009 and 2014, California passed a series of laws to reduce the population in its prison...
5 months ago
Between 2009 and 2014, California passed a series of laws to reduce the population in its prison system, which for years had operated over capacity. Determining whether those laws worked was not a straightforward task.
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...
The Simple Geometry That Predicts Molecular Mosaics
By treating molecules as geometric tessellations, scientists devised a new way to forecast how 2D...
a year ago
By treating molecules as geometric tessellations, scientists devised a new way to forecast how 2D materials might self-assemble.
The post The Simple Geometry That Predicts Molecular Mosaics first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
The Meeting of the Minds That Launched AI
The Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, held from 18 June through 17...
a year ago
The Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, held from 18 June through 17 August of 1956, is widely considered the event that kicked off AI as a research discipline. Organized by John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Claude Shannon, and Nathaniel Rochester, it...
Beautiful Public...
The Army and Navy Style Guides
These fascinating Army and Navy brand style guides define the look, feel and voice of our armed...
a year ago
These fascinating Army and Navy brand style guides define the look, feel and voice of our armed forces.
pcloadletter
The ChatGPT wrapper product boom is an uncanny valley hellscape
Here we go again: I'm so tired of crypto web3 LLMs.
I'm positive there are wonderful applications...
7 months ago
Here we go again: I'm so tired of crypto web3 LLMs.
I'm positive there are wonderful applications for LLMs. The ChatGPT web UI seems great for summarizing information from various online sources (as long as you're willing to verify the things that you learn).
But a lot fo the "AI...
Explorations of an...
A Tour Of The Western Galápagos Archipelago
The Galápagos archipelago is one of those must-visit destinations for anyone with an interest in...
a year ago
The Galápagos archipelago is one of those must-visit destinations for anyone with an interest in ecology, evolution, or biogeography. The islands are located in the eastern Pacific where a “hotspot” deep within the earth has been spewing magma for millions of years. The oldest...
IEEE Spectrum
Smellovision Gets a Refresh
This article is part of our exclusive IEEE Journal Watch series in partnership with IEEE...
a year ago
This article is part of our exclusive IEEE Journal Watch series in partnership with IEEE Xplore.
Modern virtual reality is a feast for the eyes and ears—but coming in a distant fourth (behind haptic touch technologies), smell has been nearly completely ignored.
Earlier this...
Math Is Still...
How Math Has Changed the Shape of Gerrymandering
New tools make it possible to detect hidden manipulation of maps.
The post How Math Has...
a year ago
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
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.
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...
Uncharted...
10 Other Places Where Geniuses Hide
Groups, networks, the Internet, IQ, state sponsorship, and many more
a week ago
Groups, networks, the Internet, IQ, state sponsorship, and many more
symmetry magazine
India’s gem at CERN: Archana Sharma
The first Indian scientist to join CERN was recently recognized with the highest honor of India for...
a year ago
The first Indian scientist to join CERN was recently recognized with the highest honor of India for overseas citizens.
Probably...
Data Q&A
Today I’m starting a new project with the working title Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with...
8 months ago
Today I’m starting a new project with the working title Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. In each installment, I’ll take a question from Reddit’s statistics forum and answer it, using Python code to demonstrate. The first installment is a question about the...
Math Is Still...
How (Nearly) Nothing Might Solve Cosmology’s Biggest Questions
By measuring the universe’s emptiest spaces, scientists can study how matter clumps together and how...
a year ago
By measuring the universe’s emptiest spaces, scientists can study how matter clumps together and how fast it flies apart.
The post How (Nearly) Nothing Might Solve Cosmology’s Biggest Questions first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Microbes Gained Photosynthesis Superpowers From a ‘Proton Pump’
New research reveals how marine microbes use an extra membrane that once had digestive functions to...
a year ago
New research reveals how marine microbes use an extra membrane that once had digestive functions to boost their yield from photosynthesis.
The post Microbes Gained Photosynthesis Superpowers From a ‘Proton Pump’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Beautiful Public...
The United States Frequency Allocation Chart
This crazy, beautiful chart illustrates the incredible complexity of managing one of our nation’s...
a year ago
This crazy, beautiful chart illustrates the incredible complexity of managing one of our nation’s most crucial – and invisible – national assets: the radio spectrum.
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...
Math Is Still...
Quanta Relaunches Hyperjumps Math Game
Explore a universe of numbers and arithmetic in our new and improved interactive math game,...
10 months ago
Explore a universe of numbers and arithmetic in our new and improved interactive math game, Hyperjumps!
The post Quanta Relaunches Hyperjumps Math Game first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wanderingspace
Morning and Night on Mars
Yeah. Um… Wow. Nice Job NASA. I’ll just copy/paste how The Planetary Society explained it:
“NASA's...
over a year ago
Yeah. Um… Wow. Nice Job NASA. I’ll just copy/paste how The Planetary Society explained it:
“NASA's Curiosity team made this artistic interpretation of the rover's view from high up Mt. Sharp by combining pictures taken at different times of day and adding colors to bring out the...
The Works in...
Anemia and Malaria
In malaria endemic regions, being anemic could be keeping children safe
2 months ago
In malaria endemic regions, being anemic could be keeping children safe
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
nanoscale views
APS March Meeting 2023, Day 3
There is vigorous discussion taking place on the Day 2 link regarding the highly controversial claim...
a year ago
There is vigorous discussion taking place on the Day 2 link regarding the highly controversial claim of room temperature superconductivity.
Highlights from Wednesday are a hodgepodge because of my meanderings:
The session about quantum computing hardware was well attended,...
Blog - Practical...
How Engineers Straightened the Leaning Tower of Pisa
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Long ago, maybe upwards of 1-2...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Long ago, maybe upwards of 1-2 million years ago, a river in the central part of what’s now Italy, emptied into what’s now the Ligurian Sea. It still does, by the way, but it did back then too. As the sea rose...
nanoscale views
Meetings this week
This week is the 2023 DOE experimental condensed matter physics PI meeting - in the past I’ve...
a year ago
This week is the 2023 DOE experimental condensed matter physics PI meeting - in the past I’ve written up highlights of these here (2021), here (2019), here (2017), here (2015), and here (2013). This year, I am going to have to present remotely, however, because I am giving a...
NeuroLogica Blog
Hunter-Gatherers and Childcare
What is “natural” for humans? It’s often hard to say, and in my opinion this is a highly overused...
a year ago
What is “natural” for humans? It’s often hard to say, and in my opinion this is a highly overused concept. Primarily this is because humans are adaptable – we adapt to our environment, our situation, and our culture. So it is “natural” for us not to have a natural state. But this...
Blog - Practical...
Why Some Roadways Are Made of Styrofoam
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
If you’ve ever driven or...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
If you’ve ever driven or ridden in an automobile, there’s a near 100% chance you’ve hit a bump in the road as you transition onto or off of a bridge. In fact, some studies estimate that it happens on a quarter...
Explorations of an...
Chaco Birding, And A Rare Monjita
The Gran Chaco (or simply, "Chaco"), is a sparsely populated plain in central South America, known...
a year ago
The Gran Chaco (or simply, "Chaco"), is a sparsely populated plain in central South America, known for its hot, semi-arid environment. It doesn't refer to one particular ecosystem, but rather, it includes a number of different types of forest, scrub, savannah and grassland. Most...
Damn Interesting
Fifteen Years Forsaken
Editor’s Note: This article contains quotations from contemporaneous accounts which might be...
over a year ago
Editor’s Note: This article contains quotations from contemporaneous accounts which might be offensive for today’s readers.
The moon was new on the night of 31 July 1761, and the wide expanse of the Indian Ocean uniformly black. But Captain Jean de Lafargue of the French cargo...
Asterisk
Pew Problems
A conversation about religion, fertility, and the American family.
a year ago
A conversation about religion, fertility, and the American family.
Quantum Frontiers
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...
over a year ago
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 →
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
NeuroLogica Blog
Evidence and the Nanny State Part II
In Part I of this post I outlined some basic considerations in deciding how much the state should...
a year ago
In Part I of this post I outlined some basic considerations in deciding how much the state should impose regulations on people and institutions in order to engineer positive outcomes. In the end the best approach, it seems to me, is a balanced one, where we consider the burden of...
Math Is Still...
Researchers Approach New Speed Limit for Seminal Problem
Integer linear programming can help find the answer to a variety of real-world problems. Now...
10 months ago
Integer linear programming can help find the answer to a variety of real-world problems. Now researchers have found a much faster way to do it.
The post Researchers Approach New Speed Limit for Seminal Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine
brr
South Pole Water Infrastructure
Fresh water from snow, at 70 below!
6 months ago
Fresh water from snow, at 70 below!
Math Is Still...
Grad Students Find Inevitable Patterns in Big Sets of Numbers
A new proof marks the first progress in decades on a problem about how order emerges from disorder. ...
4 months ago
A new proof marks the first progress in decades on a problem about how order emerges from disorder.
The post Grad Students Find Inevitable Patterns in Big Sets of Numbers first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Tandem Perovskite Silicon Solar Panels Are Coming
It’s pretty clear that we are at an inflection point with adoption of solar power. For the last 18...
a year ago
It’s pretty clear that we are at an inflection point with adoption of solar power. For the last 18 years in a row, solar PV electricity capacity has increased more (as a percentage increase) than any power source. Solar now accounts for 4.5% of global power generation. Wind...
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...
Mathematicians Find Hidden Structure in a Common Type of Space
In 50 years of searching, mathematicians found only one example of a “subspace design” in a vector...
a year ago
In 50 years of searching, mathematicians found only one example of a “subspace design” in a vector space. A new proof reveals that there are infinitely more out there.
The post Mathematicians Find Hidden Structure in a Common Type of Space first appeared on Quanta...
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...
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers as Fuel
The press release for a recent study declares: “New catalyst could provide liquid hydrogen fuel of...
a year ago
The press release for a recent study declares: “New catalyst could provide liquid hydrogen fuel of the future.” But don’t get excited – the optimism is more than a bit gratuitous. I have written about hydrogen fuel before, and the reasons I am not optimistic about hydrogen as a...
Asterisk
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...
over a year ago
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.
The Works in...
The value of family
Traditional values don't deliver babies
a year ago
Traditional values don't deliver babies
nanoscale views
AI/ML and condensed matter + materials science
Materials define the way we live. That may sound like an exaggeration that I like to spout because...
a year ago
Materials define the way we live. That may sound like an exaggeration that I like to spout because I'm a condensed matter physicist, but it's demonstrably true. Remember, past historians have given us terms like "Stone Age", "Bronze Age", and "Iron Age", and the "Information...
Math Is Still...
The Question of What’s Fair Illuminates the Question of What’s Hard
Computational complexity theorists have discovered a surprising new way to understand what makes...
6 months ago
Computational complexity theorists have discovered a surprising new way to understand what makes certain problems hard.
The post The Question of What’s Fair Illuminates the Question of What’s Hard first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
First-Year Graduate Student Finds Paradoxical Set
No two pairs have the same sum; add three numbers together, and you can get any whole number. ...
a year ago
No two pairs have the same sum; add three numbers together, and you can get any whole number.
The post First-Year Graduate Student Finds Paradoxical Set first appeared on Quanta Magazine
brr
South Pole Arrival
Flying to the bottom of the world!
over a year ago
Flying to the bottom of the world!
Explorations of an...
Heading East Across The Chaco
I’ve written about the Chaco region before – that vast dry, scrubby area south of the Amazon which...
a year ago
I’ve written about the Chaco region before – that vast dry, scrubby area south of the Amazon which happens to cover much of central and northern Argentina. Laura and I had skirted the edge of the Chaco earlier in the trip, including near Laguna Salinas Grande and in the Salta...
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...
Design for the People: The US Web Design System and the Public Sans Typeface
The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface that belongs to the...
5 months ago
The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface that belongs to the people. This thoughtful public design system aims to make government websites not only look good, but to make them accessible and functional for all.
symmetry magazine
Spacetime: All the universe’s a stage
In the 1900s, Albert Einstein unified the concepts of space and time, giving us a useful new way to...
a year ago
In the 1900s, Albert Einstein unified the concepts of space and time, giving us a useful new way to picture the universe.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Big Changes Coming | Out-Of-Pocket
What's temporary vs. permanent?
a year ago
What's temporary vs. permanent?
nanoscale views
Getting light out of plasmonic tunnel junctions - the sequel
A couple of years ago I wrote about our work on "above threshold" light emission in planar metal...
over a year ago
A couple of years ago I wrote about our work on "above threshold" light emission in planar metal tunnel junctions. In that work, we showed that in a planar tunnel junction, you can apply a bias voltage \(V\) and get lots of photons out at energies quite a bit greater than...
Many Worlds
Preparing For The Habitable Worlds Observatory, Our Best Shot at Finding ET Life
In a solar system far, far away, life of some sort is just waiting to be found. Or so the world of...
a year ago
In a solar system far, far away, life of some sort is just waiting to be found. Or so the world of astrobiology sure hopes it is. The new player in the astrobiology world, now called the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), is planned to launch in the 2040s if all goes well. ...
IEEE Spectrum
The Rise and Fall of 3M’s Floppy Disk
A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the...
8 months ago
A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the end of the long tail.
if you look on 3M’s own website, you will see no mention of this legacy—it’s a firm that sells abrasive materials, adhesive tapes, filters, films, personal...
Wanderingspace
Neptune from the James Webb Space Telescope
Webb’s latest image is the clearest look at Neptune's rings in 30+ years, and our first time seeing...
over a year ago
Webb’s latest image is the clearest look at Neptune's rings in 30+ years, and our first time seeing them in infrared light. Take in Webb's ghostly, ethereal views of the planet and its dust bands, rings and moons: https://go.nasa.gov/3RXxoGq #IAC2022
IEEE Spectrum
The Man Who Coined The Word "Robot" Defends Himself
You’re familiar with Karel Čapek, right? If not, you should be—he’s the guy who (along with his...
11 months ago
You’re familiar with Karel Čapek, right? If not, you should be—he’s the guy who (along with his brother Josef) invented the word “robot.” Čapek introduced robots to the world in 1921, when his play “R.U.R.” (subtitled “Rossum’s Universal Robots”) was first performed in Prague. It...
Math Is Still...
Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of Shock Therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy is highly effective in treating major depressive disorder, but no one...
9 months ago
Electroconvulsive therapy is highly effective in treating major depressive disorder, but no one knows why it works. New research suggests it may restore balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain.
The post Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of...
Asterisk
A Field Guide to AI Safety
AI safety is starting to go mainstream, but the researchers who’ve been immersed in it for over a...
a year ago
AI safety is starting to go mainstream, but the researchers who’ve been immersed in it for over a decade still have strong disagreements.
Uncharted...
Deserts, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Snow, Paradises, Swamps: Why Do People Live Where They Live in the...
Deserts, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Snow, Paradises, Swamps
2 days ago
Deserts, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Snow, Paradises, Swamps
Math Is Still...
The Year in Biology
Biologists used artificial intelligence to make discoveries about molecules and the brain, and...
4 days ago
Biologists used artificial intelligence to make discoveries about molecules and the brain, and overturned long-held assumptions about the immune system and RNA.
The post The Year in Biology first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
The fusion story of the day
There is a press conference going on right now announcing a breakthrough at the National Ignition...
over a year ago
There is a press conference going on right now announcing a breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility at Livermore. The NIF is an inertial confinement fusion facility that uses 192 laser beams to compress a fuel pellet containing deuterium and tritium. The pellet is...
Math Is Still...
Andreas Wagner Pursues the Secrets to Evolutionary Success
Why did mammals, grasses and some other groups of organisms explode in diversity only after millions...
a year ago
Why did mammals, grasses and some other groups of organisms explode in diversity only after millions of years? The evolutionary biologist Andreas Wagner plumbs the secrets of those “sleeping beauties.”
The post Andreas Wagner Pursues the Secrets to Evolutionary...
Cremieux Recueil
American Elections Are Unfair
Unfortunately, unfairness is baked in
a month ago
Unfortunately, unfairness is baked in
Math Is Still...
AI Starts to Sift Through String Theory’s Near-Endless Possibilities
Using machine learning, string theorists are finally showing how microscopic configurations of extra...
8 months ago
Using machine learning, string theorists are finally showing how microscopic configurations of extra dimensions translate into sets of elementary particles — though not yet those of our universe.
The post AI Starts to Sift Through String Theory’s Near-Endless...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Thirty Madison and Condition-Specific Care | Out-Of-Pocket
I wanted to use this as an opportunity to talk a little bit about scalable telemedicine + specialist...
a year ago
I wanted to use this as an opportunity to talk a little bit about scalable telemedicine + specialist care.
Math Is Still...
The Lawlessness of Large Numbers
Mathematicians can often figure out what happens as quantities grow infinitely large. What about...
a year ago
Mathematicians can often figure out what happens as quantities grow infinitely large. What about when they are just a little big?
The post The Lawlessness of Large Numbers first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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.
Drew Ex Machina
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...
2 months ago
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 […]
brr
Redeployment Part Two
Station opening, and my flight out of Pole!
11 months ago
Station opening, and my flight out of Pole!
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
Confessions of a...
Marine science, the environment, and the 2013 Australian election
I’ve been a bit reluctant to write about the upcoming election in this blog; after all the point of...
over a year ago
I’ve been a bit reluctant to write about the upcoming election in this blog; after all the point of this blog has never been about anything political! However, for better or worse the state of our environment (including our oceans) are inextricably linked to politics, so here...
IEEE Spectrum
In 1926, TV Was Mechanical
John Logie Baird had a lot of ingenious ideas, not all of which caught on. His phonovision was an...
3 months ago
John Logie Baird had a lot of ingenious ideas, not all of which caught on. His phonovision was an early attempt at video recording, with the signals preserved on phonograph records. His noctovision used infrared light to see objects in the dark, which some experts claim was a...
Uncharted...
Where Geniuses Hide Today
Where are today’s Michelangelos?
2 weeks ago
Where are today’s Michelangelos?
nanoscale views
The 2022 Welch Conference
The last couple of weeks have been very full.
One event was the annual Welch Foundation conference...
over a year ago
The last couple of weeks have been very full.
One event was the annual Welch Foundation conference (program here). The program chair for this one was W. E. Moerner, expert (and Nobel Laureate) on single-molecule spectroscopy, and it was really a great meeting. I'm not just...
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
UFOs – Has the Narrative Shifted
In an interview for Newsweek, Michio Kaku was asked about UFOs. Here’s his response: Well, first of...
a year ago
In an interview for Newsweek, Michio Kaku was asked about UFOs. Here’s his response: Well, first of all, I think that there’s been a game changer. In the old days, the burden of proof was on the true believers to prove that what they saw last night was a flying saucer of some...
Math Is Still...
The Electron Is So Round That It’s Ruling Out Potential New Particles
If the electron’s charge wasn’t perfectly round, it could reveal the existence of hidden particles....
a year ago
If the electron’s charge wasn’t perfectly round, it could reveal the existence of hidden particles. A new measurement approaches perfection.
The post The Electron Is So Round That It’s Ruling Out Potential New Particles 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
Explorations of an...
Birding Near The Bolivia Border
January 22, 2023 (continued)
Laura and I left the humid east slope of the Andes behind and worked...
a year ago
January 22, 2023 (continued)
Laura and I left the humid east slope of the Andes behind and worked our way north along the paved highway through the incredible Quebrada de Humahuaca. This valley is famous for its scenery and it was easy to see why. The contrasts, textures and...
Math Is Still...
Fresh X-Rays Reveal a Universe as Clumpy as Cosmology Predicts
By mapping the largest structures in the universe in X-rays, cosmologists have found striking...
9 months ago
By mapping the largest structures in the universe in X-rays, cosmologists have found striking agreement with their standard theoretical model of how the universe evolves.
The post Fresh X-Rays Reveal a Universe as Clumpy as Cosmology Predicts first appeared on Quanta...
The Roots of...
Making every researcher seek grants is a broken model
When Galileo wanted to study the heavens through his telescope, he got money from those legendary...
11 months ago
When Galileo wanted to study the heavens through his telescope, he got money from those legendary patrons of the Renaissance, the Medici. To win their favor, when he discovered the moons of Jupiter, he named them the Medicean Stars. Other scientists and inventors offered flashy...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Video Games x Healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket
Video games should be our models for engagement
a year ago
Video games should be our models for engagement
Inverted Passion
Notes from the book “Hooked”
I re-read the book Hooked by Nir Eyal and these are my notes. 1/ The key question that the book...
12 months ago
I re-read the book Hooked by Nir Eyal and these are my notes. 1/ The key question that the book answers is: how to make habit-forming products. And its answer is a model that involves four stages: a) trigger; b) action; c) variable reward; d) investment 2/ Why should products be...
Math Is Still...
The Hidden Connection That Changed Number Theory
Quadratic reciprocity lurks around many corners in mathematics. By proving it, number theorists...
a year ago
Quadratic reciprocity lurks around many corners in mathematics. By proving it, number theorists reimagined their whole field.
The post The Hidden Connection That Changed Number Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Maze Proof Establishes a ‘Backbone’ for Statistical Mechanics
Four mathematicians have estimated the chances that there’s a clear path through a random maze. ...
10 months ago
Four mathematicians have estimated the chances that there’s a clear path through a random maze.
The post Maze Proof Establishes a ‘Backbone’ for Statistical Mechanics first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Explorations of an...
Borneo: Tour Extension To Peninsular Malaysia
After the main Borneo tour had finished, eight of the travellers joined Laura and I on a tour...
a year ago
After the main Borneo tour had finished, eight of the travellers joined Laura and I on a tour extension to peninsular Malaysia. We split our time between two distinct regions: the foothill forests at Fraser’s Hill, and the steamy lowlands of Taman Negara.
Dusky Leaf Monkey -...
Chris Grossack's...
Monoidal Monoidoidoids
So I was on the nlab the other day, and I saw a fantastic joke:
A 2-category is “just” a monoidal...
over a year ago
So I was on the nlab the other day, and I saw a fantastic joke:
A 2-category is “just” a monoidal monoidoidoid! Here’s a screenshot
in case the nlab page for 2-categories changes someday:
There’s a thing called the Category Theorist’s “Just”, which describes
the joy that many...
nanoscale views
APS March Meeting 2024, Day 3
My highlights today are a bit thin, because I was fortunate enough to spend time catching up with...
9 months ago
My highlights today are a bit thin, because I was fortunate enough to spend time catching up with collaborators and old friends, but here goes:
Pedram Roushan from Google gave an interesting talk about noisy intermediate-scale quantum experiments for simulation. He showed some...
The Works in...
Three Maintenance Philosophies Fought for Control of the Auto Industry
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
The Lunar Cycle and Suicide
Does the lunar cycle affect human behavior? This seems to be a question that refuses to die, no...
a year ago
Does the lunar cycle affect human behavior? This seems to be a question that refuses to die, no matter how hard it is to confirm any actual effect. It’s now a cultural idea, deeply embedded and not going anywhere. A recent study, however, seems to show a correlation between...
ToughSF
Nuclear Reactor Lasers: from Fission to Photon
Nuclear reactor lasers are devices that can generate lasers from nuclear energy with little to no...
over a year ago
Nuclear reactor lasers are devices that can generate lasers from nuclear energy with little to no intermediate conversion steps.
We work out just how effective they can be, and how they stack up against conventional electrically-powered lasers. You might want to re-think your...
nanoscale views
What is turbulence? (And why are helicopters never quiet?)
Fluid mechanics is very often left out of the undergraduate physics curriculum. This is a shame, as...
6 months ago
Fluid mechanics is very often left out of the undergraduate physics curriculum. This is a shame, as it's very interesting and directly relevant to many broad topics (atmospheric science, climate, plasma physics, parts of astrophysics). Fluid mechanics is a great example of how...
Math Is Still...
Pleasure or Pain? He Maps the Neural Circuits That Decide.
The work of the neuroscientist Ishmail Abdus-Saboor has opened up a world of insights into precisely...
8 months ago
The work of the neuroscientist Ishmail Abdus-Saboor has opened up a world of insights into precisely how much pleasure and pain animals experience during different forms of touch.
The post Pleasure or Pain? He Maps the Neural Circuits That Decide. first appeared on...
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, June 2023
A monthly feature. As usual, recent blog posts and news stories are omitted from this; you can find...
a year ago
A monthly feature. As usual, recent blog posts and news stories are omitted from this; you can find them in my links digests. In all quotes below, any emphasis in bold was added by me.
Books
Thomas S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution, 1760–1830 (1948). A classic in the field,...
NeuroLogica Blog
Dog Soundboards
I am a lifelong dog owner, and like many dog owners am often impressed with how smart my dogs have...
3 months ago
I am a lifelong dog owner, and like many dog owners am often impressed with how smart my dogs have been. They pick up on subtle body language and non-verbal cues, they seem to understand specific words, and they are capable of successfully communicating their wants and desires....
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
Wanderingspace
Cassini’s Final Look at Enceladus
Taken on August 28, 2017. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
This is from images...
over a year ago
Taken on August 28, 2017. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
This is from images obtained by Cassini shortly before plunging into the Saturnian atmosphere. The images were taken over 14 hours and compiled into this animation.
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,...
Probably...
Probably the Book
Last week I had the pleasure of presenting a keynote at posit::conf(2024). When the video is...
4 months ago
Last week I had the pleasure of presenting a keynote at posit::conf(2024). When the video is available, I will post it here. In the meantime, you can read the slides, if you don’t mind spoilers. For people at the conference who don’t know me, this might be a good time to...
The Works in...
Lost Science
When discoveries are forgotten and then found
11 months ago
When discoveries are forgotten and then found
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...
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
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.
Explorations of an...
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...
5 months ago
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...
Marine Madness
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...
over a year ago
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,...
Blog - Practical...
HEAVY CONSTRUCTION of a Sewage Pump Station - Ep 4
This is the fourth episode of a five-part pilot series to gauge your interest in "How It's...
a year ago
This is the fourth episode of a five-part pilot series to gauge your interest in "How It's Made"-esque heavy construction videos. Drop a comment or send me an email to let me know what you think! Watch on YouTube above or ad-free on Nebula here.
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: An environmentalist gets lunch
Why being an effective environmentalist can often feel like being a bad one
over a year ago
Why being an effective environmentalist can often feel like being a bad one
The Works in...
Links in Progress: Expanding the Mediterranean's busiest port
Plus: New tunnels, monorails, canals, small modular reactors, and horseless carriages
a month ago
Plus: New tunnels, monorails, canals, small modular reactors, and horseless carriages
NeuroLogica Blog
Categorization and What’s In a Name
Categorization is critical in science, but it is also very tricky, often deceptively so. We need to...
11 months ago
Categorization is critical in science, but it is also very tricky, often deceptively so. We need to categorize things to help us organize our knowledge, to understand how things work and relate to each other, and to communicate efficiently and precisely. But categorization can...
NeuroLogica Blog
Virtual Walking
When I use my virtual reality gear I do practical zero virtual walking – meaning that I don’t have...
9 months ago
When I use my virtual reality gear I do practical zero virtual walking – meaning that I don’t have my avatar walk while I am not walking. I general play standing up which means I can move around the space in my office mapped by my VR software – so I am physically walking to...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Conversation Gets it Wrong on GMOs
Even high quality media outlets will get it wrong from time to time. I notice this tends to happen...
a year ago
Even high quality media outlets will get it wrong from time to time. I notice this tends to happen when there is a mature and sophisticated propaganda campaign that has had enough time and reach to essentially gaslight a major portion of the public, and further where a particular...
Math Is Still...
Hobbyist Finds Math’s Elusive ‘Einstein’ Tile
The surprisingly simple tile is the first single, connected tile that can fill the entire plane in a...
a year ago
The surprisingly simple tile is the first single, connected tile that can fill the entire plane in a pattern that never repeats — and can’t be made to fill it in a repeating way.
The post Hobbyist Finds Math’s Elusive ‘Einstein’ Tile first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
A Bit of Energy Pseudoscience
Remember the 1980 film, The Formula? Probably not, because it was a mediocre film that did not age...
a year ago
Remember the 1980 film, The Formula? Probably not, because it was a mediocre film that did not age well. The basic plot is that Nazi chemists during WWII developed a formula for synthetic gasoline. A detective investigating a murder gets embroiled in a conspiracy to cover up the...
Wanderingspace
Dust Storm On Mars
A dust storm in Olympia Planum's north polar dune fields was triggered by a late Martian summer cold...
8 months ago
A dust storm in Olympia Planum's north polar dune fields was triggered by a late Martian summer cold front. As the northern polar cap shrinks fast, it releases cold air that sometimes moves south, like on Earth. These cold fronts strengthen in late summer and early fall due to...
The Works in...
Rust never sleeps
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
nanoscale views
Power and computing
The Wall Street Journal last week had an article (sorry about the paywall) titled "There’s Not...
7 months ago
The Wall Street Journal last week had an article (sorry about the paywall) titled "There’s Not Enough Power for America’s High-Tech Ambitions", about how there is enormous demand for more data centers (think Amazon Web Services and the like), and electricity production can't...
NeuroLogica Blog
A Discussion about Biological Sex
At CSICON this year I gave talk about topics over which skeptics have and continue to disagree with...
a month ago
At CSICON this year I gave talk about topics over which skeptics have and continue to disagree with each other. My core theme was that these are the topics we absolutely should be discussing with each other, especially at skeptical conferences. Nothing should be taboo or too...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Personalized Health Insurance and the Payer Stack | Out-Of-Pocket
Stacks on stacks on stacks
a year ago
Stacks on stacks on stacks
Blog - Practical...
Merrimack Valley Gas Explosions: What Really Happened?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
On September 13, 2018, a...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
On September 13, 2018, a pipeline crew in the Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts was hard at work replacing an aging cast iron natural gas line with a new polyethylene pipe. Located just north of Boston, the...
nanoscale views
Desirable properties for a superconductor
Given the present interest, let's talk about what kind of properties one wants in a superconductor,...
a year ago
Given the present interest, let's talk about what kind of properties one wants in a superconductor, as some people on social media seem ready to jump straight on the "what does superconductivity mean for bitcoin?" train.
First, the preliminaries. Superconductivity is a state of...
Math Is Still...
Will AI Ever Have Common Sense?
Common sense has been viewed as one of the hardest challenges in AI. That said, ChatGPT4 has...
5 months ago
Common sense has been viewed as one of the hardest challenges in AI. That said, ChatGPT4 has acquired what some believe is an impressive sense of humanity. How is this possible? Listen to this week’s “The Joy of Why” with co-host Steven Strogatz.
The post Will AI Ever...
NeuroLogica Blog
Deepfake Doctor Endorsements
This kind of abuse of deepfake endorsements was entirely predictable, so it’s not surprising that a...
5 months ago
This kind of abuse of deepfake endorsements was entirely predictable, so it’s not surprising that a recent BMJ study documents the scale of this fraud. The study focused on the UK, detailing instances of deepfakes of celebrity doctors endorsing dubious products. For example,...
Math Is Still...
Merging Fields, Mathematicians Go the Distance On Old Problem
Mathematicians have illuminated what sets of points can look like if the distances between them are...
8 months ago
Mathematicians have illuminated what sets of points can look like if the distances between them are all whole numbers.
The post Merging Fields, Mathematicians Go the Distance On Old Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Michel Talagrand Wins Abel Prize for Work Wrangling Randomness
The French mathematician spent decades developing a set of tools now widely used for taming random...
9 months ago
The French mathematician spent decades developing a set of tools now widely used for taming random processes.
The post Michel Talagrand Wins Abel Prize for Work Wrangling Randomness first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
Finding Common Ground on Democracy
How is American democracy doing, and what can we do to improve it, if necessary? This is clearly a...
a year ago
How is American democracy doing, and what can we do to improve it, if necessary? This is clearly a question of political science, and I am not a political scientist, and this is not a political blog. But there are some basic principles of critical thinking that might apply, and...
NeuroLogica Blog
About Those Lab Leak Documents
It was recently revealed that the House subcommittee probing the origins of COVID-19 accidentally...
a year ago
It was recently revealed that the House subcommittee probing the origins of COVID-19 accidentally released a “trove” of documents related to their investigations. The documents include e-mails and internal communications among the scientists and experts who put together the first...
Quantum Frontiers
Identical twins and quantum entanglement
“If I had a nickel for every unsolicited and very personal health question I’ve gotten at parties,...
a year ago
“If I had a nickel for every unsolicited and very personal health question I’ve gotten at parties, I’d have paid off my medical school loans by now,” my doctor friend complained. As a physicist, I can somewhat relate. I occasionally … Continue reading →
NeuroLogica Blog
Living Under the Sea
One of my favorite recent video games is Subnautica, in which you have to survive almost entirely...
a year ago
One of my favorite recent video games is Subnautica, in which you have to survive almost entirely under a vast alien ocean. You have the advantage of advanced technology, but even then you are under constant threat of running out of oxygen, or having your habitat implode because...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Two new courses! And ~*fun*~ Out-Of-Pocket updates | Out-Of-Pocket
3 months ago
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Enjoy the Coming Leap Day: Some Thoughts about the Calendar
This year February will have an extra day -- we discuss why?
The post Enjoy the Coming Leap Day: ...
10 months ago
This year February will have an extra day -- we discuss why?
The post Enjoy the Coming Leap Day: Some Thoughts about the Calendar appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
Chris Grossack's...
A Quick Application of Model Categories
Almost exactly a year ago (time flies!) I was thinking really hard about
model categories in...
a year ago
Almost exactly a year ago (time flies!) I was thinking really hard about
model categories in preparation for the HoTTEST summer school. I learned
a TON doing this, but I’ve just today seen a really nice (and somewhat concrete)
reason to care about the whole endeavor! I’d love...
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.
IEEE Spectrum
Xerox Donates Legendary PARC Research Center
Xerox is donating its legendary research lab PARC to the nonprofit research institute SRI...
a year ago
Xerox is donating its legendary research lab PARC to the nonprofit research institute SRI International. The subsidiary’s pioneering research in the 1970s helped give birth to the era of personal computing. Xerox says the move will allow it to focus on its core business.
The...
ToughSF
Fusion without Fissiles: Superbombs and Wilderness Orion
Fusion technology today relies on expensive, building-sized equipment for ignition, or the help of...
over a year ago
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...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Good Meteor Shower Coming August 11-12
The Perseid Meteor Shower is one of the best of the year for the untrained observer
The post Good...
4 months ago
The Perseid Meteor Shower is one of the best of the year for the untrained observer
The post Good Meteor Shower Coming August 11-12 appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
ToughSF
Cold, Laser-Coupled Particle Beams
This is a follow-up to the Particle Beams in Space post.
This time, we look at two concepts that...
over a year ago
This is a follow-up to the Particle Beams in Space post.
This time, we look at two concepts that can massively increase the effective range of particle beam: one is being applied every day in modern accelerators, and the other is an outgrowth of a tool used in...
wadertales
Juvenile settlement in Black-tailed Godwits
Adult waders tend to be exceptionally consistent in their use of time and space, with marked...
3 months ago
Adult waders tend to be exceptionally consistent in their use of time and space, with marked individuals turning up on the same estuaries at the same time year after year, as discussed in the Whimbrel blog ‘Whimbrel: time to leave’. How do these patterns become established? Do...
Drew Ex Machina
NASA’s Viking Mission & The Search for Life on Mars: The Experiments
For young space enthusiasts like myself growing up in the 1970s, NASA’s Viking mission to Mars was...
over a year ago
For young space enthusiasts like myself growing up in the 1970s, NASA’s Viking mission to Mars was one of the more exciting and memorable. The Viking […]
The Works in...
Britain’s interwar apartment boom
A decade of Art Deco densification
9 months ago
A decade of Art Deco densification
NeuroLogica Blog
Science News in 2023
This is not exactly a “best of” because I don’t know how that applies to science news, but here are...
a year ago
This is not exactly a “best of” because I don’t know how that applies to science news, but here are what I consider to be the most impactful science news stories of 2023 (or at least the ones that caught by biased attention). This was a big year for medical breakthroughs. We are...
IEEE Spectrum
What If the Worst AI Fear Is AI Fear Itself?
It’s been just about a year now—a nonprofit called the Future of Life Institute posted an open...
9 months ago
It’s been just about a year now—a nonprofit called the Future of Life Institute posted an open letter reflecting people’s darkest fears about artificial intelligence.
“Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks,” it said. It called for a pause in...
NeuroLogica Blog
Fake Fossils
In 1931 a fossil lizard was recovered from the Italian Alps, believed to be a 280 million year old...
10 months ago
In 1931 a fossil lizard was recovered from the Italian Alps, believed to be a 280 million year old specimen. The fossil was also rare in that it appeared to have some preserved soft tissue. It was given the species designation Tridentinosaurus antiquus and was thought to be part...
The Works in...
The Cocktail Revolution
How bad drinks became good, and good drinks became great
a year ago
How bad drinks became good, and good drinks became great
The Roots of...
Levels of safety for AI and other technologies
What does it mean for AI to be “safe”?
Right now there is a lot of debate about AI safety. But...
a year ago
What does it mean for AI to be “safe”?
Right now there is a lot of debate about AI safety. But people often end up talking past each other because they’re not using the same definitions or standards.
For the sake of productive debates, let me propose some distinctions to add...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 8: Pale-billed Antpittas In The Elfin Forest (February 10, 2024)
February 10, 2024
The Pale-billed Antpitta is a large, fancy-looking Grallaria antpitta only found...
6 months ago
February 10, 2024
The Pale-billed Antpitta is a large, fancy-looking Grallaria antpitta only found in the high Andes of northern Peru. Because of its proclivity towards dense forest with an abundance of bamboo, there are few places where this species can be easily found. These...
Wanderingspace
Space-X Looking Like 2001 Space Odyssey
Amazing shot. Looks like a movie.
a year ago
Amazing shot. Looks like a movie.
NeuroLogica Blog
Non-Invasive Deep Brain Stimulation
We are rapidly entering the era of neuromodulation – using electrical and magnetic fields in order...
6 months ago
We are rapidly entering the era of neuromodulation – using electrical and magnetic fields in order to increase or decrease the activity of specific regions and circuits in the brain. Such treatments are already shown to be effective in treating some Parkinson’s symptoms,...
Math Is Still...
Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living Tissue
After identifying interlocking symmetries in mammalian cells, scientists can describe some tissues...
a year ago
After identifying interlocking symmetries in mammalian cells, scientists can describe some tissues as liquid crystals — an observation that lays the groundwork for a fluid-dynamic theory of how tissues move.
The post Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living...
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.
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: A winter's tale
Melting snow can make the season easier
a year ago
Melting snow can make the season easier
Explorations of an...
Cañadon de Profundidad and Iguazú Falls
February 4, 2023
For our second day in Misiones, Laura and I ventured over to a small park only a...
a year ago
February 4, 2023
For our second day in Misiones, Laura and I ventured over to a small park only a half-hour drive from our accommodations in Posadas. Our main reason for visiting Parque Provincial Cañadón de Profundidad was to search for Creamy-bellied Gnatcatcher, of which...
NeuroLogica Blog
Serial Dependence Bias
As I have discussed numerous times on this blog, our brains did not evolve to be optimal precise...
a year ago
As I have discussed numerous times on this blog, our brains did not evolve to be optimal precise perceivers and processors of information. Here is an infographic showing 188 documents cognitive biases. These biases are not all bad – they are tradeoffs. Evolutionary forces care...
Math Is Still...
The Hidden Brain Connections Between Our Hands and Tongues
Sticking out your tongue while doing delicate work with your hands reveals a history of evolutionary...
a year ago
Sticking out your tongue while doing delicate work with your hands reveals a history of evolutionary relationships.
The post The Hidden Brain Connections Between Our Hands and Tongues first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Understanding Jumbo Phage Viruses
Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, are the most abundant form of life on Earth. And yet...
7 months ago
Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, are the most abundant form of life on Earth. And yet we know comparatively little about them. But in recent years phage research has taken off with renewed interest. This is partly driven by the availability of CRISPR-based tools for...
IEEE Spectrum
This Clock Made Power Grids Possible
On 23 October 1916, an engineer named Henry E. Warren quietly revolutionized power transmission by...
9 months ago
On 23 October 1916, an engineer named Henry E. Warren quietly revolutionized power transmission by installing an electric clock in the L Street generating station of Boston’s Edison Electric Illuminating Co. This master station clock kept a very particular type of time: It used a...
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, July–August 2023
A quasi-monthly feature (I skipped it last month, so this is a double portion).
This is a longish...
a year ago
A quasi-monthly feature (I skipped it last month, so this is a double portion).
This is a longish post covering many topics; feel free to skim and skip around. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests.
These updates are less...
Math Is Still...
How to Guarantee the Safety of Autonomous Vehicles
As computer-driven cars and planes become more common, the key to preventing accidents, researchers...
11 months ago
As computer-driven cars and planes become more common, the key to preventing accidents, researchers show, is to know what you don’t know.
The post How to Guarantee the Safety of Autonomous Vehicles first appeared on Quanta Magazine
brr
Doors of McMurdo
Doors, in a variety of shapes and styles.
over a year ago
Doors, in a variety of shapes and styles.
Explorations of an...
Borneo: Ridiculous Mothing At Trus Madi Entomology Camp
When doing research on the few possible "lifer" birds that I could find on this trip to Sabah, and...
a week ago
When doing research on the few possible "lifer" birds that I could find on this trip to Sabah, and in particular, looking for sites to find the Bornean Frogmouth, I read about the Trus Madi Entomology Camp. This piqued my interest, as there is almost nothing I like more than...
Casey Handmer's blog
It Is Time To Build The Monster Scope
A shorter version of this post was published in Palladium on 10/18/24. This version incorporates...
3 weeks ago
A shorter version of this post was published in Palladium on 10/18/24. This version incorporates helpful feedback from a number of knowledgeable readers. With the recent SpaceX Starship orbital flight tests, it is time to commit to building the largest physically possible space...
Asterisk
Rat Traps
Does the rationalist blogosphere need to update?
a month ago
Does the rationalist blogosphere need to update?
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Baseball Mud
A manufactured baseball has a smooth surface with very little friction, and this makes it hard for a...
6 months ago
A manufactured baseball has a smooth surface with very little friction, and this makes it hard for a baseball pitcher to throw with great accuracy. Pitchers in the early days of baseball enhanced the friction by several ad hoc techniques that included rubbing with tobacco juice...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
My investing theses | Out-Of-Pocket
Hit up ya boi
a year ago
Math Is Still...
Physicists Pinpoint the Quantum Origin of the Greenhouse Effect
Carbon dioxide’s powerful heat-trapping effect has been traced to a quirk of its quantum structure....
4 months ago
Carbon dioxide’s powerful heat-trapping effect has been traced to a quirk of its quantum structure. The finding may explain climate change better than any computer model.
The post Physicists Pinpoint the Quantum Origin of the Greenhouse Effect first appeared on Quanta...
Melting Asphalt
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...
over a year ago
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 ›
symmetry magazine
Listening to the radio on the far side of the moon
LuSEE-Night will demonstrate whether an experiment to search for ancient radio signals can survive...
a year ago
LuSEE-Night will demonstrate whether an experiment to search for ancient radio signals can survive the moon’s unforgiving environment.
Math Is Still...
‘Entropy Bagels’ and Other Complex Structures Emerge From Simple Rules
Simple rules in simple settings continue to puzzle mathematicians, even as they devise intricate...
9 months ago
Simple rules in simple settings continue to puzzle mathematicians, even as they devise intricate tools to analyze them.
The post ‘Entropy Bagels’ and Other Complex Structures Emerge From Simple Rules first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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...
Probably...
What does a confidence interval mean?
Here’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. In general, I will...
8 months ago
Here’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. In general, I will try to focus on practical problems, but this one is a little more philosophical. confidence What does a confidence interval mean?¶ Here’s a question from the Reddit statistics...
nanoscale views
APS March Meeting 2024, Day 1
There is no question that the meeting venue in Minneapolis is superior in multiple ways to last...
9 months ago
There is no question that the meeting venue in Minneapolis is superior in multiple ways to last year's meeting in Las Vegas. The convention center doesn't feel scarily confining, and it also doesn't smell like a combination of cigarettes and desperation.
Here are a few...
The Works in...
How to start an advance market commitment
A practical guide from the founders of Frontier
6 months ago
A practical guide from the founders of Frontier
IEEE Spectrum
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...
2 weeks ago
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...
Math Is Still...
Alan Turing and the Power of Negative Thinking
Mathematical proofs based on a technique called diagonalization can be relentlessly contrarian, but...
a year ago
Mathematical proofs based on a technique called diagonalization can be relentlessly contrarian, but they help reveal the limits of algorithms.
The post Alan Turing and the Power of Negative Thinking first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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,...
NeuroLogica Blog
How Much Carbon do Living Things Store?
Since we are in a “all hands on deck” situation when it comes to climate change, we need to take a...
a year ago
Since we are in a “all hands on deck” situation when it comes to climate change, we need to take a look at all potential strategies for delaying and blunting global warming. The game at this point is all about peak warming – how much will the Earth warm before temperatures peak...
NeuroLogica Blog
RFK Jr., Joe Rogan, and Vaccines
RFK Jr., who is now running for the Democratic presidential nomination, is anti-vaccine. He will...
a year ago
RFK Jr., who is now running for the Democratic presidential nomination, is anti-vaccine. He will vehemently deny this, but I don’t buy it for a second. He is simply playing the, “I’m not anti-vaccine, I am pro-safe vaccine” gambit, which is disingenuous and always has been. We...
Math Is Still...
How Genetic Surprises Complicate the Old Doctrine of DNA
For over a century, biologists have had to contend with a complicated picture of genetics, which...
a year ago
For over a century, biologists have had to contend with a complicated picture of genetics, which they’ve only recently begun to understand.
The post How Genetic Surprises Complicate the Old Doctrine of DNA first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Getting people to donate their organs
Too few people donate their organs, dead or alive. How can we make it easier?
8 months ago
Too few people donate their organs, dead or alive. How can we make it easier?
nanoscale views
The problems and opportunities of data
We live in a world of "big data", and this presents a number of challenges for how we handle this at...
a year ago
We live in a world of "big data", and this presents a number of challenges for how we handle this at research universities. Until relatively recently, the domain of huge volume/huge throughput scientific data was chiefly that of the nuclear/particle physics community and then...
Probably...
Happy Launch Day!
Today is the official publication date of Probably Overthinking It! You can get a 30% discount if...
a year ago
Today is the official publication date of Probably Overthinking It! You can get a 30% discount if you order from the publisher and use the code UCPNEW. You can also order from Amazon or, if you want to support independent bookstores, from Bookshop.org. I celebrated launch day by...
ToughSF
Nuclear Conversion for Starship
There has been much discussion about converting the SpaceX Starship to use nuclear propulsion. It...
over a year ago
There has been much discussion about converting the SpaceX Starship to use nuclear propulsion. It would allow for a great increase in specific impulse and a massive extension of mission capabilities.
But is it actually worthwhile?
The image above is modified from...
Asterisk
Debugging Tech Journalism
A huge proportion of tech journalism is characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy...
8 months ago
A huge proportion of tech journalism is characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy research. Can we fix it?
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
Weaponized Pedantry and Reverse Gish Gallop
Have you ever been in a discussion where the person with whom you disagree dismisses your position...
10 months ago
Have you ever been in a discussion where the person with whom you disagree dismisses your position because you got some tiny detail wrong or didn’t know the tiny detail? This is a common debating technique. For example, opponents of gun safety regulations will often use the...
IEEE Spectrum
Why Are We Still Doing What Simon Says?
In 1976, Ralph Baer and Howard Morrison, two game designers, happened to see a trade show...
a year ago
In 1976, Ralph Baer and Howard Morrison, two game designers, happened to see a trade show demonstration of an Atari arcade game called Touch Me. The game’s waist-high cabinet featured four large buttons on the top, which lit up in random sequence; the player had to push the...
NeuroLogica Blog
Flow Batteries – Now With Nanofluids
Battery technology has been advancing nicely over the last few decades, with a fairly predictable...
10 months ago
Battery technology has been advancing nicely over the last few decades, with a fairly predictable incremental increase in energy density, charging time, stability, and lifecycle. We now have lithium-ion batteries with a specific energy of 296 Wh/kg – these are in use in existing...
Probably...
Destructive Testing
Here’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
7 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. sample_size Sample Size Selection¶ Here’s a question from the Reddit statistics forum. Hi Redditors, I am a civil engineer trying...
Math Is Still...
Are There Reasons to Believe in a Multiverse?
Several areas of physics suggest reasons to think that unobservable universes with different natural...
a year ago
Several areas of physics suggest reasons to think that unobservable universes with different natural laws could lie beyond ours. The theoretical physicist David Kaplan talks with Steven Strogatz about the mysteries that a multiverse would solve.
The post Are There...
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, October 2023
A ~monthly feature. Last month was busy for me with a lot of travel and a lot of focus on The Roots...
a year ago
A ~monthly feature. Last month was busy for me with a lot of travel and a lot of focus on The Roots of Progress as a nonprofit organization, so I haven’t had as much time as I prefer for research and writing. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find...
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...
ToughSF
Fusion Highways in Space
A transport system that can get spacecraft to Jupiter in 10 days, but without a massive onboard...
over a year ago
A transport system that can get spacecraft to Jupiter in 10 days, but without a massive onboard reactor, using antimatter fuel or riding a gigantic laser beam?
What we need instead is a Fusion Highway to connect the Solar System in unprecedented ways.
The art above is by...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How MainStreet gets you government $ | Out-Of-Pocket
Get government tax credits for your health startup
a year ago
Get government tax credits for your health startup
Math Is Still...
In a Monster Star’s Light, a Hint of Darkness
Astronomers are scouring the cosmos for fingerprints of the invisible — tiny clumps of pure dark...
a year ago
Astronomers are scouring the cosmos for fingerprints of the invisible — tiny clumps of pure dark matter that might solve a long-standing cosmic mystery.
The post In a Monster Star’s Light, a Hint of Darkness first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Deep South – A Neuromorphic Supercomputer
Australian researchers at the International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems (ICNS) at Western Sydney...
a year ago
Australian researchers at the International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems (ICNS) at Western Sydney University have announced they are building what they are calling Deep South (based on IBM’s Deep Blue). This will be the world’s largest neuromorphic supercomputer, with 228...
The Works in...
Invisible College applications close on Friday
Applications to our new residential seminar close this coming Friday, 31st May
6 months ago
Applications to our new residential seminar close this coming Friday, 31st May
Explorations of an...
Frustrating Times at Parque Nacional El Palmar
Parque Nacional El Palmar is located near Argentina's eastern border, a few hours north of Buenos...
a year ago
Parque Nacional El Palmar is located near Argentina's eastern border, a few hours north of Buenos Aires. The main habitat found in this national park is palm savannah, a severely fragmented ecosystem found in northeastern Argentina, Uruguay and barely into southern Brazil. PN El...
Light from Space
The Rosette Nebula
Next to the Orion Nebula, the Rosette Nebula is definitely a must-do on the list of every aspiring...
a year ago
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...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Newsletter One + Patient Zero | Out-Of-Pocket
Shall we begin?
a year ago
Math Is Still...
How Do Machines ‘Grok’ Data?
By apparently overtraining them, researchers have seen neural networks discover novel solutions to...
8 months ago
By apparently overtraining them, researchers have seen neural networks discover novel solutions to problems.
The post How Do Machines ‘Grok’ Data? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Uncharted...
What Is the Earth’s Carrying Capacity?
Most "experts" don't understand technology or economics
a month ago
Most "experts" don't understand technology or economics
Blog - Practical...
Why There's a Legal Price for a Human Life
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
One of the very first...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
One of the very first documented engineering disasters happened in 27 AD in the early days of the Roman Empire. A freed slave named Atilius built a wooden amphitheater in a town called Fidenae outside of Rome....
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.
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...
Explorations of an...
A Rare Hummingbird Twitch In Ecuador
October 22, 2023
I recently returned from Ecuador where I had spent the previous couple of weeks....
a year ago
October 22, 2023
I recently returned from Ecuador where I had spent the previous couple of weeks. The main purpose of the trip was to lead a tour for Worldwide Quest to the Galápagos archipelago, but I made some time for a little extra-curricular birding as well. If I was going...
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.”
Asterisk
The “TESCREAL” Bungle
The TESCREAL “bundle of ideologies” is purportedly essential to understand the race to build...
6 months ago
The TESCREAL “bundle of ideologies” is purportedly essential to understand the race to build artificial intelligence, the ethical milieu of those building it, and the philosophical underpinnings behind Silicon Valley as a whole. But does the label actually tell us anything?
Damn Interesting
From Where the Sun Now Stands
An American Indian man on horseback stood outlined against a steely sky past midday on 05 October...
a year ago
An American Indian man on horseback stood outlined against a steely sky past midday on 05 October 1877. Winter was already settling into the prairies of what would soon become the state of Montana.
Five white men stood in the swaying grass on the other side of the field,...
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
Math Is Still...
How Base 3 Computing Beats Binary
Long explored but infrequently embraced, base 3 computing may yet find a home in cybersecurity. ...
4 months ago
Long explored but infrequently embraced, base 3 computing may yet find a home in cybersecurity.
The post How Base 3 Computing Beats Binary first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
Fakes: Not an Internet Thing, a Human Thing
Every day, as the Internet becomes more indispensable to modern life, the drawbacks of deep...
a year ago
Every day, as the Internet becomes more indispensable to modern life, the drawbacks of deep engagement with the virtual realm capture as much attention as the wide-ranging benefits. On the Internet, of course, anyone can in all too many forums pretty much say anything—regardless...
NeuroLogica Blog
Some Battery News
I have been following battery technology pretty closely, as this is a key technology for the...
a year ago
I have been following battery technology pretty closely, as this is a key technology for the transition to green energy. The most obvious application is in battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The second most obvious application is in grid storage. But also there are all the...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
2022 Healthcare Predictions | Out-Of-Pocket
Nikstradamus strikes again
a year ago
Nikstradamus strikes again
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Scaling Organizations, Patient Payments, and Collections with Lora Rosenblum | Out-Of-Pocket
Why am I getting bills 6 months later, Lora pls help
a year ago
Why am I getting bills 6 months later, Lora pls help
Uncharted...
🪐 How Will We Ride to Mars?
Do we need a station on the Moon? How hard is it to get to Mars? What are the main challenges?
2 months ago
Do we need a station on the Moon? How hard is it to get to Mars? What are the main challenges?
NeuroLogica Blog
Update on Quantum Computers
There has been a lot of quantum computer news since I last wrote about the topic. But this is still...
a year ago
There has been a lot of quantum computer news since I last wrote about the topic. But this is still a technology that is slowly advancing in the background, while actual applications have been limited. There is a threshold effect at play – at some point, quantum computers will be...
Blog - Practical...
Connecting Solar to the Grid is Harder Than You Think
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
On June 4, 2022, a small piece...
8 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
On June 4, 2022, a small piece of equipment (called a lightning arrestor) at a power plant in Odessa, Texas failed, causing part of the plant to trip offline. It was a fairly typical fault that happens from...
IEEE Spectrum
When IBM Built a War Room for Executives
Computer History Museum’s collection has a biography of sorts—a life before CHM, a tale about how it...
a week ago
Computer History Museum’s collection has a biography of sorts—a life before CHM, a tale about how it came to us, and a life within the museum. The chapters of that biography include the uses made of it, and the historical and interpretive stories it can be made to tell. This then...
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
Math Is Still...
Hopes of Big Bang Discoveries Ride on a Future Spacecraft
Physicists and cosmologists will have a new probe of primordial processes when Europe launches the...
8 months ago
Physicists and cosmologists will have a new probe of primordial processes when Europe launches the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) next decade.
The post Hopes of Big Bang Discoveries Ride on a Future Spacecraft first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Structuring the Unstructured and ScienceIO | Out-Of-Pocket
how to train your model, the animated movie
a year ago
how to train your model, the animated movie
Math Is Still...
Insects and Other Animals Have Consciousness, Experts Declare
A group of prominent biologists and philosophers announced a new consensus: There’s “a realistic...
8 months ago
A group of prominent biologists and philosophers announced a new consensus: There’s “a realistic possibility” that insects, octopuses, crustaceans, fish and other overlooked animals experience consciousness.
The post Insects and Other Animals Have Consciousness,...
Asterisk
Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?
The question of why some countries join the developed world while others remain in poverty has vexed...
over a year ago
The question of why some countries join the developed world while others remain in poverty has vexed economists for decades. What makes it so hard to answer?
Asterisk
Sins of the Children
The circle of life on Chelicer 14d.
5 months ago
The circle of life on Chelicer 14d.
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…
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NeuroLogica Blog
Predicting Outcome in Severe Brain Injury
One of the most difficult situations that a person can face is to have a loved-one in a critical...
7 months ago
One of the most difficult situations that a person can face is to have a loved-one in a critical medical condition and have to make life-or-death medical decisions for them. I have been in this situation many times as the consulting neurologist, and I have seen how weighty this...
Many Worlds
The Familiar, Yet So Different, Hydrocarbon Rivers of Titan
There are three planets or moons in our solar system known to now have, or once had, surface rivers,...
a year ago
There are three planets or moons in our solar system known to now have, or once had, surface rivers, lakes, deltas and a hydrologic system. There’s Earth, of course, Mars long ago when it was warmer and wetter, and the so different yet so similar rivers of hydrocarbons on...
Probably...
Testing Percentiles
Here’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
7 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. test_percentile Testing percentiles¶ Here’s a question from the Reddit statistics forum. I have two different samples (about 100...
NeuroLogica Blog
Ghosts Are Not Real
It’s Halloween, so there are a lot of fluff pieces about ghosts and similar phenomena circulating in...
a year ago
It’s Halloween, so there are a lot of fluff pieces about ghosts and similar phenomena circulating in the media. There are some good skeptical pieces as well, which is always nice to see. For this piece I did not want to frame the headline as a question, which I think is...
Asterisk
When RAND Made Magic in Santa Monica
RAND’s halcyon days lasted two decades, during which the corporation produced some of the most...
6 months ago
RAND’s halcyon days lasted two decades, during which the corporation produced some of the most influential developments in science and American foreign policy. So how did it become just another think tank?
Asterisk
Feeding the World Without Sunlight
In 1815, the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history led to harvest failures across the globe....
a year ago
In 1815, the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history led to harvest failures across the globe. Today, a nuclear winter could bring the global food system crashing down. Is it possible to feed the world in the aftermath of a catastrophe?
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...
The Works in...
What did Henry George think about cities?
Solving the terrible urban conditions of the 1800s by abolishing cities
7 months ago
Solving the terrible urban conditions of the 1800s by abolishing cities
Math Is Still...
The Unraveling of Space-Time
This special issue of Quanta Magazine explores the ultimate scientific quest: the search for the...
2 months ago
This special issue of Quanta Magazine explores the ultimate scientific quest: the search for the fundamental nature of reality.
The post The Unraveling of Space-Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Rogue Worlds Throw Planetary Ideas Out of Orbit
Scientists have recently discovered scores of free-floating worlds that defy classification. The new...
a year ago
Scientists have recently discovered scores of free-floating worlds that defy classification. The new observations have forced them to rethink their theories of star and planet formation.
The post Rogue Worlds Throw Planetary Ideas Out of Orbit first appeared on Quanta...
IEEE Spectrum
Touchscreens Are Out, and Tactile Controls Are Back
Tactile controls are back in vogue. Apple added two new buttons to the iPhone 16, home appliances...
a month ago
Tactile controls are back in vogue. Apple added two new buttons to the iPhone 16, home appliances like stoves and washing machines are returning to knobs, and several car manufacturers are reintroducing buttons and dials to dashboards and steering wheels.
With this...
NeuroLogica Blog
Nuclear Microreactors
The first nuclear powered vessel was completed in 1959. Since then there have been nuclear powered...
a year ago
The first nuclear powered vessel was completed in 1959. Since then there have been nuclear powered vessels in the oceans, including many nuclear submarines. The obvious advantage is that is such vessels can stay at see for long periods of time without refueling. These ships use...
Uncharted...
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...
a month ago
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?
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....
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...
Asterisk
Emotional Intelligence Amplification
Love in the time of chatbots.
a year ago
Love in the time of chatbots.
Explorations of an...
Río Bigal Biological Reserve - Pristine Foothill Forest In Eastern Ecuador
"What has been your favourite country that you have visited?"
People often ask me various...
a year ago
"What has been your favourite country that you have visited?"
People often ask me various iterations of this question when they hear about the traveling that Laura and I have been fortunate to have done. Sometimes I say Colombia, sometimes I say Peru, but usually I don't name a...
NeuroLogica Blog
Quiet Supersonic Aircraft Ready for Testing
It was six years ago that I first wrote about NASA’s X-59 QueSST project, contracted to Lockheed...
a year ago
It was six years ago that I first wrote about NASA’s X-59 QueSST project, contracted to Lockheed Martin. Now the plane has finally been built and is ready for testing. At the time it was reported that NASA “had a design” for a quiet supersonic jet, one that would not create a...
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...
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
The Threat of Technology
In my second book (shameless plug alert) – The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future – my coauthors and I...
a year ago
In my second book (shameless plug alert) – The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future – my coauthors and I try to imagine both the utopian and dystopian versions of the future, brought about by technology, either individually or collectively. This topic has come up multiple times recently...
symmetry magazine
From inventor to entrepreneur
Creating a startup to commercialize technology developed during research is a risky road for...
a year ago
Creating a startup to commercialize technology developed during research is a risky road for physicists and engineers, but the help of experts can improve their chances.
nanoscale views
Thoughts on undergrad solid-state content
Figuring out what to include in an undergraduate introduction to solid-state physics course is...
8 months ago
Figuring out what to include in an undergraduate introduction to solid-state physics course is always a challenge. Books like the present incarnation of Kittel are overstuffed with more content than can readily fit in a one-semester course, and because that book has grown...
NeuroLogica Blog
Spider-Man’s Web Shooter
I have to admit that my favorite superhero as a kid, and still today, is Spider-Man (and yes, that’s...
2 months ago
I have to admit that my favorite superhero as a kid, and still today, is Spider-Man (and yes, that’s the correct spelling). There are a number of narrative reasons for this that I grew to appreciate more as I aged. First, Spider-Man is in the sweet spot of super abilities – he is...
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
Willem Pennings
Fixing my heating system
The heating system in my apartment building consists of a group of heat pumps that deliver warm...
7 months ago
The heating system in my apartment building consists of a group of heat pumps that deliver warm water to the underfloor heating system of about a dozen apartments, including mine. During the warm summer months, the system supplies cool water instead. The heat pumps figure out...
NeuroLogica Blog
Living a Hybrid Life
The cultural effects of the COVID pandemic can still be felt reverberating through society. One of...
4 months ago
The cultural effects of the COVID pandemic can still be felt reverberating through society. One of the positive effects, in my opinion, was the sudden boost to remote technology – connecting remotely for meetings and other uses through Zoom or a similar application. This...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Science of Gift Giving
There is a lot of social psychology out there providing information that can inform our everyday...
a year ago
There is a lot of social psychology out there providing information that can inform our everyday lives, and most people are completely unaware of the research. Richard Wiseman makes this point in his book, 59 Seconds – we actually have useful scientific information, and yet we...
Probably...
The World Population Singularity
One of the exercises in Modeling and Simulation in Python invites readers to download estimates of...
a year ago
One of the exercises in Modeling and Simulation in Python invites readers to download estimates of world population from 10,000 BCE to the present, and to see if they are well modeled by any simple mathematical function. Here’s what the estimates look like (aggregated on...
Quantum Frontiers
Happy 200th birthday, Carnot’s theorem!
In Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, a Mole meets a Water Rat who lives on a...
3 weeks ago
In Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, a Mole meets a Water Rat who lives on a River. The Rat explains how the River permeates his life: “It’s brother and sister to me, and aunts, and company, … Continue reading →
Blog - Practical...
How Do You Steer a Drill Below The Earth?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In December 2019, the City of...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In December 2019, the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida experienced a series of catastrophic ruptures in a critical wastewater transmission line, releasing raw sewage into local waterways and neighborhoods....
Math Is Still...
Mathematicians Discover Novel Way to Predict Structure in Graphs
In new work on graphs’ hidden structure, mathematicians probe the limits of randomness. ...
a year ago
In new work on graphs’ hidden structure, mathematicians probe the limits of randomness.
The post Mathematicians Discover Novel Way to Predict Structure in Graphs first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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...
Asterisk
The Devil in the Details: Matthew Desmond’s Poverty by America
Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, by America is one of the most celebrated books on the subject....
a year ago
Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, by America is one of the most celebrated books on the subject. Unfortunately, carelessness about the ways we measure poverty undercuts its main argument.
Interaction Magic -...
Engineering beneath the ice sheet
Living in Greenland, deploying electronic beacons deep beneath the ice.
3 weeks ago
Living in Greenland, deploying electronic beacons deep beneath the ice.
Eukaryote Writes...
Web-surfing tips for strange times
Meditations on what's bad about the internet lately and how to use it anyhow.
6 months ago
Meditations on what's bad about the internet lately and how to use it anyhow.
Asterisk
When Was the Last Time We Built a New City?
California Forever wants to build a new city in Solano county. On paper, it would be an affordable,...
8 months ago
California Forever wants to build a new city in Solano county. On paper, it would be an affordable, high-density urbanist wonderland — but can they actually pull it off?
Asterisk
How to Make a Great Government Website
Do lots of user research, travel to every county in California, iterate constantly, and troubleshoot...
7 months ago
Do lots of user research, travel to every county in California, iterate constantly, and troubleshoot on Reddit. And maybe take Political Economy of Industrial Societies 100.
Stephen Wolfram...
Can AI Solve Science?
Note: Click any diagram to get Wolfram Language code to reproduce it. Wolfram Language code for...
9 months ago
Note: Click any diagram to get Wolfram Language code to reproduce it. Wolfram Language code for training the neural nets used here is also available (requires GPU). Won’t AI Eventually Be Able to Do Everything? Particularly given its recent surprise successes, there’s a somewhat...
Explorations of an...
Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 5: Portal Back To Phoenix
September 4, 2024
Our day began with coffee and breakfast on the deck, watching the bird feeders hum...
2 months ago
September 4, 2024
Our day began with coffee and breakfast on the deck, watching the bird feeders hum with activity. It was, sadly, our final morning in this region and we packed up and headed out. It would have been nice to have an extra night or two here, though you could say...
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
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: Breakfast with g
IQ, lived experience, and my boyfriend’s underpants
over a year ago
IQ, lived experience, and my boyfriend’s underpants
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