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Yale e360
Exposure to Air Pollution Can Make It Harder to Focus, Study Finds A person’s ability to focus on everyday tasks is affected by short-term exposure to air pollution, a...
4 months ago
1
4 months ago
A person’s ability to focus on everyday tasks is affected by short-term exposure to air pollution, a study has found. Read more on E360 →
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
19
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.
NeuroLogica Blog
Should Japan Release Radioactive Water Into The Pacific? Japan is planning on releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear accident into...
a year ago
23
a year ago
Japan is planning on releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear accident into the ocean. They claim this will be completely safe, but there are protests going on in both Japan and South Korea, and China has just placed a ban on seafood from Japan. In a perfect...
ToughSF
Nuclear Conversion for Starship There has been much discussion about converting the SpaceX Starship to use nuclear propulsion. It...
over a year ago
21
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...
Quanta Magazine
A Very Big Small Leap Forward in Graph Theory Four mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the “Ramsey number,” a crucial property...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Four mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the “Ramsey number,” a crucial property describing unavoidable structure in graphs. The post A Very Big Small Leap Forward in Graph Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
The Researcher Who Explores Computation by Conjuring New Worlds Russell Impagliazzo studies hard problems, the limits of cryptography, the nature of randomness and...
a year ago
44
a year ago
Russell Impagliazzo studies hard problems, the limits of cryptography, the nature of randomness and more. The post The Researcher Who Explores Computation by Conjuring New Worlds first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Some Battery News I have been following battery technology pretty closely, as this is a key technology for the...
over a year ago
83
over 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...
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...
a year ago
66
a year 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...
Uncharted...
10 Interesting Facts on Relationships & Sex Q1 2025
3 months ago
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...
a year ago
108
a year 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...
Asterisk
Michael Lewis’s Blind Side In Going Infinite, the famed chronicler of American finance proves he’s more interested in myths...
a year ago
19
a year ago
In Going Infinite, the famed chronicler of American finance proves he’s more interested in myths than morals — or even math.
Wanderingspace
URANUS FROM THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE This is not natural light, nothing is from Webb. The infrared image combines data from two filters...
a year ago
27
a year ago
This is not natural light, nothing is from Webb. The infrared image combines data from two filters which are shown in blue and orange,. The planet displays a blue hue in the resulting representative-color image which is similar to the planet’s actual color. But in reality Uranus...
The Works in...
The value of technological progress Evidence from the life of Matt Clancy
3 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Does AI Know What an Apple Is? She Aims to Find Out. The computer scientist Ellie Pavlick is translating philosophical concepts such as “meaning” into...
a year ago
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a year ago
The computer scientist Ellie Pavlick is translating philosophical concepts such as “meaning” into concrete, testable ideas. The post Does AI Know What an Apple Is? She Aims to Find Out. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
In a Warming World, Why Is the Southern Ocean Getting Cooler? Climate models predict that as the planet warms, so will the Southern Ocean. But for decades, the...
3 months ago
6
3 months ago
Climate models predict that as the planet warms, so will the Southern Ocean. But for decades, the waters around Antarctica have grown mysteriously cooler. A new study shows why. Read more on E360 →
Quantum Frontiers
Beyond NISQ: The Megaquop Machine On December 11, I gave a keynote address at the Q2B 2024 Conference in Silicon Valley. This is a...
6 months ago
85
6 months ago
On December 11, I gave a keynote address at the Q2B 2024 Conference in Silicon Valley. This is a transcript of my remarks. The slides I presented are here. NISQ and beyond I’m honored to be back at Q2B for … Continue reading →
Quanta Magazine
The Physical Process That Powers a New Type of Generative AI Some modern image generators rely on the principles of diffusion to create images. Alternatives...
a year ago
48
a year ago
Some modern image generators rely on the principles of diffusion to create images. Alternatives based on the process behind the distribution of charged particles may yield even better results. The post The Physical Process That Powers a New Type of Generative AI first...
Cremieux Recueil
Ozempic and Muscle Mass Are GLP-1 drugs causing excess muscle loss compared to non-pharmacological weight loss?
a month ago
The Works in...
Issue 15: To change a norm Plus: bland buildings can't be blamed on labor costs, reasons to be sceptical about prediction...
a year ago
106
a year ago
Plus: bland buildings can't be blamed on labor costs, reasons to be sceptical about prediction markets, and gentrification policies that actually help.
NeuroLogica Blog
DNA Directed Assembly of Nanomaterials Arguably the type of advance that has the greatest impact on technology is material science....
a year ago
37
a year ago
Arguably the type of advance that has the greatest impact on technology is material science. Technology can advance by doing more with the materials we have, but new materials can change the game entirely. It is no coincidence that we mark different technological ages by the...
Quanta Magazine
Memories Help Brains Recognize New Events Worth Remembering Memories may affect how well the brain will learn about future events by shifting our perceptions of...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Memories may affect how well the brain will learn about future events by shifting our perceptions of the world. The post Memories Help Brains Recognize New Events Worth Remembering first appeared on Quanta Magazine
brr
Showering at the South Pole Potable water, and not much of it.
over a year ago
symmetry magazine
A call to cite Black women and gender minorities Theoretical astrophysicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein recently unveiled the Cite Black Women+ in...
over a year ago
37
over a year ago
Theoretical astrophysicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein recently unveiled the Cite Black Women+ in Physics and Astronomy Bibliography.
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: New Lakes Creating new lakes is a unique way to make amazing new cities. Where can we do that?
5 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
End of Life on Earth Let’s talk about climate change and life on Earth. Not anthropogenic climate change – but long term...
a month ago
17
a month ago
Let’s talk about climate change and life on Earth. Not anthropogenic climate change – but long term natural changes in the Earth’s environment due to stellar evolution. Eventually, as our sun burns through its fuel, it will go through changes. It will begin to grow, becoming a...
ToughSF
Moto-Orion: Mechanized Nuclear Pulse Propulsion The Orion nuclear pulse propulsion concept has been around for over six decades now. It is powerful...
over a year ago
26
over a year ago
The Orion nuclear pulse propulsion concept has been around for over six decades now. It is powerful and robust, but lacks the flexibility and features we expect from many more modern designs. Can we give it those additional capabilities? That cutaway is one of Matthew Paul...
NeuroLogica Blog
Cutting to the Bone One potentially positive outcome from the COVID pandemic is that it was a wakeup call – if there was...
3 months ago
25
3 months ago
One potentially positive outcome from the COVID pandemic is that it was a wakeup call – if there was any doubt previously about the fact that we all live in one giant interconnected world, it should not have survived the recent pandemic. This is particularly true when it comes to...
Quanta Magazine
Mathematical Thinking Isn’t What You Think It Is The mathematician David Bessis claims that everyone is capable of, and can benefit greatly from,...
7 months ago
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7 months ago
The mathematician David Bessis claims that everyone is capable of, and can benefit greatly from, mathematical thinking. The post Mathematical Thinking Isn’t What You Think It Is first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
The first non-opioid painkiller Journavx was approved this year. Why did it take so long to develop?
a week ago
IEEE Spectrum
Granville T. Woods: Smartest Guy in the Room Any home baker will confirm that, even if you have all the right ingredients and follow the recipe,...
a year ago
27
a year ago
Any home baker will confirm that, even if you have all the right ingredients and follow the recipe, things don’t always turn out the way you envisioned. Such was the life of inventor extraordinaire Granville T. Woods. Who was Granville T. Woods? Woods was endowed with...
Quanta Magazine
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...
a year ago
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a year 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
Quantum Frontiers
The spirit of relativity One of the most immersive steampunk novels I’ve read winks at an experiment performed in a...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
One of the most immersive steampunk novels I’ve read winks at an experiment performed in a university I visited this month. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, by Natasha Pulley, features a budding scientist named Grace Carrow. Grace attends Oxford as … Continue reading →
Quanta Magazine
If the Universe Is a Hologram, This Long-Forgotten Math Could Decode It A 1930s-era breakthrough is helping physicists understand how quantum threads could weave together...
9 months ago
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9 months ago
A 1930s-era breakthrough is helping physicists understand how quantum threads could weave together into a holographic space-time fabric. The post If the Universe Is a Hologram, This Long-Forgotten Math Could Decode It first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
Wildlife Returns to Site of Devastating Southern California Wildfire Four months after the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, California, wildlife is making a...
2 months ago
Casey Handmer's blog
Long duration propellant stability in Starship Some ideas on preventing cryogenic propellant boiloff in Starship during long duration cruise or...
3 months ago
35
3 months ago
Some ideas on preventing cryogenic propellant boiloff in Starship during long duration cruise or while operating orbital fuel depots. The usual caveats apply! One of the major concerns with using Starship for the Human Landing System is that propellant (cryogenically liquid...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Viz.ai and why workflow > tech | Out-Of-Pocket Also ?? about AI business models
a year ago
Sean Carroll
The Zombie Argument for Physicalism (Contra Panpsychism) The nature of consciousness remains a contentious subject out there. I’m a physicalist myself — as I...
over a year ago
35
over a year ago
The nature of consciousness remains a contentious subject out there. I’m a physicalist myself — as I explain in The Big Picture and elsewhere, I think consciousness is best understood as weakly-emergent from the ordinary physical behavior of matter, without requiring any special...
Yale e360
Out of the Wild: How A.I. Is Transforming Conservation Biology Artificial intelligence is being called a game changer for enabling scientists and conservationists...
a month ago
11
a month ago
Artificial intelligence is being called a game changer for enabling scientists and conservationists to process vast troves of data collected remotely. But some warn its use could keep biologists from getting out in the field with the animals and ecosystems they are studying. Read...
NeuroLogica Blog
Deepfake Doctor Endorsements This kind of abuse of deepfake endorsements was entirely predictable, so it’s not surprising that a...
11 months ago
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11 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,...
Yale e360
As War Halts, the Environmental Devastation in Gaza Runs Deep The war in Gaza has taken a heavy toll on the environment, with water supplies contaminated, raw...
4 months ago
1
4 months ago
The war in Gaza has taken a heavy toll on the environment, with water supplies contaminated, raw sewage pouring into the Mediterranean, once-fertile soils ruined, and the land stripped of trees. Experts say the extent of the damage needs to be tallied to help plan for a...
Cremieux Recueil
Storks Take Orders From the State Pronatal benefits and economic booms lead to greater numbers of births
2 months ago
Uncharted...
Where Geniuses Hide Today Where are today’s Michelangelos?
6 months ago
Yale e360
Expelling Indigenous Batwa from Their Lands Did Not Help Endangered Gorillas, Study Finds For decades, Congolese officials have barred the Batwa from their ancestral lands in the name of...
6 months ago
4
6 months ago
For decades, Congolese officials have barred the Batwa from their ancestral lands in the name of preserving the critically endangered eastern lowland gorilla. But a new study suggests the Batwa were never a threat to the creatures. Read more on E360 →
NeuroLogica Blog
Artificial Robotic Muscles By now we have all seen the impressive robot videos, such as the ones from Boston Dynamics, in which...
9 months ago
70
9 months ago
By now we have all seen the impressive robot videos, such as the ones from Boston Dynamics, in which robots show incredible flexibility and agility. These are amazing, but I understand they are a bit like trick-shot videos – we are being shown the ones that worked, which may not...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Should we charge for patient messaging? | Out-Of-Pocket guess I'm texting my resident friends
a year ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Odysseus Lands on the Moon December 11, 1972, Apollo 17 soft landed on the lunar surface, carrying astronauts Gene Cernan and...
a year ago
42
a year ago
December 11, 1972, Apollo 17 soft landed on the lunar surface, carrying astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt. This was the last time anything American soft landed on the moon, over 50 years ago. It seems amazing that it’s been that long. On February 22, 2024, the Odysseus...
NeuroLogica Blog
Using Genetic Engineering To Fight Malaria Despite robust efforts to fight it, malaria remains one of the most significant infectious diseases...
a year ago
22
a year ago
Despite robust efforts to fight it, malaria remains one of the most significant infectious diseases affecting humans. According to UNICEF – ” In 2021, there were 247 million malaria cases globally that led to 619,000 deaths in total. Of these deaths, 77 per cent were children...
Yale e360
Uncertain Future for Clean Tech Boom Underway in Republican Strongholds Government support for clean energy has spurred new projects across the U.S., with more than 80...
4 months ago
4
4 months ago
Government support for clean energy has spurred new projects across the U.S., with more than 80 percent of the spending flowing to Republican districts. But since President Trump took office, new project announcements have seen a precipitous drop. Read more on E360 →
Asterisk
Why We Shut Down In international development, it’s not enough to try to do good. We need the tools to tell if a...
a year ago
15
a year ago
In international development, it’s not enough to try to do good. We need the tools to tell if a project is really working — and the incentive to end it if it’s not.
Yale e360
After 17 Years Underground, Massive Cicada Brood to Swarm U.S. After hiding underground for the last 17 years, billions of cicadas will take to the skies this...
a month ago
1
a month ago
After hiding underground for the last 17 years, billions of cicadas will take to the skies this summer, from Tennessee to Cape Cod.  Read more on E360 →
symmetry magazine
From inventor to entrepreneur Creating a startup to commercialize technology developed during research is a risky road for...
over a year ago
82
over 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.
Asterisk
Making Sense of Moral Change A conversation about abolitionism, moral progress, and the pitfalls of historical counterfactuals.
over a year ago
20
over a year ago
A conversation about abolitionism, moral progress, and the pitfalls of historical counterfactuals.
Yale e360
Planned EV Battery Plant Threatens Uncontacted Tribe in Indonesia A planned EV battery factory in Indonesia poses a grave threat to an uncontacted tribe, a watchdog...
a week ago
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a week ago
A planned EV battery factory in Indonesia poses a grave threat to an uncontacted tribe, a watchdog group warns. Read more on E360 →
The Works in...
Cheap ornament and status games Was modernism originally a way to signal taste instead of wealth?
8 months ago
Sean Carroll
Thanksgiving This year we give thanks for Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem. (We’ve previously given thanks for the...
over a year ago
48
over a year ago
This year we give thanks for Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem. (We’ve previously given thanks for the Standard Model Lagrangian, Hubble’s Law, the Spin-Statistics Theorem, conservation of momentum, effective field theory, the error bar, gauge symmetry, Landauer’s Principle, the...
Cremieux Recueil
Food Deserts Are Not Real They're more like bad habit neighborhoods
9 months ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
GPT healthcare startup ideas | Out-Of-Pocket and a call for some of yours
a year ago
symmetry magazine
Do hidden influences give neutrinos their tiny mass? The quest to understand the small mass of neutrinos is also a quest to discover new particles. ...
over a year ago
43
over a year ago
The quest to understand the small mass of neutrinos is also a quest to discover new particles. Neutrinos are the byproducts of astronomical events that give us life.  They shoot out from the nuclear fusion reaction within the sun and radiate from supernovas....
symmetry magazine
What is neutral naturalness? Indirectly testing this theory, motivated by the mysterious mass of the Higgs boson, could be within...
a year ago
45
a year ago
Indirectly testing this theory, motivated by the mysterious mass of the Higgs boson, could be within reach for experiments at the Large Hadron Collider.
Yale e360
Spread of Dark Algae Could Hasten Melt of Greenland Ice Sheet Dark algae are spreading across the Greenland ice sheet as snow retreats. Their dark color causes...
4 months ago
5
4 months ago
Dark algae are spreading across the Greenland ice sheet as snow retreats. Their dark color causes ice to absorb more heat from the sun, accelerating melting, and according to a new study, the harsh conditions atop the ice sheet will do little to slow their advance. Read more on...
Uncharted...
Deserts, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Snow, Paradises, Swamps: Why Do People Live Where They Live in the... Deserts, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Snow, Paradises, Swamps
6 months ago
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Two of My Science-Fiction Stories Published in May View this email in your browser A Change of Pace from Astronomy News  As you may know, I have been...
a month ago
14
a month ago
View this email in your browser A Change of Pace from Astronomy News  As you may know, I have been writing science-fiction stories based on good astronomy as my retirement project.  After a good number of rejections from the finest sci-fi magazines the world over, I am now...
Blog - Practical...
How Fish Survive Hydro Turbines [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Most of the largest dams in...
a year ago
101
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Most of the largest dams in the US were built before we really understood the impacts they would have on river ecosystems. Or at least they were built before we were conscientious enough to weigh those impacts...
Quanta Magazine
Alan Turing and the Power of Negative Thinking Mathematical proofs based on a technique called diagonalization can be relentlessly contrarian, but...
a year ago
148
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
Quanta Magazine
For Algorithms, a Little Memory Outweighs a Lot of Time One computer scientist’s “stunning” proof is the first progress in 50 years on one of the most...
a month ago
29
a month ago
One computer scientist’s “stunning” proof is the first progress in 50 years on one of the most famous questions in computer science. The post For Algorithms, a Little Memory Outweighs a Lot of Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Fossil Fuels – Reduce Demand or Supply? This is a bit of a false choice – we can do both, or neither – but it is an important question and a...
a year ago
25
a year ago
This is a bit of a false choice – we can do both, or neither – but it is an important question and a somewhat of a dilemma. Is the optimal path to reductions and eventual elimination of fossil fuel burning through reduced demand or supply? There are some interesting tradeoffs...
Yale e360
Saving U.S. Climate and Environmental Data Before It Goes Away Some 2,000 records went missing from government data sets after the Trump administration took office...
3 months ago
1
3 months ago
Some 2,000 records went missing from government data sets after the Trump administration took office in January. Canadian geographer Eric Nost talks about the work he and colleagues are doing to archive data related to climate and the environment while it is still...
Quanta Magazine
Researchers Approach New Speed Limit for Seminal Problem Integer linear programming can help find the answer to a variety of real-world problems. Now...
a year ago
37
a year 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
symmetry magazine
Rap with an undercurrent of particle physics UK musician Consensus spins the big ideas of physics into rap and hip-hop tracks.
a year ago
IEEE Spectrum
Before the Undo Command, There Was the Electric Eraser hot combs—they all obviously benefited from the jolt of electrification. But the eraser? What was so...
3 months ago
30
3 months ago
hot combs—they all obviously benefited from the jolt of electrification. But the eraser? What was so problematic about the humble eraser that it needed electrifying? 1935 patent application for an apparatus for erasing, “Hand held rubbers are clumsy and cover a greater area than...
Asterisk
Aperitif
over a year ago
Yale e360
In California, Hummingbird Beaks Have Been Transformed by Feeders The profusion of hummingbird feeders in California homes has not only allowed some hummingbirds to...
a month ago
11
a month ago
The profusion of hummingbird feeders in California homes has not only allowed some hummingbirds to expand their range, but has also altered the shape of their beaks. Read more on E360 →
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Diophantine Equations Piebald is an unusual word that appears in the Archimedes' cattle problem, a Diophantine problem...
11 months ago
18
11 months ago
Piebald is an unusual word that appears in the Archimedes' cattle problem, a Diophantine problem supposedly communicated by Archimedes to his friend, Eratosthenes. It's a Diophantine equation system of seven equations in eight unknowns, but it can be solved with the requirement...
NeuroLogica Blog
A Climate Debate Regarding Health Effects – Part III Part 3 Hi Steve, and thank you for your timely response, and for even considering hosting this...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Part 3 Hi Steve, and thank you for your timely response, and for even considering hosting this debate. There has been, and continues to be a “blackout” on almost all discussion regarding the science behind climate change. If “The science” is truly “settled”, it is a pretty shaky...
NeuroLogica Blog
Carbon Fiber Structural Battery I have written previously about the concept of structural batteries, such as this recent post on a...
9 months ago
53
9 months ago
I have written previously about the concept of structural batteries, such as this recent post on a concrete battery. The basic idea is a battery made out of material that is strong enough that it can bare a load. Essentially we’re asking the material to do two things at once – be...
The Works in...
Issue 14: A peasant surprise Plus: Giving yourself the Zika virus, cut-and-cover railway tunnels, and more reasons to donate your...
a year ago
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
20
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
Scammers on the Rise Good rule of thumb – assume it’s a scam. Anyone who contacts you, or any unusual encounter, assume...
a year ago
74
a year ago
Good rule of thumb – assume it’s a scam. Anyone who contacts you, or any unusual encounter, assume it’s a scam and you will probably be right. Recently I was called on my cell phone by someone claiming to be from Venmo. They asked me to confirm if I had just made two fund...
Yale e360
Grass-Fed Beef No Better for Climate Than Industrial Beef, Study Finds New research finds that, pound for pound, grazing cattle generate at least as much heat-trapping gas...
3 months ago
2
3 months ago
New research finds that, pound for pound, grazing cattle generate at least as much heat-trapping gas as those raised in feedlots. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
Emmy Murphy Is a Mathematician Who Finds Beauty in Flexibility The prize-winning geometer feels most fulfilled when exploring the fertile ground where constraint...
over a year ago
78
over a year ago
The prize-winning geometer feels most fulfilled when exploring the fertile ground where constraint meets creation. The post Emmy Murphy Is a Mathematician Who Finds Beauty in Flexibility first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
Lies, Damned Lies, and Manometer Readings America’s HVAC labor force is plagued by dishonesty and frequently incapable of meeting industry...
a year ago
17
a year 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?
IEEE Spectrum
Robert Kahn: The Great Interconnector In the mid-1960s, Robert Kahn began thinking about how computers with different operating systems...
a year ago
124
a year ago
In the mid-1960s, Robert Kahn began thinking about how computers with different operating systems could talk to each other across a network. He didn’t think much about what they would say to one another, though. He was a theoretical guy, on leave from the faculty of the...
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...
7 months ago
83
7 months 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 →
Quanta Magazine
The Best Neighborhoods for Starting a Life in the Galaxy Some neighborhoods in the Milky Way may be better suited for making habitable planets than others. ...
a year ago
43
a year ago
Some neighborhoods in the Milky Way may be better suited for making habitable planets than others. The post The Best Neighborhoods for Starting a Life in the Galaxy first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Light from Space
Bubble Nebula and Neighborhood The constellation of Cassiopeia is full of rich gas clouds and a myriad of different Nebulas and...
over a year ago
38
over a year ago
The constellation of Cassiopeia is full of rich gas clouds and a myriad of different Nebulas and Star Clusters. Click or tap to enlarge/double-tap to zoom Total exposure time: 37h 20m (134,400s) Image resolution: 4,784 × 6,840px (1.919″/px) Shot from my driveway near
Quantum Frontiers
Developing an AI for Quantum Chess: Part 1 In January 2016, Caltech’s Institute for Quantum Information and Matter unveiled a YouTube video...
3 months ago
28
3 months ago
In January 2016, Caltech’s Institute for Quantum Information and Matter unveiled a YouTube video featuring an extraordinary chess showdown between actor Paul Rudd (a.k.a. Ant-Man) and the legendary Dr. Stephen Hawking. But this was no ordinary match—Rudd had challenged Hawking …...
Drew Ex Machina
Epsilon Indi’s Super Jovian Exoplanet – Background & New Observations by JWST On July 24, 2024, an international team of scientists, headed by Dr. Elisabeth Matthews of the Max...
11 months ago
72
11 months ago
On July 24, 2024, an international team of scientists, headed by Dr. Elisabeth Matthews of the Max Plank Institute for Astronomy, announced that they had used […]
Beautiful Public...
The Naughty Words the FAA Removed From the Sky New FOIA records from the FAA shed light on the frantic effort in 2015 to rename navigation...
a year ago
116
a year ago
New FOIA records from the FAA shed light on the frantic effort in 2015 to rename navigation waypoints related to Donald Trump and reveal the list of naughty waypoint names that were changed over the years.
Yale e360
'Green Grab': Solar and Wind Boom Sparks Conflicts on Land Use Solar and wind farms are proliferating and increasingly taking up land worldwide, prompting...
4 months ago
1
4 months ago
Solar and wind farms are proliferating and increasingly taking up land worldwide, prompting criticism from rural communities and environmentalists. Solutions range from growing crops or grazing livestock under PV panels to putting floating solar farms on lakes and...
Asterisk
The Transistor Cliff Moore’s law may be coming to an end. What happens to AI progress if it does?
over a year ago
Asterisk
America Doesn’t Know Tofu China has spent millennia exploring the culinary possibilities of soybean curds. The West has barely...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
China has spent millennia exploring the culinary possibilities of soybean curds. The West has barely scratched the surface.
Quanta Magazine
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...
a year ago
50
a year 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...
Quantum Frontiers
Quantum Algorithms: A Call To Action Quantum computing finds itself in a peculiar situation. The number one question asked about quantum...
2 months ago
33
2 months ago
Quantum computing finds itself in a peculiar situation. The number one question asked about quantum computers by outsiders is very common sensical: What are they good for? The honest answer reveals an elephant in the room: We don’t fully know yet. For theorists like me, it’s an...
NeuroLogica Blog
Deep Sea Mining for Minerals Could Harm Environment It is an unfortunate reality that with over 8 billion people on the planet almost anything we...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
It is an unfortunate reality that with over 8 billion people on the planet almost anything we collectively do has the potential to have huge environmental impacts. When the human population was in the mere millions we could treat the planet as an essentially unlimited resource....
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Physicians and Pharma Marketing | Out-Of-Pocket oh we getting that drug money
a year ago
Beautiful Public...
Highway Photologs Highway departments all around the country had "photolog" programs, some dating back as early as...
over a year ago
43
over a year ago
Highway departments all around the country had "photolog" programs, some dating back as early as 1961. Each year, specially tricked out vans would drive each mile of state road snapping photos to document the status of roadways.
Uncharted...
The Top 50 US Cities: Why Are They Where They Are? The geographic and historical reasons that have made some spots in the country the most populated...
5 months ago
Yale e360
In Test, A.I. Weather Model Fails to Predict Freak Storm Artificial intelligence is powering weather forecasts that are generally more accurate than...
a month ago
1
a month ago
Artificial intelligence is powering weather forecasts that are generally more accurate than conventional forecasts and are faster and cheaper to produce. But new research shows A.I. may fail to predict unprecedented weather events, a troubling finding as warming fuels new...
Breck's Blog
The Internal Comparison Trap
2 months ago
The Works in...
Anemia and Malaria In malaria endemic regions, being anemic could be keeping children safe
8 months ago
Yale e360
A.I. Is Quietly Powering a Revolution in Weather Prediction Weather forecasts powered by artificial intelligence are usually more accurate — and require less...
2 months ago
4
2 months ago
Weather forecasts powered by artificial intelligence are usually more accurate — and require less computational energy and fewer human hours — than conventional predictions. But questions remain about A.I. systems’ reliability and their ability to forecast extreme weather...
NeuroLogica Blog
How To Keep AIs From Lying We had a fascinating discussion on this week’s SGU that I wanted to bring here – the subject of...
3 months ago
32
3 months ago
We had a fascinating discussion on this week’s SGU that I wanted to bring here – the subject of artificial intelligence programs (AI), specifically large language models (LLMs), lying. The starting point for the discussion was this study, which looked at punishing LLMs as a...
Quanta Magazine
Graduate Student Solves Classic Problem About the Limits of Addition A new proof illuminates the hidden patterns that emerge when addition becomes impossible. ...
a month ago
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a month ago
A new proof illuminates the hidden patterns that emerge when addition becomes impossible. The post Graduate Student Solves Classic Problem About the Limits of Addition first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quantum Frontiers
Always appropriate I met boatloads of physicists as a master’s student at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical...
10 months ago
70
10 months ago
I met boatloads of physicists as a master’s student at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada. Researchers pass through Perimeter like diplomats through my current neighborhood—the Washington, DC area—except that Perimeter’s visitors speak math...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Mental Health And The Weird Fixation With Employers | Out-Of-Pocket an uncomfortable conversation about mental health access
a year ago
Yale e360
Lightning Strikes the Arctic: What Will It Mean for the Far North? A warmer world is expected to bring more thunderstorms, especially at higher latitudes. Scientists...
2 weeks ago
1
2 weeks ago
A warmer world is expected to bring more thunderstorms, especially at higher latitudes. Scientists are now reporting a dramatic surge in lightning in the Far North and are scrambling to parse how this could affect wildfires, the chemistry of the atmosphere, and Arctic...
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...
8 months ago
51
8 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...
Yale e360
In War-Torn Sudan, a Gold Mining Boom Takes a Human Toll As civil war rages in Sudan, a surge in gold production is helping finance and arm the warring...
3 months ago
1
3 months ago
As civil war rages in Sudan, a surge in gold production is helping finance and arm the warring factions. Most of the mining is done on a small scale by villagers who process the gold using mercury and cyanide, posing serious threats to their health and to the environment. Read...
Asterisk
China’s Silicon Future China dreams of competing with global superpowers in the semiconductor industry. Whether its efforts...
over a year ago
16
over a year ago
China dreams of competing with global superpowers in the semiconductor industry. Whether its efforts will succeed is far from clear.
Yale e360
In California, Hummingbird Beaks Have Been Transformed by Feeders The profusion of hummingbird feeders in California homes has not only allowed some hummingbirds to...
a month ago
1
a month ago
The profusion of hummingbird feeders in California homes has not only allowed some hummingbirds to expand their range, but has also altered the shape of their beaks. Read more on E360 →
The Roots of...
Why consumerism is good actually “Consumerism” came up in my recent interview with Elle Griffin of The Post. Here’s what I had to say...
over a year ago
41
over a year ago
“Consumerism” came up in my recent interview with Elle Griffin of The Post. Here’s what I had to say (off the cuff): I have to admit, I’ve never 100% understood what “consumerism” is, or what it’s supposed to be. I have the general sense of what people are gesturing at, but it...
Asterisk
Democracy by Mistake Most political scientists see democracy as the natural consequence of economic development or the...
a year ago
16
a year ago
Most political scientists see democracy as the natural consequence of economic development or the result of strategic and rational choice. A detailed look through history suggests democracy emerges as often as not by another path: human error.
Yale e360
Taiwan to Ramp Up Gas Imports After Shuttering Last Nuclear Plant Having shut down its last remaining nuclear plant Saturday, Taiwan is working to secure new imports...
a month ago
1
a month ago
Having shut down its last remaining nuclear plant Saturday, Taiwan is working to secure new imports of natural gas. Read more on E360 →
Yale e360
As Earth's Magnetic Field Grows Stronger, Oxygen Levels Rise When the magnetic field around the Earth grows stronger, oxygen levels rise. That is the surprising...
2 weeks ago
1
2 weeks ago
When the magnetic field around the Earth grows stronger, oxygen levels rise. That is the surprising finding of a new study looking at more than half a billion years of planetary history. Read more on E360 →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Race And Healthcare: Recognizing And Addressing the Issues Facing Black Patients | Out-Of-Pocket The systemic issues that plague black communities are extremely prevalent in healthcare, and we...
a year ago
wadertales
UK waders: “Into the Red” If you ask British birdwatchers to name the eleven wader species that are causing the most...
over a year ago
41
over a year ago
If you ask British birdwatchers to name the eleven wader species that are causing the most conservation concern in the UK, they would probably not include Dunlin. Curlew may well be top of their lists, even though the most recent population estimate is 58,500 breeding pairs, but...
Wanderingspace
Uranus is not as boring as we thought “An animation of three near-infrared images of Uranus captured by the JWST Space Telescope with...
7 months ago
71
7 months ago
“An animation of three near-infrared images of Uranus captured by the JWST Space Telescope with assigned representative colors. During processing, I aligned the rings separately to reduce the bubbling effect caused by different inclinations, making the planet appear to rotate on...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
It’s Time For Physician Independence | Out-Of-Pocket Why it might be easier to start a practice today
a year ago
Uncharted...
100 Billion Humans The world can carry them!
7 months ago
Explorations of an...
A Quest Nature Tour To Borneo: Kota Kinabalu, Mount Kinabalu, Sepilok And The Kinabatangan River Our Quest Nature Tours group assembled in Kota Kinabalu on the evening of October 3 and the...
7 months ago
16
7 months ago
Our Quest Nature Tours group assembled in Kota Kinabalu on the evening of October 3 and the following morning we were off. Kota Kinabalu is situated on the coast, but is only a two hour drive from the mountains that form the spine of Borneo and its highest peak, Mount Kinabalu....
Quanta Magazine
New Proof Finds the ‘Ultimate Instability’ in a Solar System Model For the first time, mathematicians have proved that planetary orbits in a solar system will always...
over a year ago
97
over a year ago
For the first time, mathematicians have proved that planetary orbits in a solar system will always be unstable. The post New Proof Finds the ‘Ultimate Instability’ in a Solar System Model first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
Biotech Firm Unveils ‘Woolly Mice,’ a Step Toward Recreating Woolly Mammoths A U.S. biotech firm working to bring back extinct animals said it had reached a milestone in its...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
A U.S. biotech firm working to bring back extinct animals said it had reached a milestone in its quest to recreate woolly mammoths. This week it unveiled “woolly mice” — mice that had been genetically engineered to sport woolly coats reminiscent of long-dead mammoths. Read more...
Yale e360
Saving U.S. Climate and Environmental Data Before It Goes Away Some 2,000 records went missing from government data sets after the Trump administration took office...
3 months ago
1
3 months ago
Some 2,000 records went missing from government data sets after the Trump administration took office in January. Canadian geographer Eric Nost talks about the work he and colleagues are doing to archive data related to climate and the environment while it is still...
Quantum Frontiers
Lessons in frustration Assa Auerbach’s course was the most maddening course I’ve ever taken.  I was a master’s student in...
4 months ago
36
4 months ago
Assa Auerbach’s course was the most maddening course I’ve ever taken.  I was a master’s student in the Perimeter Scholars International program at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Perimeter trotted in world experts to lecture about modern physics. Many … Continue...
Yale e360
Spread of Dark Algae Could Hasten Melt of Greenland Ice Sheet Dark algae are spreading across the Greenland ice sheet as snow retreats. Their dark color causes...
4 months ago
1
4 months ago
Dark algae are spreading across the Greenland ice sheet as snow retreats. Their dark color causes ice to absorb more heat from the sun, accelerating melting, and according to a new study, the harsh conditions atop the ice sheet will do little to slow their advance. Read more on...
Quanta Magazine
A Mutation Turned Ants Into Parasites in One Generation A new genetics study of ant “social parasites” shows how complex sets of features can emerge rapidly...
over a year ago
99
over a year ago
A new genetics study of ant “social parasites” shows how complex sets of features can emerge rapidly and potentially split species. The post A Mutation Turned Ants Into Parasites in One Generation first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
After 17 Years Underground, Massive Cicada Brood to Swarm U.S. After hiding underground for the last 17 years, billions of cicadas will take to the skies this...
a month ago
4
a month ago
After hiding underground for the last 17 years, billions of cicadas will take to the skies this summer, from Tennessee to Cape Cod.  Read more on E360 →
Yale e360
U.S. Solar and Batteries Headed for Record Year Solar panels and batteries will account for more than 80 percent of new power capacity installed in...
4 months ago
1
4 months ago
Solar panels and batteries will account for more than 80 percent of new power capacity installed in the U.S. this year, officials say. Both technologies are set for record growth, helping to hasten the decline of coal power. Read more on E360 →
ToughSF
Starship Lite: from rapid Interplanetary to Interstellar Elon Musk stated that a stripped-down SpaceX Starship could become an interplanetary boost vehicle...
over a year ago
18
over a year ago
Elon Musk stated that a stripped-down SpaceX Starship could become an interplanetary boost vehicle able to push probes towards the farthest objects in our Solar System.  What other missions could the Starship ‘Lite’ do, and how quickly? Near SSTO Rockets performance scales...
The Works in...
Lost Science When discoveries are forgotten and then found
a year ago
IEEE Spectrum
Why Engineers Still Need the Humanities Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, or Katherine Johnson, but there are many other women in engineering you...
a month ago
15
a month ago
Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, or Katherine Johnson, but there are many other women in engineering you should know about. Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, and Technology, in Kansas City, Mo., and I’m currently working through the unpublished papers of the American...
Drew Ex Machina
You Can’t Fail Unless You Try: NASA’s Pioneer P-3 Lunar Orbiter Space enthusiasts of a certain age, like myself, grew up learning about the trio of NASA’s unmanned...
7 months ago
72
7 months ago
Space enthusiasts of a certain age, like myself, grew up learning about the trio of NASA’s unmanned programs which provided scientists and engineers with vital information […]
Quanta Magazine
Flow Proof Helps Mathematicians Find Stability in Chaos A series of new papers describes how to fully characterize key dynamical systems with relatively...
over a year ago
44
over a year ago
A series of new papers describes how to fully characterize key dynamical systems with relatively little data. The post Flow Proof Helps Mathematicians Find Stability in Chaos first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
More (GPTish) healthcare startup ideas | Out-Of-Pocket You might find your future cofounder reading this one
a year ago
The Works in...
The breaking of Britain's National Grid A story of aging infrastructure and perverse incentives
2 months ago
Damn Interesting
Lofty Ambitions One summer day in 1933, in a brief pocket of time between the two World Wars, a British man named...
over a year ago
25
over a year ago
One summer day in 1933, in a brief pocket of time between the two World Wars, a British man named Maurice Wilson clutched the stick of his tiny, open air biplane and watched his fuel gauge dwindle. He had only learned to fly two months earlier, but inexperience was not his...
Chris Grossack's...
Estimating a Difference of Products Wow, it’s been a long time! Both since my last blog post, and since my last quick analysis trick....
a year ago
19
a year ago
Wow, it’s been a long time! Both since my last blog post, and since my last quick analysis trick. But I’ve been itching to write more blog posts lately, and I thought that something quick and easy like this would be a good way to get back into it without the kind of effort...
brr
South Pole Arrival Flying to the bottom of the world!
over a year ago
IEEE Spectrum
The British Navy Resisted a Decent Lightning Rod for Decades Frustrated scientists turned to visual aids to help make their case for the lightning rod. The...
4 months ago
46
4 months ago
Frustrated scientists turned to visual aids to help make their case for the lightning rod. The exploding thunder house is one example. When a small amount of gunpowder was deposited inside the dollhouse-size structure and a charge was applied, the house would either explode or...
Stephen Wolfram...
Computing the Eclipse: Astronomy in the Wolfram Language Basic Eclipse Computation It’s taken millennia to get to the point where it’s possible to accurately...
a year ago
54
a year ago
Basic Eclipse Computation It’s taken millennia to get to the point where it’s possible to accurately compute eclipses. But now—as a tiny part of making “everything in the world” computable—computation about eclipses is just a built-in feature of the Wolfram Language. The core...
Apoorva Srinivasan
diffusion models for protein generation Introduction Proteins are nature's versatile nanomachines— they have evolved to perform virtually...
6 months ago
64
6 months ago
Introduction Proteins are nature's versatile nanomachines— they have evolved to perform virtually every important task in living systems. While nature has produced an incredible range of protein functions, these represent only a tiny fraction of what's possible in the protein...
brr
Sunset Hunkering down for the winter!
over a year ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Healthcare Ideas That Look Good But Are Bad | Out-Of-Pocket clinical trial matching, "find a specialist", and more
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
The (Often) Overlooked Experiment That Revealed the Quantum World A century ago, the Stern-Gerlach experiment established the truth of quantum mechanics. Now it’s...
a year ago
62
a year ago
A century ago, the Stern-Gerlach experiment established the truth of quantum mechanics. Now it’s being used to probe the clash of quantum theory and gravity. The post The (Often) Overlooked Experiment That Revealed the Quantum World first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Introducing Gentle Density A new series from Works in Progress
over a year ago
Quanta Magazine
Tiny Language Models Come of Age To better understand how neural networks learn to simulate writing, researchers trained simpler...
a year ago
25
a year ago
To better understand how neural networks learn to simulate writing, researchers trained simpler versions on synthetic children’s stories. The post Tiny Language Models Come of Age first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
Greening the Solar System A future where life flourishes beyond Earth is closer than you think. How, precisely, will we get...
4 months ago
19
4 months ago
A future where life flourishes beyond Earth is closer than you think. How, precisely, will we get there?
IEEE Spectrum
Why JPEGs Still Rule the Web A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the...
2 weeks ago
11
2 weeks ago
A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the end of the long tail. For roughly three decades, the JPEG has been the World Wide Web’s primary image format. But it wasn’t the one the Web started with. In fact, the first...
Many Worlds
The Evolving Science of Technosignatures The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) began decades ago as an effort to pick up radio...
a year ago
21
a year ago
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) began decades ago as an effort to pick up radio signals from distant civilizations.  The effort was centered at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia and was by today’s standards quite rudimentary. A much broader search...
The Works in...
Why we stopped building subways cheaply We used to dig up roads to put trains underneath
a month ago
Yale e360
Deadly Encounter: Mountain Lion Attacks Spark Controversy A mountain lion attack that killed a young California man last year has reignited a debate over how...
5 months ago
3
5 months ago
A mountain lion attack that killed a young California man last year has reignited a debate over how the big cats should be managed. Some are calling for renewed hunting of the animals, while others are advocating nonlethal methods of instilling a fear of humans in the big...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Euclid Space Telescope Delivers Great Images The first images are coming in from the new Euclid Space Telescope and they are spectacular. The...
a year ago
26
a year ago
The first images are coming in from the new Euclid Space Telescope and they are spectacular. The post Euclid Space Telescope Delivers Great Images appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
wadertales
Why count shorebirds? A tale from Portugal The Sado Estuary is one of Portugal’s most important wetlands – a key link in the chain of sites...
over a year ago
43
over a year ago
The Sado Estuary is one of Portugal’s most important wetlands – a key link in the chain of sites connecting Africa and the Arctic, on the East Atlantic Flyway. In a paper in Waterbirds, João Belo and colleagues analyse changes in numbers of waders wintering in this estuary over...
NeuroLogica Blog
Passive Solar Water Desalination I know we are supposed to be worried about the world supply of fresh water. I have been hearing that...
a year ago
20
a year ago
I know we are supposed to be worried about the world supply of fresh water. I have been hearing that at least for the last 40 years, and the statistics are alarming. According to the Global Commission on the Economics of Water: “We are seeing the consequences not of freak events,...
NeuroLogica Blog
AI Companions – Good or Bad? Often times the answer to a binary question is “yes”. Is artificial intelligence (AI) a powerful and...
11 months ago
78
11 months ago
Often times the answer to a binary question is “yes”. Is artificial intelligence (AI) a powerful and quickly advancing tool or is it overhyped? Yes. Are opiates useful medicines or dangerous drugs? Yes. Is Elon Musk a technological visionary or an eccentric opportunist? This is...
Quanta Magazine
‘The Rest of the World Disappears’: Claire Voisin on Mathematical Creativity The recipient of the 2024 Crafoord Prize in Mathematics discusses math as art, math as language, and...
a year ago
37
a year ago
The recipient of the 2024 Crafoord Prize in Mathematics discusses math as art, math as language, and math as abstract thought. The post ‘The Rest of the World Disappears’: Claire Voisin on Mathematical Creativity first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Sean Carroll
New Course: The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics In past years I’ve done several courses for The Great Courses/Wondrium (formerly The Teaching...
a year ago
30
a year ago
In past years I’ve done several courses for The Great Courses/Wondrium (formerly The Teaching Company): Dark Matter and Dark Energy, Mysteries of Modern Physics:Time, and The Higgs Boson and Beyond. Now I’m happy to announce a new one, The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics....
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: Breakfast with g IQ, lived experience, and my boyfriend’s underpants
over a year ago
Yale e360
Cuts to U.S. Climate Aid Will Leave Large Gap in Global Funding The U.S. provides nearly a tenth of all climate finance globally, a well of funding that is at risk...
3 months ago
1
3 months ago
The U.S. provides nearly a tenth of all climate finance globally, a well of funding that is at risk of drying up as the Trump administration takes aim at overseas spending. Read more on E360 →
Blog - Practical...
You Spend More on Rust Than Gasoline (Probably) [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In July of 1995, Folsom Lake,...
over a year ago
44
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In July of 1995, Folsom Lake, a reservoir created by Folsom Dam in Northern California, reached its full capacity as snow continued to melt in the upstream Sierra. With the power plant shut down for...
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: 3. Presidio The fastest wealth creation in the history of humanity
5 months ago
Yale e360
Out of the Wild: How A.I. Is Transforming Conservation Science Artificial intelligence is being called a game changer for enabling scientists and conservationists...
a month ago
5
a month ago
Artificial intelligence is being called a game changer for enabling scientists and conservationists to process vast troves of data collected remotely. But some warn its use could keep biologists from getting out in the field with the animals and ecosystems they are studying. Read...
Yale e360
Cambodian Forest Defenders at Risk for Exposing Illegal Logging The lush forests that have long sustained Cambodia’s Indigenous people have steadily fallen to...
a month ago
1
a month ago
The lush forests that have long sustained Cambodia’s Indigenous people have steadily fallen to illicit logging. Now, community members face intimidation and risk arrest as they patrol their forests to document the losses and try to push the government to stop the cutting. Read...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Running Tests on Generative AI with Autoblocks | Out-Of-Pocket How can we keep these bots in check??
2 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Collapsars and Gravitational Waves The state of modern science and technology is truly amazing, much more so than the fake stuff that...
10 months ago
67
10 months ago
The state of modern science and technology is truly amazing, much more so than the fake stuff that people like to spread around. Gravitational waves have opened up an entirely new type of astronomy, a way to explore the universe through very subtle ripples in spacetime produce by...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
2024 Healthcare Predictions, Out-Of-Pocket Style | Out-Of-Pocket I'm not a fortune teller, I'm a fortune, teller
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light? Under the sea ice during the Arctic’s pitch-black polar night, cells power photosynthesis on the...
5 months ago
45
5 months ago
Under the sea ice during the Arctic’s pitch-black polar night, cells power photosynthesis on the lowest light levels ever observed in nature. The post How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
The Quest to Decode the Mandelbrot Set, Math’s Famed Fractal For decades, a small group of mathematicians has patiently unraveled the mystery of what was once...
a year ago
59
a year ago
For decades, a small group of mathematicians has patiently unraveled the mystery of what was once math’s most popular picture. Their story shows how technology transforms even the most abstract mathematical landscapes. The post The Quest to Decode the Mandelbrot Set,...
Yale e360
To Help Growers and the Grid, Build Solar on Farmland, Research Says Two new studies suggest that devoting a small fraction of U.S. farmland to solar power would be a...
2 months ago
1
2 months ago
Two new studies suggest that devoting a small fraction of U.S. farmland to solar power would be a boon both for the energy system and for farmers themselves. Read more on E360 →
Drew Ex Machina
The Hurricane Hunter Satellites: A Weather Nanosatellite Constellation As part of ongoing outreach efforts by Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA) to the meteorological...
2 months ago
29
2 months ago
As part of ongoing outreach efforts by Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA) to the meteorological community, TWA’s Chief Scientist, Andrew LePage, attended the National Tropical Weather Conference […]
NeuroLogica Blog
What Kind of Social Media Do We Want? Recently Meta decided to end their fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram. The move has been both...
5 months ago
54
5 months ago
Recently Meta decided to end their fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram. The move has been both hailed and criticized. They are replacing the fact-checkers with an X-style “community notes”. Mark Zuckerberg summed up the move this way: “It means we’re going to catch less bad...
The Works in...
Write for Notes in Progress We're looking for new authors and article pitches
2 months ago
Yale e360
In a Major Reversal, the World Bank Is Backing Mega Dams Despite continued opposition, the World Bank has approved the first of five big dam projects...
6 months ago
3
6 months ago
Despite continued opposition, the World Bank has approved the first of five big dam projects expected to get its support in the coming months. Climate change has upped the need for renewable energy, but the environmental and social costs of building such massive projects...
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
44
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...
Yale e360
Reciprocity: Rethinking Our Relationship with the Natural World Robin Wall Kimmerer, the bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, recently published The...
4 months ago
1
4 months ago
Robin Wall Kimmerer, the bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, recently published The Serviceberry, which explores the economies of nature. In an e360 interview, the Native American ecologist discusses reciprocity, gratitude, and aligning human law with ecological law. Read...
Confessions of a...
My Teaching Philosophy As mentioned previously, I need to complete a teaching portfolio over my year as a lecturing intern...
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
As mentioned previously, I need to complete a teaching portfolio over my year as a lecturing intern as part of the PTIS scheme.  Central to this portfolio is a personal teaching philosophy, detailing why teaching is important to me, what my objectives are as a teacher, what...
Blog - Practical...
Which Power Plant Does My Electricity Come From? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In June of 2000, the power...
7 months ago
88
7 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In June of 2000, the power shut off across much of the San Francisco Bay area. There simply wasn’t enough electricity to meet demands, so more than a million customers were disconnected in California's largest...
Beautiful Public...
The Style Guide for America’s Highways: The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices Driving across America, you will encounter a wide variety of cultures, landscapes, people and...
over a year ago
48
over a year ago
Driving across America, you will encounter a wide variety of cultures, landscapes, people and animals. But the one consistent thing that will stay the same from Maine to California are the signs you pass on the highway. That is because America’s roads and highways have a big, fat...
Quantum Frontiers
May I have this dance? This July, I came upon a museum called the Haus der Musik in one of Vienna’s former palaces. The...
a year ago
54
a year ago
This July, I came upon a museum called the Haus der Musik in one of Vienna’s former palaces. The museum contains a room dedicated to Johann Strauss II, king of the waltz. The room, dimly lit, resembles a twilit gazebo. … Continue reading →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
What does Innovaccer actually do? A look under the hood | Out-Of-Pocket A conversation about EHRs, who their customers actually are, and building apps
a month ago
nanoscale views
Cryogenic CMOS - a key need for solid state quantum information processing The basis for much of modern electronics is a set of silicon technologies called CMOS, which stands...
6 days ago
8
6 days ago
The basis for much of modern electronics is a set of silicon technologies called CMOS, which stands for complementary metal oxide semiconductor devices and processes.  "Complementary" means using semiconductors (typically silicon) that is locally chemically doped so that you can...
NeuroLogica Blog
Who Believes Misinformation It’s probably not a surprise that a blog author dedicated to critical thinking and neuroscience...
4 months ago
38
4 months ago
It’s probably not a surprise that a blog author dedicated to critical thinking and neuroscience feels that misinformation is one of the most significant threats to society, but I really to think this. Misinformation (false, misleading, or erroneous information) and disinformation...
Quanta Magazine
Will We Ever Prove String Theory? Promise and controversy continues to surround string theory as a potential unified theory of...
a month ago
17
a month ago
Promise and controversy continues to surround string theory as a potential unified theory of everything. In the latest episode of The Joy of Why, Cumrun Vafa discusses his progress in trying to find good, testable models hidden among the ‘swampland’ of impossible universes. ...
Yale e360
A Win for Farmers and Tribes Brings New Hope to the Klamath In the long-contentious Klamath River watershed, an experiment that turned a barley field into a...
2 weeks ago
1
2 weeks ago
In the long-contentious Klamath River watershed, an experiment that turned a barley field into a wetland not only improved water quality. It also offered a path forward for restoring populations of two endangered fish species that are of cultural importance to Native tribes. Read...
NeuroLogica Blog
Making Computers More Efficient An analysis in 2021 found that 10% of the world’s electricity production is used by computers,...
a year ago
21
a year ago
An analysis in 2021 found that 10% of the world’s electricity production is used by computers, including personal use, data centers, the internet and communication centers. The same analysis projected that this was likely to increase to 20% by 2025. This may have been an...
Blog - Practical...
What Is A Black Start Of The Power Grid? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] November 1965 saw one of the...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] November 1965 saw one of the most widespread power outages in North American history. On the freezing cold evening of the 9th, the grid was operating at maximum capacity as people tried to stay warm when a...
Wanderingspace
Mars Express is Still Making Great Images 20 Years Later Mars Express was launched by the European Space Agency in 2003, and is ESA’s first Mars mission. In...
10 months ago
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10 months ago
Mars Express was launched by the European Space Agency in 2003, and is ESA’s first Mars mission. In one shot, you can see Mars as a half-lit disk, with Phobos, its tiny moon, hovering above. Right below Phobos is Olympus Mons, the solar system's largest volcano, towering 22 km...
Uncharted...
The Israel–Hamas Ceasefire Won’t Last Israel & Palestine, One Year Later
5 months ago
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, April 2023 A monthly feature. Note that I generally don’t include very recent writing here, such as the latest...
over a year ago
40
over a year ago
A monthly feature. Note that I generally don’t include very recent writing here, such as the latest blog posts (for those, see my Twitter digests); this is for my deeper research. AI First, various historical perspectives on AI, many of which were quite prescient: Alan Turing,...
Yale e360
In a First, Chimps Found Sharing Fermented Fruit For the first time, wild chimpanzees have been caught on film sharing fermented fruit. The footage...
2 months ago
3
2 months ago
For the first time, wild chimpanzees have been caught on film sharing fermented fruit. The footage comes from Cantanhez National Park in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau, where camera traps recorded chimps eating fermented breadfruit together on 10 separate...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Ro Breakdown | Out-Of-Pocket The idea of “goal oriented care” and the big questions around direct-to-patient care
a year ago
Andrew Fraknoi –...
My Free Introductory Astronomy Textbook Hits a Milestone This time I am posting something a bit personal. I am the lead author of a free book that is part of...
a year ago
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a year ago
This time I am posting something a bit personal. I am the lead author of a free book that is part of a nonprofit experiment to help students with the costs of college. Here is the news from our publisher: OpenStax, the open textbook publisher based at Rice University, is pleased...
Yale e360
How Herbicide Drift from Farms Is Harming Trees in Midwest Researchers are starting to pay closer attention to the widespread damage wrought by agricultural...
2 months ago
4
2 months ago
Researchers are starting to pay closer attention to the widespread damage wrought by agricultural herbicides. Drifting sprays may not kill trees, shrubs, and other nontarget plants outright, but experts believe they are making them vulnerable to insects, fungi, and disease. Read...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 12: Cleaning Up The Remaining Marañón Endemics (February 14-15, 2024) February 14, 2024 (continued) It doesn't matter how much time we spend on the verdant, east slope of...
5 months ago
18
5 months ago
February 14, 2024 (continued) It doesn't matter how much time we spend on the verdant, east slope of the Andes. It is just never enough time. Our five days between the highland town of Pomacochas and the lower foothills near Pueblo Aguas Verdes were amazing, full of incredible...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Patient Communities Should Change | Out-Of-Pocket Evolving from ads to outcomes
a year ago
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Perseid Meteor Shower Aug 12-13, 2023 We make suggestions for how best to see the 2023 Perseid meteor shower. The post Perseid Meteor...
a year ago
21
a year ago
We make suggestions for how best to see the 2023 Perseid meteor shower. The post Perseid Meteor Shower Aug 12-13, 2023 appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
Quanta Magazine
What Is the Nature of Consciousness? Consciousness, our experience of being in the world, is one of the mind’s greatest mysteries, but as...
over a year ago
50
over a year ago
Consciousness, our experience of being in the world, is one of the mind’s greatest mysteries, but as the neuroscientist Anil Seth explains to Steven Strogatz, research is making progress in understanding this elusive phenomenon. The post What Is the Nature of...
Yale e360
Push to Rewild in Wealthy Countries Fueling Destruction in Poorer Ones A new study details how, as wealthy countries rewild farmland, they are driving the destruction of...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
A new study details how, as wealthy countries rewild farmland, they are driving the destruction of forests in poorer countries that are more abundant in wildlife. Read more on E360 →
Yale e360
Will U.S. Push on Seabed Mining End Global Consensus on Oceans? President Trump’s recent order to expedite permits to begin deep-sea mining bypasses international...
a month ago
1
a month ago
President Trump’s recent order to expedite permits to begin deep-sea mining bypasses international agreements that protect oceans. By moving unilaterally, says the Ocean Conservancy’s Jeff Watters, the U.S. could endanger fragile marine ecosystems and set a troubling...
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
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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...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Debate: Should Medical Aid in Death Be Legal? | Out-Of-Pocket Oh boy, I’m nervous to wade into this conversation
3 months ago
The Works in...
The wonder of modern drywall How gypsum changed construction
a month ago
Yale e360
How Tearing Down Small Dams Is Helping Restore Northeast Rivers More than 30,000 small dams currently block river tributaries from Maine to Maryland. New...
4 months ago
3
4 months ago
More than 30,000 small dams currently block river tributaries from Maine to Maryland. New initiatives to remove them are aimed at restoring natural flows, improving habitat for aquatic life, and reopening thousands of river miles to migratory fish, from shad to American...
Blog - Practical...
Why Are Rails Shaped Like That? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Maybe more than any other type...
a year ago
64
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Maybe more than any other type of infrastructure, railways have a contingent of devoted enthusiasts. “Railfans” as they call themselves; Or should say “ourselves”? Maybe it's the nostalgia of an earlier era or...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Weird health insurance concepts | Out-Of-Pocket Intercompany eliminations, copay shenanigans, and reference-based pricing
7 months ago
Asterisk
Get In, Weirdos
6 months ago
brr
The Beer Can Connecting old and new.
over a year ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Cool Facts About Health Insurance Enrollment with Aleka Gurel | Out-Of-Pocket Tis the season
a year ago
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: Reviving Lakes Some lakes died before they could birth cities. Could we revive the lakes, and give them a 2nd...
5 months ago
45
5 months ago
Some lakes died before they could birth cities. Could we revive the lakes, and give them a 2nd chance at creating cities?
nanoscale views
Brief items A few tidbits that I encountered recently: The saga of Ranga Dias at Rochester draws to a close,...
7 months ago
16
7 months ago
A few tidbits that I encountered recently: The saga of Ranga Dias at Rochester draws to a close, as described by the Wall Street Journal.  It took quite some time for this to propagate through their system.  This is after multiple internal investigations that somehow were...
Apoorva Srinivasan
on edward jenner and creativity One common question that’s on everyone’s minds as we fiercely scrub our hands, pool our resources,...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
One common question that’s on everyone’s minds as we fiercely scrub our hands, pool our resources, conserve our consumption, stock up (but not hoard), invent calculus or write King Lear is: when will this end? Nobody knows what the answer to that question is but we
Probably...
Algorithmic Fairness This is the last in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from Lulu.com...
5 months ago
17
5 months ago
This is the last in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. This article is based on the Recidivism Case Study, which is about algorithmic fairness. The goal of the case study is to explain the statistical arguments...
Melting Asphalt
Outbreak Harry Stevens at The Washington Post recently published a very elegant simulation of how a disease...
over a year ago
29
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 ›
Yale e360
Trees That Have Never Known Plentiful Rainfall Better Prepared for Drought A new study finds that trees that have lived through many wet years struggle to cope with dry...
5 months ago
The Roots of...
Event, Feb 29: “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” in Boston and on Zoom On Thursday, February 29, I’ll be giving my talk “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” to the New...
a year ago
91
a year ago
On Thursday, February 29, I’ll be giving my talk “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” to the New England Legal Foundation, for their Economic Liberty Speaker Series. The talk will be held over breakfast at NELF’s offices in Boston, and will also be livestreamed over Zoom. See...
Yale e360
Brazilian Judge Orders Seizure of Illegally Cleared Lands A justice on the Brazilian Supreme Court has directed the government to seize private lands where...
2 months ago
1
2 months ago
A justice on the Brazilian Supreme Court has directed the government to seize private lands where forests have been illegally razed.  Read more on E360 →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
First Dollar and the HSA wedge | Out-Of-Pocket Triple. Tax. Advantage.
a year ago
symmetry magazine
Tending to a giant In a race against the clock, CERN engineers and technicians pulled together to find and fix a leak...
a year ago
32
a year ago
In a race against the clock, CERN engineers and technicians pulled together to find and fix a leak inside the Large Hadron Collider.
Yale e360
How Wolves Could Help Bring Back Scottish Forests Wolves have been gone from the Scottish Highlands for more than 200 years, and in their absence red...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
Wolves have been gone from the Scottish Highlands for more than 200 years, and in their absence red deer have proliferated. Researchers say that returning wolves to the Highlands would keep deer in check, allowing large areas of native woodland to regrow. Read more on E360 →
Beautiful Public...
Cold War Military Slides A reporter stumbled upon a treasure trove of Department of Defense slides from the 1970s and 1980s...
4 months ago
38
4 months ago
A reporter stumbled upon a treasure trove of Department of Defense slides from the 1970s and 1980s depicting data from missile systems, Soviet capabilities and America’s nuclear arsenal.
Cremieux Recueil
Trump Should Finish What He Started A guestpost calling for Trump to finish radically reforming the tax system
7 months ago
The Works in...
Issue 16: I dream of genes Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and...
10 months ago
72
10 months ago
Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and how America's favourite type of coffee got really, really good.
Uncharted...
The Latest on Healthcare Research Cancer research, AI in healthcare, aging research, and much more
8 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Across a Continent, Trees Sync Their Fruiting to the Sun European beech trees more than 1,500 kilometers apart all drop their fruit at the same time in a...
a year ago
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a year ago
European beech trees more than 1,500 kilometers apart all drop their fruit at the same time in a grand synchronization event now linked to the summer solstice. The post Across a Continent, Trees Sync Their Fruiting to the Sun first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Making Fuel from Sunshine When it comes to big problems it’s generally a good idea to remember some basic principles. One is...
over a year ago
84
over a year ago
When it comes to big problems it’s generally a good idea to remember some basic principles. One is that there is no free lunch. This is a cliche because it’s true. Another way to put this is – there are no solutions, only trade offs. Sometimes there is a genuine advance that does...
ToughSF
Riding Sunbeams with Solar Sails Reset your expectations of solar sails. They are a fast and free way to travel to any point in the...
over a year ago
21
over a year ago
Reset your expectations of solar sails. They are a fast and free way to travel to any point in the Solar System, as many times as you want, any time of the year. Solar sails can carry passengers and they have a nearly unlimited number of uses. You just have to... think...
Uncharted...
Robotaxis Are Here Within 1-5 years, our daily transportation will be upended, and cities will be reshaped.
3 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Years After the Early Death of a Math Genius, Her Ideas Gain New Life A new proof extends the work of the late Maryam Mirzakhani, cementing her legacy as a pioneer of...
4 months ago
41
4 months ago
A new proof extends the work of the late Maryam Mirzakhani, cementing her legacy as a pioneer of alien mathematical realms. The post Years After the Early Death of a Math Genius, Her Ideas Gain New Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Things I’m watching in healthcare 2023 | Out-Of-Pocket it's been a weird year
a year ago
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Total Eclipse of the Moon Coming Mar. 13-14 There will be a total eclipse of the Moon visible in the Americas the night of March 13-14 The post...
4 months ago
35
4 months ago
There will be a total eclipse of the Moon visible in the Americas the night of March 13-14 The post Total Eclipse of the Moon Coming Mar. 13-14 appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
Quanta Magazine
The Two Faces of Space-Time A mysterious phenomenon known as duality often leads to new discoveries in physics. This time,...
9 months ago
64
9 months ago
A mysterious phenomenon known as duality often leads to new discoveries in physics. This time, space-time itself can sometimes be two things at once. The post The Two Faces of Space-Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
How AI Models Are Helping to Understand — and Control — the Brain Martin Schrimpf is crafting bespoke AI models that can induce control over high-level brain...
2 weeks ago
8
2 weeks ago
Martin Schrimpf is crafting bespoke AI models that can induce control over high-level brain activity. The post How AI Models Are Helping to Understand — and Control — the Brain first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
The Experimental Cosmologist Hunting for the First Sunrise To catch even a whiff of the universe’s earliest epochs — an age of darkness, and one of new light —...
a year ago
25
a year ago
To catch even a whiff of the universe’s earliest epochs — an age of darkness, and one of new light — Cynthia Chiang builds her own equipment. Then she deploys it at the ends of the Earth. The post The Experimental Cosmologist Hunting for the First Sunrise first...
NeuroLogica Blog
A Climate Debate Regarding Health Effects – Part IV Part 4 This will be the final installment of this mini-debate about climate change and health...
over a year ago
72
over a year ago
Part 4 This will be the final installment of this mini-debate about climate change and health effects, following a typical format of each person getting to make a statement and a response. Scott makes a lot of complaints about tone, format and fairness while simultaneously trying...
Yale e360
Severe Cold Spells May Persist Because of Warming, Not in Spite of It Huge swaths of North America are facing subfreezing temperatures this week as cold Arctic air pushes...
5 months ago
1
5 months ago
Huge swaths of North America are facing subfreezing temperatures this week as cold Arctic air pushes southward. Paradoxically, such cold spells may persist or even become more common as the planet warms, scientists say. Read more on E360 →
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
38
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...
Interaction Magic -...
Podcast: Designed for life A deep dive into my career and the future of experience prototyping with Tony Ryan, CEO of Design &...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
A deep dive into my career and the future of experience prototyping with Tony Ryan, CEO of Design & Technology Association.
Sean Carroll
Energy Conservation and Non-Conservation in Quantum Mechanics Conservation of energy is a somewhat sacred principle in physics, though it can be tricky in certain...
over a year ago
43
over a year ago
Conservation of energy is a somewhat sacred principle in physics, though it can be tricky in certain circumstances, such as an expanding universe. Quantum mechanics is another context in which energy conservation is a subtle thing — so much so that it’s still worth writing papers...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
"Non"-Profit Hospitals | Out-Of-Pocket "We're investing in ourselves"
a year ago
Yale e360
In War Zones, a Race to Save Key Seeds Needed to Feed the World In conflict areas from Ukraine to Palestine, storage facilities holding seeds vital for future plant...
a week ago
6
a week ago
In conflict areas from Ukraine to Palestine, storage facilities holding seeds vital for future plant breeding are being lost. Scientists are rushing to send some remaining seeds to a “doomsday” vault in Norway so they can be available to provide food crops in a warming...
Quanta Magazine
Chatbot Software Begins to Face Fundamental Limitations Recent results show that large language models struggle with compositional tasks, suggesting a hard...
5 months ago
50
5 months ago
Recent results show that large language models struggle with compositional tasks, suggesting a hard limit to their abilities. The post Chatbot Software Begins to Face Fundamental Limitations first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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
37
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
Moving Past Environmental Proceduralism The foundations of modern environmental legislation were laid in the early ‘70s. Some of these laws...
a year ago
17
a year ago
The foundations of modern environmental legislation were laid in the early ‘70s. Some of these laws helped fix the ozone layer, clean up DDT, and fight lead pollution — while others are delaying the necessary transition to green energy. If the activists of fifty years ago had...
Drew Ex Machina
Star Way of Humanity: American Space Art During the COVID-19 shutdown three years ago, I spent a lot of my time at home digging through my...
a year ago
29
a year ago
During the COVID-19 shutdown three years ago, I spent a lot of my time at home digging through my archives discovering all sorts of items I […]
Quanta Magazine
The Viral Paleontologist Who Unearths Pathogens’ Deep Histories Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer searches museum jars for genetic traces of flu, measles and other...
10 months ago
63
10 months ago
Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer searches museum jars for genetic traces of flu, measles and other viruses. Their evolutionary stories can help treat modern outbreaks and prepare for future ones. The post The Viral Paleontologist Who Unearths Pathogens’ Deep Histories...
Quanta Magazine
How Do Merging Supermassive Black Holes Pass the Final Parsec? The giant holes in galaxies’ centers shouldn’t be able to merge, yet merge they do. Scientists...
8 months ago
76
8 months ago
The giant holes in galaxies’ centers shouldn’t be able to merge, yet merge they do. Scientists suggest that an unusual form of dark matter may be the solution. The post How Do Merging Supermassive Black Holes Pass the Final Parsec? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Drew Ex Machina
GOES Video of Solar Eclipse – October 14, 2023 Solar eclipses have fascinated humanity since ancient times and the annular eclipse of October 14,...
a year ago
62
a year ago
Solar eclipses have fascinated humanity since ancient times and the annular eclipse of October 14, 2023 was no different. Unlike a total solar eclipse where the […]
NeuroLogica Blog
Plan To Build First Commercial Fusion Reactor How close are we to having fusion reactors actually sending electric power to the grid? This is a...
5 months ago
72
5 months ago
How close are we to having fusion reactors actually sending electric power to the grid? This is a huge and complicated question, and one with massive implications for our civilization. I think we are still at the point where we cannot count on fusion reactors coming online...
Quanta Magazine
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...
over a year ago
90
over 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
nanoscale views
A science anecdote palate cleanser Apologies for slow posting.  Real life has been very intense, and I also was rather concerned when...
a month ago
16
a month ago
Apologies for slow posting.  Real life has been very intense, and I also was rather concerned when one of my readers mentioned last weekend that these days my blog was like concentrated doom-scrolling.  I will have more to say about the present university research crisis later,...
NeuroLogica Blog
Antarctic Sea Ice Hits Record Low For decades scientists were confused by Antarctic sea ice. Climate models predict that it should be...
a year ago
118
a year ago
For decades scientists were confused by Antarctic sea ice. Climate models predict that it should be decreasing, and yet it has been steadily and slowly increasing. It also made for a great talking point for climate change deniers – superficially it seems like counter evidence to...
Yale e360
Head of African Bank Warns of 'Carbon Grabs' by Foreign Firms Akinwumi Adesina, outgoing president of the African Development Bank, is warning that foreign firms...
2 months ago
1
2 months ago
Akinwumi Adesina, outgoing president of the African Development Bank, is warning that foreign firms are underpaying for carbon credits from African forests. Read more on E360 →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Change Healthcare Debacle | Out-Of-Pocket what are clearinghouses and do we still need them?
a year ago
Yale e360
Trump Administration Fires Hundreds of Climate and Weather Specialists The Trump administration has re-fired hundreds of probationary workers at NOAA after a court ruling...
2 months ago
8
2 months ago
The Trump administration has re-fired hundreds of probationary workers at NOAA after a court ruling cleared the way. Read more on E360 →
Asterisk
Rarely is the Question Asked: Is Our Children Learning? Across the world, more students than ever are in school. But it’s not clear that they're learning...
7 months ago
39
7 months ago
Across the world, more students than ever are in school. But it’s not clear that they're learning more while there — or if that’s even the goal.
Yale e360
China's Disastrous Summer Floods Linked to Unusually Warm Spring in Tibet A new study links devastating summer floods in southern China to unusually warm spring weather over...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
A new study links devastating summer floods in southern China to unusually warm spring weather over the Tibetan plateau. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
When Did Nature Burst Into Vivid Color? Scientists reconstructed 500 million years of evolutionary history to reveal which came first:...
a week ago
6
a week ago
Scientists reconstructed 500 million years of evolutionary history to reveal which came first: colorful signals or the color vision needed to see them. The post When Did Nature Burst Into Vivid Color? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Should Tech Companies Be Liable for Content The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is hearing a case that will have profound effects on social media – is...
over a year ago
78
over a year ago
The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is hearing a case that will have profound effects on social media – is Google liable for a terrorist killing? The family of Nohemi Gonzalez is suing Google, because she was shot by an Islamic terrorist in 2015 and the family alleges this act was abetted...
Quanta Magazine
Primitive Asgard Cells Show Life on the Brink of Complexity As researchers race to cultivate more of the intriguing cells from the deep seafloor, the few cells...
over a year ago
90
over a year ago
As researchers race to cultivate more of the intriguing cells from the deep seafloor, the few cells now growing in labs are giving us our best glimpses of the forerunners of all complex life. The post Primitive Asgard Cells Show Life on the Brink of Complexity first...
Yale e360
China's Disastrous Summer Floods Linked to Unusually Warm Spring in Tibet A new study links devastating summer floods in southern China to unusually warm spring weather over...
4 months ago
1
4 months ago
A new study links devastating summer floods in southern China to unusually warm spring weather over the Tibetan plateau. Read more on E360 →
wadertales
How successful are headstarted waders We know that headstarting (hatching eggs in captivity and rearing chicks through to fledging) can...
9 months ago
72
9 months ago
We know that headstarting (hatching eggs in captivity and rearing chicks through to fledging) can boost the number of young waders in a population. However, the sustainability of this intervention is dependent upon several factors that apply after the point of release. A paper in...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New Ways Pharma Subsidizes Care | Out-Of-Pocket Is it right? Is it wrong? Is it just hard to track?
2 months ago
The Works in...
Making american milk safe How good ideas spread
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
Do We Need a New Theory of Gravity? Since Newton had his initial revelation about gravity, our understanding of this fundamental concept...
10 months ago
60
10 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...
Eukaryote Writes...
COVID-19 FAQ A lot of people have been asking me questions about the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak, in my...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
A lot of people have been asking me questions about the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak, in my informal capacity as “local biodefense person”.
Yale e360
Wildlife Returns to Site of Devastating Southern California Wildfire Four months after the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, California, wildlife is making a...
2 months ago
Quanta Magazine
The Most Important Machine That Was Never Built When he invented Turing machines in 1936, Alan Turing also invented modern computing. ...
over a year ago
110
over a year ago
When he invented Turing machines in 1936, Alan Turing also invented modern computing. The post The Most Important Machine That Was Never Built first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
Spread of Dark Algae Could Hasten Melt of Greenland Ice Sheet Dark algae are spreading across the Greenland ice sheet as snow retreats. Their dark color causes...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
Dark algae are spreading across the Greenland ice sheet as snow retreats. Their dark color causes ice to absorb more heat from the sun, accelerating melting, and according to a new study, the harsh conditions atop the ice sheet will do little to slow their advance. Read more on...
The Works in...
Animals as chemical factories The price of purple
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
Physicists Start To Pin Down How Stars Forge Heavy Atoms The precursors of heavy elements might arise in the plasma underbellies of swollen stars or in...
2 days ago
2
2 days ago
The precursors of heavy elements might arise in the plasma underbellies of swollen stars or in smoldering stellar corpses. They definitely exist in East Lansing, Michigan. The post Physicists Start To Pin Down How Stars Forge Heavy Atoms first appeared on Quanta...
Yale e360
With the Great Mussel Die-Off, Scientists Scramble for Answers One of the most endangered animals in the world, freshwater mussels are threatened by pollution,...
3 months ago
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3 months ago
One of the most endangered animals in the world, freshwater mussels are threatened by pollution, climate change, habitat loss, and invasive species. But in the epicenter of their diversity — the Southeastern U.S. — the root cause of a catastrophic die-off remains a mystery.  Read...
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
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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.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Quick Hinge Health S-1 Thoughts | Out-Of-Pocket This episode of Out-Of-Pocket is brought to you by…
3 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Wood Vaulting for Carbon Sequestration I can’t resist a good science story involving technology that we can possibly use to stabilize our...
9 months ago
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9 months ago
I can’t resist a good science story involving technology that we can possibly use to stabilize our climate in the face of anthropogenic global warming. This one is a fun story and an interesting, and potentially useful, idea. As we map out potential carbon pathways into the...
Yale e360
In Mexico’s ‘Avocado Belt,’ Villagers Stand Up to Protect Their Lands A boom in avocado production in Mexico has led to illegal deforestation and an influx of drug...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
A boom in avocado production in Mexico has led to illegal deforestation and an influx of drug cartels dominating the lucrative trade. But Indigenous communities have fought back against the gangs and turned to traditional practices to grow avocados and save their forests.  Read...
Yale e360
In This Storied Egyptian City, Rising Seas are Causing Buildings to Crumble As waters rise along the Egyptian coast, hundreds of buildings in the historic port city of...
3 months ago
1
3 months ago
As waters rise along the Egyptian coast, hundreds of buildings in the historic port city of Alexandria have collapsed. Read more on E360 →
symmetry magazine
Encouraging a new community Physicists advocate for getting community college students involved in research.
over a year ago
Chris Grossack's...
Where Do Those Undergraduate Divisibility Problems Come From? Oftentimes in your “intro to proofs” class or your first “discrete math” class or something...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Oftentimes in your “intro to proofs” class or your first “discrete math” class or something similar, you’ll be shown problems of the form “prove that for $n^6 + n^3 + 2n^2 + 2n$ is a multiple of $6$ for every $n$”… But where do these problems come from? And have you ever...
ToughSF
Piracy in Space is Possible Part I: Dastardly DeltaV and Stealth Steamers Space Piracy is a common science fiction trope. It has been continuously derided in Hard Science...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Space Piracy is a common science fiction trope. It has been continuously derided in Hard Science Fiction as silly and a holdover of the 'Space is an Ocean' analogy.  But is it really that unrealistic to have space pirates? Let's find out. What is piracy? A chinese Junk, by...
NeuroLogica Blog
2023 Hottest Year on Record What everyone knew was coming is now official – 2023 was the warmest year on record. This means we...
a year ago
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a year ago
What everyone knew was coming is now official – 2023 was the warmest year on record. This means we can also say that the last 10 years are the hottest decade on record. 2023 dethrones 2016 as the previous warmest year and bumps 2010 out of the top 10. Further, in the last half of...
Apoorva Srinivasan
a review on protein language models Protein “language” is a lot like human language. Given the similarities, researchers have been...
a year ago
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a year ago
Protein “language” is a lot like human language. Given the similarities, researchers have been building and training language models on protein sequence data, replicating the success seen in other domains, with profound implications. In this post, I will explore how transformer...
IEEE Spectrum
RCA’s Lucite Phantom Teleceiver Introduced the Idea of TV addressed a small crowd outside the RCA pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. “Today we are on the...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
addressed a small crowd outside the RCA pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. “Today we are on the eve of launching a new industry, based on imagination, on scientific research and accomplishment,” he proclaimed. That industry was television. RCA president David Sarnoff’s...
Confessions of a...
Reflections of a postgrad lecturer-in-training: Part 1 In a previous post, I mentioned that I was beginning a stint as postgraduate teaching intern at UWA,...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
In a previous post, I mentioned that I was beginning a stint as postgraduate teaching intern at UWA, and that part of the internship involved keeping a reflective journal.  So I’ve decided that instead of merely writing down my thoughts (and possibly becoming lazy about it as the...
NeuroLogica Blog
Evidence and the Nanny State One side benefit of our federalist system is that the US essentially has 50 experiments in...
a year ago
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a year ago
One side benefit of our federalist system is that the US essentially has 50 experiments in democracy. States hold a lot of power, which provides an opportunity to compare the effects of different public policies. There are lots of other variables at play, such as economics, rural...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Cool Ideas For Dentistry + Medicine With Nisarg Patel | Out-Of-Pocket plus what actually happens in the operating room?
a year ago
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...
over a year ago
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over 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,...
Quanta Magazine
New Proof Threads the Needle on a Sticky Geometry Problem A new proof marks major progress toward solving the Kakeya conjecture, a deceptively simple question...
a year ago
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a year ago
A new proof marks major progress toward solving the Kakeya conjecture, a deceptively simple question that underpins a tower of conjectures. The post New Proof Threads the Needle on a Sticky Geometry Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
Taiwan to Ramp Up Gas Imports After Shuttering Last Nuclear Plant Having shut down its last remaining nuclear plant Saturday, Taiwan is working to secure new imports...
a month ago
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a month ago
Having shut down its last remaining nuclear plant Saturday, Taiwan is working to secure new imports of natural gas. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
Why Insect Memories May Not Survive Metamorphosis The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t...
a year ago
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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
NeuroLogica Blog
Solution Aversion Fallacy I like to think deeply about informal logical fallacies. I write about them a lot, and even have an...
a year ago
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a year ago
I like to think deeply about informal logical fallacies. I write about them a lot, and even have an occasional segment of the SGU dedicated to them. They are a great way to crystalize our thinking about the many ways in which logic can go wrong. Formal logic deals with arguments...
Quanta Magazine
How the Square Root of 2 Became a Number Useful mathematical concepts, like the number line, can linger for millennia before they are...
a year ago
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a year ago
Useful mathematical concepts, like the number line, can linger for millennia before they are rigorously defined. The post How the Square Root of 2 Became a Number first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
The ‘Accidental Activist’ Who Changed the Face of Mathematics Throughout her 60-year career, Lenore Blum has developed new perspectives on logic and computation...
a year ago
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a year ago
Throughout her 60-year career, Lenore Blum has developed new perspectives on logic and computation while championing women in mathematics and computer science. Now consciousness is on her mind. The post The ‘Accidental Activist’ Who Changed the Face of Mathematics...
The Works in...
Why housing shortages cause homelessness It's not just about rents - it's also about the rooms friends and family can't afford to share
5 months ago
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
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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...
Asterisk
What We Get Wrong About AI & China Everyone’s afraid of what China can and will do with AI. On the ground, the picture looks a lot more...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Everyone’s afraid of what China can and will do with AI. On the ground, the picture looks a lot more complicated.
Chris Grossack's...
Externalizing Some Simple Topos Statements Hey all! It’s been a minute. I’ve been super busy with the UC strike and honestly I haven’t done...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Hey all! It’s been a minute. I’ve been super busy with the UC strike and honestly I haven’t done math in any serious capacity for almost the past month. It’s been a lot of hard work trying to get fair contracts out of the UC, but I had a lot of travel plans this December to...
NeuroLogica Blog
What Is a Grand Conspiracy? Ah, the categorization question again. This is an endless, but much needed, endeavor within human...
a year ago
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a year ago
Ah, the categorization question again. This is an endless, but much needed, endeavor within human intellectual activity. We have the need to categorize things, if for no other reason than we need to communicate with each other about them. Often skeptics, like myself, talk about...
Uncharted...
What Is Happening in Syria? Assad’s regime has fallen, leaving a power vacuum. Why? Who are the winners and losers? What will...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
Assad’s regime has fallen, leaving a power vacuum. Why? Who are the winners and losers? What will happen next?
Quanta Magazine
The Cryptographer Who Ensures We Can Trust Our Computers Yael Tauman Kalai’s breakthroughs secure our digital world, from cloud computing to our quantum...
a year ago
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a year ago
Yael Tauman Kalai’s breakthroughs secure our digital world, from cloud computing to our quantum future. The post The Cryptographer Who Ensures We Can Trust Our Computers first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
The future of silk Silk is stronger than steel or kevlar. What could it be used for?
2 months ago