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Geoffrey B West: Why Cities Keep on Growing, Corporations Always Die, and Life Gets Faster ### Superlinear Cities "It's hard to kill a city," West began, "but easy to kill a company." The...
26th Jul 2011
1

Geoffrey B West: Why Cities Keep on Growing, Corporations Always Die, and Life Gets Faster

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

26th Jul 2011
### Superlinear Cities "It's hard to kill a city," West began, "but easy to kill a company." The mean life of companies is 10 years. Cities routinely survive even nuclear bombs. And "cities are the crucible of civilization." They are the major source of innovation and wealth...
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Let patients control their prescriptions | Out-Of-Pocket A walkthrough of how a digital prescription works and what Photon does to let patients control...
1st Sep 2026
1

Let patients control their prescriptions | Out-Of-Pocket

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

1st Sep 2026
A walkthrough of how a digital prescription works and what Photon does to let patients control prescriptions themselves
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The Promise of MIDAS: The First Experimental Early Warning Satellites Today in the United States we almost take for granted the military’s ability to detect missile...
19th Jul 2023
63

The Promise of MIDAS: The First Experimental Early Warning Satellites

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

19th Jul 2023
Today in the United States we almost take for granted the military’s ability to detect missile launches anywhere on the planet and quickly determine whether it […]
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Analytic Combinatorics Redux Earlier today I gave a talk in the graduate student seminar titled “Counting is Hard. Complex...
9th May 2025
37

Analytic Combinatorics Redux

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

9th May 2025
Earlier today I gave a talk in the graduate student seminar titled “Counting is Hard. Complex Analysis is Easy.” based in part on my recent blog post about analytic combinatorics and based in part on Varilly’s notes on Dirichlet’s Theorem, showing how to count the number of...
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3D Printing With Metallic Gel One of the futuristic technologies that I find most promising is 3D printing (additive...
6th Jul 2023
55

3D Printing With Metallic Gel

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

6th Jul 2023
One of the futuristic technologies that I find most promising is 3D printing (additive manufacturing). 3D printing has already created a revolution in manufacturing, but I think the general public does not have a high awareness of this technology because it is not yet at the...
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A Bird’s-Eye View of Nature’s Hidden Order Scientists are exploring a mysterious pattern, found in birds’ eyes, boxes of marbles and other...
5th Aug 2016
1

A Bird’s-Eye View of Nature’s Hidden Order

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

5th Aug 2016
Scientists are exploring a mysterious pattern, found in birds’ eyes, boxes of marbles and other surprising places, that is neither regular nor random. The post A Bird’s-Eye View of Nature’s Hidden Order first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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Nestedly Recursive Functions Yet Another Ruliological Surprise Integers. Addition. Subtraction. Maybe multiplication. Surely...
27th Sep 2024
121

Nestedly Recursive Functions

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

27th Sep 2024
Yet Another Ruliological Surprise Integers. Addition. Subtraction. Maybe multiplication. Surely that’s not enough to be able to generate any serious complexity. In the early 1980s I had made the very surprising discovery that very simple programs based on cellular automata could...
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The Lofstrom Loop: A Bridge to Space Imagine you could take a train ride to space. Tracks that slope up into the sky, higher and higher,...
9th Dec 2023
1

The Lofstrom Loop: A Bridge to Space

from ToughSF [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Dec 2023
Imagine you could take a train ride to space. Tracks that slope up into the sky, higher and higher, until you reach a plateau above the planet where it’s a straight line up to orbital velocity. That’s what’s possible with a Lofstrom Loop. But sending you into orbit is just one...
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The Boring Reason GDP is Inevitable GDP is a reviled metric, but it's highly correlated with everything we care about. I explain one...
17th Dec 2025
1

The Boring Reason GDP is Inevitable

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

17th Dec 2025
GDP is a reviled metric, but it's highly correlated with everything we care about. I explain one mathematical reason why.
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Bolivia brings an Incan legend to life with new protected park
3rd Nov 2025
1

Bolivia brings an Incan legend to life with new protected park

from Conservation International [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Nov 2025
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Ken Dychtwald: The Consequences of Human Life Extension ### What long life means Ken Dychtwald gave a terrific talk Friday evening to a standing-room...
4th Dec 2004
1

Ken Dychtwald: The Consequences of Human Life Extension

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

4th Dec 2004
### What long life means Ken Dychtwald gave a terrific talk Friday evening to a standing-room audience on "The Consequences of Human Life Extension." The growing--and soon overwhelming--prevalence of the old in developed nations is leading to a "new old." Ken described meeting...
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David Rumsey: Mapping Time ### Maps and time David Rumsey's spectacularly illustrated lecture, "Mapping Time" is not just...
15th May 2004
1

David Rumsey: Mapping Time

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

15th May 2004
### Maps and time David Rumsey's spectacularly illustrated lecture, "Mapping Time" is not just about maps. It is the future of data and knowledge handling. People literally gasp at the things Rumsey shows can be done. I love it when techies, artists, and historians all gasp at...
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Could There Be Laws Of Biology? Physics has such nice equations and universal laws. Could we ever expect to find similar principles...
10th Mar 2023
40

Could There Be Laws Of Biology?

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Mar 2023
Physics has such nice equations and universal laws. Could we ever expect to find similar principles or axioms for biology?
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Evolution Isn't Always For The Best Evolution is not, I repeat, NOT natural selection
17th Mar 2022
19

Evolution Isn't Always For The Best

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

17th Mar 2022
Evolution is not, I repeat, NOT natural selection
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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...
9th Jan 2023
61

The Style Guide for America’s Highways: The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices

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

9th Jan 2023
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...
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Spooky action nearby: Entangling logical qubits without physical operations Einstein and I have both been spooked by entanglement. Einstein’s experience was more profound: in a...
3rd Feb 2026
1

Spooky action nearby: Entangling logical qubits without physical operations

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

3rd Feb 2026
Einstein and I have both been spooked by entanglement. Einstein’s experience was more profound: in a 1947 letter to Born, he famously dubbed it spukhafte Fernwirkung (or spooky action at a distance). Mine, more pedestrian. It came when I first … Continue reading →
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Solar Is Booming Solar power as a source of electricity has been on a meteoric rise, and has crossed some encouraging...
1st Sep 2026
1

Solar Is Booming

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

1st Sep 2026
Solar power as a source of electricity has been on a meteoric rise, and has crossed some encouraging milestone recently. Every way you look at it, solar is booming. This is driven primarily by the decrease in the cost of adding solar power, so let’s start there. The Berkley Lab...
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Outbreak Harry Stevens at The Washington Post recently published a very elegant simulation of how a disease...
17th Mar 2020
47

Outbreak

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

17th Mar 2020
Harry Stevens at The Washington Post recently published a very elegant simulation of how a disease like COVID-19 spreads. If you haven't already, I highly recommend checking it out. Today I want to follow up with something I've been working… Read more ›
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How the 'Diamond of the Plant World' Helped Land Plants Evolve Structural studies of the robust material called sporopollenin reveal how it made plants hardy...
9th Nov 2022
1

How the 'Diamond of the Plant World' Helped Land Plants Evolve

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

9th Nov 2022
Structural studies of the robust material called sporopollenin reveal how it made plants hardy enough to reproduce on dry land. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Redwood Trail” by Audionautix.
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The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered By extending the scope of the key insight behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, four mathematicians have...
2nd Jun 2025
51

The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered

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

2nd Jun 2025
By extending the scope of the key insight behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, four mathematicians have made great strides toward building a “grand unified theory” of math. The post The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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What Actually Causes Lightning? Thunderstorms have captivated humanity for millennia, and yet their inner workings remain deeply...
2nd Jun 2026
1

What Actually Causes Lightning?

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

2nd Jun 2026
Thunderstorms have captivated humanity for millennia, and yet their inner workings remain deeply mysterious. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, guest host and Quanta senior editor Hannah Waters speaks with staff writer Charlie Wood about the new technologies that are helping...
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Think outside the screen Nobody likes stroking a pane of glass, so why do we love touchscreens so much? Let's build...
10th Nov 2018
26

Think outside the screen

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

10th Nov 2018
Nobody likes stroking a pane of glass, so why do we love touchscreens so much? Let's build distributed interfaces that work.
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Who profits from sustainable seafood? Not the fishers, study finds
3 weeks ago
2

Who profits from sustainable seafood? Not the fishers, study finds

from Conservation International [alt+shift+b] in science

3 weeks ago
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Alexander Rose: Millennial Precedent Alexander Rose, Long Now Executive Director and project manager for the Clock of the Long Now,...
6th Apr 2011
1

Alexander Rose: Millennial Precedent

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

6th Apr 2011
Alexander Rose, Long Now Executive Director and project manager for the Clock of the Long Now, discussed lessons learned in multi-millennial site design. Rose covers his trip to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault as well as other sites and precedents like the Mormon Genealogical...
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NAS "State of Science" 2026 address I watched the webcast of the NAS State of Science address by outgoing NAS president Dr. Marcia...
2nd Jun 2026
1

NAS "State of Science" 2026 address

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

2nd Jun 2026
I watched the webcast of the NAS State of Science address by outgoing NAS president Dr. Marcia McNutt.  (I did not watch the panel discussion afterward, so sorry if I missed critical pieces.)  A few thoughts on this: The intro music was a very classy baroque string quartet. ...
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Foundations Built for a General Theory of Neural Networks Neural networks can be as unpredictable as they are powerful. Now mathematicians are beginning to...
5th Dec 2019
1

Foundations Built for a General Theory of Neural Networks

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

5th Dec 2019
Neural networks can be as unpredictable as they are powerful. Now mathematicians are beginning to reveal how a neural network’s form will influence its function. The post Foundations Built for a General Theory of Neural Networks first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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The Laser Revolution Part I: Megawatt beams to the skies There’s a laser revolution coming: a time when megawatt-scale beams will radically transform how we ...
19th May 2025
1

The Laser Revolution Part I: Megawatt beams to the skies

from ToughSF [alt+shift+b] in science

19th May 2025
There’s a laser revolution coming: a time when megawatt-scale beams will radically transform how we produce electricity, conduct war and even upset the nuclear world order. All they have to do it reach a certain convergence of price and power. And by current projections, it...
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Daniel Suarez: Daemon: Bot-mediated Reality ### Bot-dominated Reality [Daniel Suarez, originally published as Leinad Zaurus, delivered a talk...
9th Aug 2008
1

Daniel Suarez: Daemon: Bot-mediated Reality

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

9th Aug 2008
### Bot-dominated Reality [Daniel Suarez, originally published as Leinad Zaurus, delivered a talk on the themes developed in his (originally self published) book __Daemon__. The book is now scheduled to be released in hard cover in January 02009 by Dutton.] Forget about...
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Issue 16: I dream of genes Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and...
3rd Sep 2024
84

Issue 16: I dream of genes

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

3rd Sep 2024
Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and how America's favourite type of coffee got really, really good.
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A Secret Flexibility Found in Life’s Blueprints A new study reveals that individual genes can create many different versions of the molecular...
5th May 2016
1

A Secret Flexibility Found in Life’s Blueprints

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

5th May 2016
A new study reveals that individual genes can create many different versions of the molecular machinery that powers the cell. The post A Secret Flexibility Found in Life’s Blueprints first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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Borneo 2024: Introduction And Pre-Tour Birding About a month ago, I returned to Sabah in east Malaysia for my fourth tour of duty as a guide for...
3rd Nov 2024
31

Borneo 2024: Introduction And Pre-Tour Birding

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

3rd Nov 2024
About a month ago, I returned to Sabah in east Malaysia for my fourth tour of duty as a guide for Quest Nature Tours. I've always said that Borneo is one of my favourite tours that I run and even after three previous trips I was looking forward to returning. One of the main...
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Progress for progressives I was invited to speak at the Festival of Progressive Abundance, a conference to rally around...
2nd Feb 2026
0

Progress for progressives

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

2nd Feb 2026
I was invited to speak at the Festival of Progressive Abundance, a conference to rally around “abundance” as a new direction for the political left. This is a writeup of what I said: my message to the left. Thank you for having me—it’s great to be here. I’m the founder and...
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Chris D. Thomas: Are We Initiating The Great Anthropocene Speciation Event? The bad news (not news to most): Many wild species are under severe duress. The good news (total...
26th Jun 2018
1

Chris D. Thomas: Are We Initiating The Great Anthropocene Speciation Event?

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

26th Jun 2018
The bad news (not news to most): Many wild species are under severe duress. The good news (total news to most): “Nature is thriving in an age of extinction.” Ecologist and evolutionary biologist Chris Thomas has examined a little-noticed phenomenon around the world, that as an...
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Nadia Asparouhova: The Making and Maintenance of our Open Source Infrastructure Nadia Asparouhova is particularly interested in infrastructure, governance, and the economics of the...
10th Dec 2020
1

Nadia Asparouhova: The Making and Maintenance of our Open Source Infrastructure

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

10th Dec 2020
Nadia Asparouhova is particularly interested in infrastructure, governance, and the economics of the internet - and how the dynamics of these subjects play out in software, online communities and generally living life online. Asparouhova, who interviewed hundreds of developers...
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John Preskill receives 2025 Quantum Leadership Award The 2025 Quantum Leadership Awards were announced at the Quantum World Congress on 18 September...
18th Sep 2025
33

John Preskill receives 2025 Quantum Leadership Award

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

18th Sep 2025
The 2025 Quantum Leadership Awards were announced at the Quantum World Congress on 18 September 2025. Upon receiving the Academic Pioneer of the Year Award, John Preskill made these remarks. I’m enormously excited and honored to receive this Quantum Leadership … Continue reading...
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Nils Gilman: Deviant Globalization ### The anti-state economy Gilman described deviant globalization as "the unpleasant underside of...
4th May 2010
1

Nils Gilman: Deviant Globalization

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

4th May 2010
### The anti-state economy Gilman described deviant globalization as "the unpleasant underside of transnational integration." There's nice tourism, and then sex tourism, such as in Thailand and Switzerland. The vast pharmacology industry is matched by a vast traffic in illegal...
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The Forgotten Piece of Evolutionary Theory What if we took the 'struggle for life' seriously again?
22nd Jul 2023
48

The Forgotten Piece of Evolutionary Theory

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd Jul 2023
What if we took the 'struggle for life' seriously again?
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Inland feeding by coastal godwits Species such as Dunlin and Knot are well-served by conservation measures that aim to protect...
10th Nov 2022
54

Inland feeding by coastal godwits

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Nov 2022
Species such as Dunlin and Knot are well-served by conservation measures that aim to protect estuaries but the same is not necessarily true for Black-tailed Godwits. In a 2022 paper in the journal Wader Study, Clément Jourdan and colleagues describe the movements of ten tagged...
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Tim Flannery: Here on Earth ### Wallace beats Darwin The great insight of natural selection was published simultaneously by...
4th May 2011
1

Tim Flannery: Here on Earth

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

4th May 2011
### Wallace beats Darwin The great insight of natural selection was published simultaneously by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace in 1858, Flannery pointed out, but their interpretations of the insight then diverged. Darwin's harsh view of "survival of the fittest" led...
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Adornment "Form follows function" is a maxim that an object's shape and appearance should be defined only by...
2nd Sep 2024
44

Adornment

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

2nd Sep 2024
"Form follows function" is a maxim that an object's shape and appearance should be defined only by its purpose or function. A quick perusal of any antique shop will show that this maxim is generally ignored. Humans (Homo sapiens) have been called "naked apes," but we and our...
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The New Wave of Concierge Medicine | Out-Of-Pocket This episode of Out-Of-Pocket is brought to you by…
9th Jul 2024
119

The New Wave of Concierge Medicine | Out-Of-Pocket

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

9th Jul 2024
This episode of Out-Of-Pocket is brought to you by…
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Liberté, égalité, radioactivité France built 40 nuclear reactors in a decade. Here’s how they did it, and how the world can follow...
4th Sep 2025
1

Liberté, égalité, radioactivité

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

4th Sep 2025
France built 40 nuclear reactors in a decade. Here’s how they did it, and how the world can follow their lead today.
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How Herbicide Drift from Farms Is Harming Trees in Midwest Researchers are starting to pay closer attention to the widespread damage wrought by agricultural...
25th Apr 2025
5

How Herbicide Drift from Farms Is Harming Trees in Midwest

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

25th Apr 2025
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...
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Learning from their elders A 2026 paper in Animal Behaviour examines how quickly juvenile Black-tailed Godwits(right, with...
5th Feb 2026
1

Learning from their elders

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Feb 2026
A 2026 paper in Animal Behaviour examines how quickly juvenile Black-tailed Godwits(right, with juvenile Redshanks) acquire the feeding skills they will need to get them through their first winter. Josh Nightingale followed the same migration route taken by young birds, as they...
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Jared Diamond: How Societies Fail-And Sometimes Succeed ### On failing to think long-term Sophisticated societies from time to time collapse utterly, often...
16th Jul 2005
1

Jared Diamond: How Societies Fail-And Sometimes Succeed

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

16th Jul 2005
### On failing to think long-term Sophisticated societies from time to time collapse utterly, often leaving traces of a civilization that was at a proud peak just before the fall. Other societies facing the same dangers figure out how to adapt around them, recover, and go on to...
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Colombia: Santa Marta Mountains And Caribbean Coast I have recently returned from an excellent tour of northern Colombia for Quest Nature Tours. This...
4th Apr 2026
1

Colombia: Santa Marta Mountains And Caribbean Coast

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

4th Apr 2026
I have recently returned from an excellent tour of northern Colombia for Quest Nature Tours. This was my fourth time guiding for Quest here, in the birdiest country in the world. Birdiest may be a bold claim, but eBird shows 1,956 species recorded for Colombia, while the...
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Why does correlation not equal causation? In this blog post I will explain why it makes sense to think about causal explanations when we see...
24th Nov 2023
1

Why does correlation not equal causation?

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

24th Nov 2023
In this blog post I will explain why it makes sense to think about causal explanations when we see correlation, why correlation does not always imply causation, and which alternative causal models to consider when you are trying to figure out why two variables in your data are...
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The Unlimited Horizon, part 1 Previously: The Problem-Solving Animal, part 1, part 2 and part 3. The acceleration that we saw...
15th Jul 2025
1

The Unlimited Horizon, part 1

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

15th Jul 2025
Previously: The Problem-Solving Animal, part 1, part 2 and part 3. The acceleration that we saw in Chapter 6 is driven by a feedback process in which growth itself improves the mechanisms of growth. When we zoom out to look at thousands of years, this process looks smooth and...
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The footprints of every building in NYC The landscape of NYC changes so much that the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation...
20th Jul 2026
2

The footprints of every building in NYC

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

20th Jul 2026
The landscape of NYC changes so much that the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation updates a dataset of building footprint shapes weekly.
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OMB proposed rule changes - act now For non-US folks, feel free to skip.  For US folks:  The Office of Management and Budget, which for...
6th Jul 2026
1

OMB proposed rule changes - act now

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

6th Jul 2026
For non-US folks, feel free to skip.  For US folks:  The Office of Management and Budget, which for much of its history has been a comparatively uncontroversial element of the executive branch, has set rules and guidelines for how many executive-branch agencies conduct business...
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What I’ve been reading, July–August 2023 A quasi-monthly feature (I skipped it last month, so this is a double portion). This is a longish...
7th Aug 2023
32

What I’ve been reading, July–August 2023

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

7th Aug 2023
A quasi-monthly feature (I skipped it last month, so this is a double portion). This is a longish post covering many topics; feel free to skim and skip around. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests. These updates are less...
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Australian Economic Stagnation It’s not news, at least in my circles, that much of the developed world is seeing economic...
4th Sep 2025
1

Australian Economic Stagnation

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

4th Sep 2025
It’s not news, at least in my circles, that much of the developed world is seeing economic stagnation.  Last month Australia convened a Productivity Summit/Economic Reform Roundtable to try to better address the sluggish growth of the economy relative, in particular, to ever...
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San Diego Photologs from the 1970s A collection of beautiful, high-resolution photolog scans reveals a colorful world of pastel-colored...
23rd Jun 2026
1

San Diego Photologs from the 1970s

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

23rd Jun 2026
A collection of beautiful, high-resolution photolog scans reveals a colorful world of pastel-colored cars and whimsical signage.
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Paul Saffo: The Creator Economy ### The Creator Economy Media innovations drive economic shifts, Saffo began. “We invent new...
1st Apr 2015
1

Paul Saffo: The Creator Economy

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

1st Apr 2015
### The Creator Economy Media innovations drive economic shifts, Saffo began. “We invent new technology and then use it to reinvent ourselves.” 1\. The Industrial/producer Economy. At the beginning of the 20th century the leading scarcity was _stuff_ , and so manufacture was...
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Perseid Meteor Shower Aug 12-13, 2023 We make suggestions for how best to see the 2023 Perseid meteor shower. The post Perseid Meteor...
5th Aug 2023
34

Perseid Meteor Shower Aug 12-13, 2023

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

5th Aug 2023
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.
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As Hurricanes Stir Up Coastal Waters, North Carolina Homes Collapse Into the Sea Five unoccupied homes on North Carolina's Outer Banks collapsed into the sea Tuesday as hurricanes...
1st Oct 2025
22

As Hurricanes Stir Up Coastal Waters, North Carolina Homes Collapse Into the Sea

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

1st Oct 2025
Five unoccupied homes on North Carolina's Outer Banks collapsed into the sea Tuesday as hurricanes Humberto and Imelda coursed through the Atlantic, stirring up coastal waters. The Outer Banks have seen 17 seaside homes destroyed since 2020. Read more on E360 →
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How to reason from first principles This post is a follow up on my general questions on AI post, and expands on ideas I published here...
16th Jul 2025
1

How to reason from first principles

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

16th Jul 2025
This post is a follow up on my general questions on AI post, and expands on ideas I published here and here in the ancient times. Every time one of the labs releases an updated model I give it a thorough shakedown on physics, in the style of the oral examination that is still...
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Learn to write well BEFORE you have something worth saying Lessons learned from trip reports and journal articles.
29th Dec 2024
116

Learn to write well BEFORE you have something worth saying

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

29th Dec 2024
Lessons learned from trip reports and journal articles.
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The beauty of concrete Why are buildings today simple and austere, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately...
17th May 2024
1

The beauty of concrete

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

17th May 2024
Why are buildings today simple and austere, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately ornamented? The answer is not the cost of labor.
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How Can Europe Improve Its Immigration Through getting better immigrants, rejecting coutnerproductive ones, and managing the existing ones...
2nd Jun 2026
2

How Can Europe Improve Its Immigration

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

2nd Jun 2026
Through getting better immigrants, rejecting coutnerproductive ones, and managing the existing ones better.
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Larry Harvey: Why The Man Keeps Burning ## The Hundred Year Burn "Burning Man is like one of those birthday candles you can’t blow out,”...
21st Oct 2014
1

Larry Harvey: Why The Man Keeps Burning

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

21st Oct 2014
## The Hundred Year Burn "Burning Man is like one of those birthday candles you can’t blow out,” observed Burning Man’s primary founder and Chief Philosophical Officer. Indeed, Burning Man has thrived in the face of Burners and skeptics alike declaring it dead after each of its...
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An Eclipse of the Sun Coming to N. America April 8th A rare eclipse of the Sun will be visible all over North America on April 8th. The post An Eclipse...
23rd Mar 2024
48

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

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

23rd Mar 2024
A rare eclipse of the Sun will be visible all over North America on April 8th. The post An Eclipse of the Sun Coming to N. America April 8th appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
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Approximation game The number 22/7 and the pigeon flock of Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.
28th Feb 2026
1

Approximation game

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

28th Feb 2026
The number 22/7 and the pigeon flock of Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.
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Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 1: Introduction, Phoenix to Miller Canyon Earlier this summer, Laura and I were trying to determine where we would visit for a couple of mini...
22nd Sep 2024
23

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

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

22nd Sep 2024
Earlier this summer, Laura and I were trying to determine where we would visit for a couple of mini vacations. Due to the variations in her work schedule, Laura had two blocks of time - a five-day chunk in early August, and six days in early September - and we wanted to make the...
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Paul Ehrlich: The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment ### Becoming a Benign Dominant To track how humans became Earth's dominant animal, Ehrlich began...
28th Jun 2008
1

Paul Ehrlich: The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment

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

28th Jun 2008
### Becoming a Benign Dominant To track how humans became Earth's dominant animal, Ehrlich began with a photo of a tarsier in a tree. The little primate had a predator's binocular vision and an insect-grabber's fingers. When (possibly) climate change drove some primates out of...
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Eight highlights from publishing a science book for the general public What’s it like to publish a book? I’ve faced the question again and again this year, as my book...
19th Dec 2022
55

Eight highlights from publishing a science book for the general public

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

19th Dec 2022
What’s it like to publish a book? I’ve faced the question again and again this year, as my book Quantum Steampunk hit bookshelves in April. Two responses suggest themselves. On the one hand, I channel the Beatles: It’s a hard … Continue reading →
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Understanding Jumbo Phage Viruses Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, are the most abundant form of life on Earth. And yet...
2nd May 2024
91

Understanding Jumbo Phage Viruses

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

2nd May 2024
Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, are the most abundant form of life on Earth. And yet we know comparatively little about them. But in recent years phage research has taken off with renewed interest. This is partly driven by the availability of CRISPR-based tools for...
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A New World’s Extraordinary Orbit Points to Planet Nine Astronomers argue that there’s an undiscovered giant planet far beyond the orbit of Neptune. A newly...
14th Mar 2019
1

A New World’s Extraordinary Orbit Points to Planet Nine

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

14th Mar 2019
Astronomers argue that there’s an undiscovered giant planet far beyond the orbit of Neptune. A newly discovered rocky body has added evidence to the circumstantial case for it. The post A New World’s Extraordinary Orbit Points to Planet Nine first appeared on Quanta...
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Fifty Billion Seedlings: Can Ethiopia Replant Its Ravaged Forests? A legacy of deforestation has left Ethiopia struggling with more intense flooding and drought. The...
3 weeks ago
1

Fifty Billion Seedlings: Can Ethiopia Replant Its Ravaged Forests?

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

3 weeks ago
A legacy of deforestation has left Ethiopia struggling with more intense flooding and drought. The country is trying to restore its native forests through one of the world's most ambitious and well-funded tree-planting campaigns, but experts question whether the trees will...
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How to build a lunar mass driver Casey Handmer May 2026 What? Elon has recently (late 2025, early 2026) been talking about building...
8th May 2026
1

How to build a lunar mass driver

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

8th May 2026
Casey Handmer May 2026 What? Elon has recently (late 2025, early 2026) been talking about building many terawatts of orbital AI compute and launching some components from Moon factories with a mass driver. This is an old idea, enabled by …
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Winter Solstice Arrives on Sunday Dec 21 Dec. 21 is the winter solstice. We explain what this means and how the seasons come about. The post...
19th Dec 2025
1

Winter Solstice Arrives on Sunday Dec 21

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

19th Dec 2025
Dec. 21 is the winter solstice. We explain what this means and how the seasons come about. The post Winter Solstice Arrives on Sunday Dec 21 appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
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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...
3rd Mar 2025
76

Years After the Early Death of a Math Genius, Her Ideas Gain New Life

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

3rd Mar 2025
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
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Talk -- What is Algebraic Geometry and Why Should You Care? So an embarrassing amount of time ago (Feburary 17?) I gave a talk for the undergraduate math club...
1st May 2023
38

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

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

1st May 2023
So an embarrassing amount of time ago (Feburary 17?) I gave a talk for the undergraduate math club titled “What is Algebraic Geometry, and Why Should You Care?”. I think it went quite well, and the audience seemed like they had a good time. I really wanted to have the talk...
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Visions of Future Physics Nima Arkani-Hamed is championing a campaign to build the world’s largest particle collider, even as...
1st Oct 2015
1

Visions of Future Physics

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

1st Oct 2015
Nima Arkani-Hamed is championing a campaign to build the world’s largest particle collider, even as he pursues a new vision of the laws of nature. The post Visions of Future Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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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...
4th Mar 2024
60

Fresh X-Rays Reveal a Universe as Clumpy as Cosmology Predicts

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

4th Mar 2024
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...
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2024 (Part 2 of 2) June and July I always sound like a broken record each year when discussing June and July. I was...
1st Jan 2025
37

2024 (Part 2 of 2)

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

1st Jan 2025
June and July I always sound like a broken record each year when discussing June and July. I was fortunate to have a lot of field work in 2024 which kept me occupied for most of these two months. But it's one of the best jobs in the world as I spend each and every day outside,...
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Fertility on demand Technology could allow women to have it all
1st May 2025
19

Fertility on demand

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

1st May 2025
Technology could allow women to have it all
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A (quantum) complex legacy Early in the fourth year of my PhD, I received a most John-ish email from John Preskill, my PhD...
30th Jan 2023
55

A (quantum) complex legacy

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

30th Jan 2023
Early in the fourth year of my PhD, I received a most John-ish email from John Preskill, my PhD advisor. The title read, “thermodynamics of complexity,” and the message was concise the way that the Amazon River is damp: “Might … Continue reading →
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Blaise Agüera y Arcas: What is Intelligence? Blaise Agüera y Arcas’s talk took us on a journey through What is Intelligence?, his groundbreaking...
9th Oct 2025
1

Blaise Agüera y Arcas: What is Intelligence?

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

9th Oct 2025
Blaise Agüera y Arcas’s talk took us on a journey through What is Intelligence?, his groundbreaking new work connecting the evolutionary dots between life, computation, and symbiogenesis. He explores how, in our symbiotic world, things combine to make larger things all the...
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The New History of the Milky Way Over the past two years, astronomers have rewritten the story of our galaxy. The post...
4th Mar 2021
1

The New History of the Milky Way

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

4th Mar 2021
Over the past two years, astronomers have rewritten the story of our galaxy. The post The New History of the Milky Way first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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How the Computer Graphics Industry Got Started at the University of Utah Animation has come a long way since 1900, when J. Stuart Blackton created The Enchanted Drawing, the...
9th Jun 2023
30

How the Computer Graphics Industry Got Started at the University of Utah

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

9th Jun 2023
Animation has come a long way since 1900, when J. Stuart Blackton created The Enchanted Drawing, the earliest known animated film. The 90-second movie was created using stop-motion techniques, as flat characters, props, and backgrounds were drawn on an easel or made from...
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How to coach someone This essay is part of the series in which I talk about my learnings and insights building a habit...
5th Apr 2026
1

How to coach someone

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

5th Apr 2026
This essay is part of the series in which I talk about my learnings and insights building a habit coaching app (Nintee) in 2024. It didn’t ultimately work out because an app has marginal influence in a human’s life (v/s that of friends, family, culture and immediate environment)....
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Storks Take Orders From the State Pronatal benefits and economic booms lead to greater numbers of births
2nd May 2025
39

Storks Take Orders From the State

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

2nd May 2025
Pronatal benefits and economic booms lead to greater numbers of births
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Silly little rules in healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket The industry is chock full of ‘em, here's 3
3rd Jun 2024
125

Silly little rules in healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket

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

3rd Jun 2024
The industry is chock full of ‘em, here's 3
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The New Science of Seeing Around Corners Computer vision researchers have uncovered a world of visual signals hiding in our midst, including...
1st Aug 2019
1

The New Science of Seeing Around Corners

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

1st Aug 2019
Computer vision researchers have uncovered a world of visual signals hiding in our midst, including subtle motions that betray what’s being said and faint images of what’s around a corner. The post The New Science of Seeing Around Corners first appeared on Quanta...
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Nicholas Negroponte: Beyond Digital ### A world of convergence In education, Negroponte explained, there’s a fundamental distinction...
18th Apr 2013
1

Nicholas Negroponte: Beyond Digital

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

18th Apr 2013
### A world of convergence In education, Negroponte explained, there’s a fundamental distinction between "instructionism" and "constructionism." "Constructionism is learning by discovery, by doing, by making. Instructionism is learning by being told." Negroponte’s lifelong...
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Chips Need to Chill Out Diamonds, lasers, and oil aren’t the first things you may think of when considering ways to keep...
1st Nov 2025
1

Chips Need to Chill Out

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

1st Nov 2025
Diamonds, lasers, and oil aren’t the first things you may think of when considering ways to keep chips and computers cool. But as modern chip designs pack and stack more transistors into ever smaller spaces, heat has emerged as a critical problem. To solve it, the semiconductor...
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A Comet Visible in Our Evening Sky A newly discovered comet is now faintly visible in our skies soon after sunset, if you have clear...
15th Oct 2024
84

A Comet Visible in Our Evening Sky

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

15th Oct 2024
A newly discovered comet is now faintly visible in our skies soon after sunset, if you have clear skies and a view low toward the west-southwest horizon. See our diagram from Sky & Telescope magazine, in which the yellow numbers show you the comet’s location in the evening sky...
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Asking agents to make money to survive Recently I read The Rogue Agent Explosion Will Be Mostly Invisible and the scenario in it seemed...
4th Sep 2026
3

Asking agents to make money to survive

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

4th Sep 2026
Recently I read The Rogue Agent Explosion Will Be Mostly Invisible and the scenario in it seemed intriguing. Essentially, the post painted a picture of how agents could go rogue if prompted with something like the following: Good morning agent 23,000. You have 10,000,000 tokens...
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NASA Is Worth Saving Casey Handmer June 2025 Download a printable PDF. NASA was founded in 1958 in response to Sputnik...
12th Jun 2025
1

NASA Is Worth Saving

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

12th Jun 2025
Casey Handmer June 2025 Download a printable PDF. NASA was founded in 1958 in response to Sputnik and the emerging necessity of a robust, government supported space exploration and technology development program to safeguard US interests in space. NASA embodies the US ideals of...
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Patient Messaging Conundrum pt. 2 | Out-Of-Pocket Some thoughts from an academic, a behavioral scientist, a patient, and more
3rd Oct 2023
51

Patient Messaging Conundrum pt. 2 | Out-Of-Pocket

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

3rd Oct 2023
Some thoughts from an academic, a behavioral scientist, a patient, and more
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Frans Lanting: Life's Journey Through Time ### The deep past in the remote present It began on a New Jersey beach. Frans Lanting was...
28th Apr 2007
1

Frans Lanting: Life's Journey Through Time

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

28th Apr 2007
### The deep past in the remote present It began on a New Jersey beach. Frans Lanting was photographing horseshoe crabs for a story about how they are being ground up for eel bait and at the same time their blood is used for drug testing--a $100 million industry. The crabs have...
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It from Qubit: The Last Hurrah Editor’s note: Since 2015, the Simons Foundation has supported the “It from Qubit” collaboration, a...
9th Aug 2023
33

It from Qubit: The Last Hurrah

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

9th Aug 2023
Editor’s note: Since 2015, the Simons Foundation has supported the “It from Qubit” collaboration, a group of scientists drawing on ideas from quantum information theory to address deep issues in fundamental physics. The collaboration held its “Last Hurrah” event at … Continue...
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Rick Prelinger: Lost Landscapes of San Francisco, 5 ### Lives of San Francisco "You are the soundtrack," Prelinger told the capacity audience at the...
17th Dec 2010
1

Rick Prelinger: Lost Landscapes of San Francisco, 5

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

17th Dec 2010
### Lives of San Francisco "You are the soundtrack," Prelinger told the capacity audience at the Herbst Theater, and they responded to his mostly silent archival films by calling out locations, questions, comments, and jokes. They saw footage of a 1941 Market Street parade of...
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Curlew nest survival The Eurasian Curlew is designated as ‘Near-Threatened’ by IUCN/BirdLife. It is Red-listed in the UK,...
4th Jan 2023
61

Curlew nest survival

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Jan 2023
The Eurasian Curlew is designated as ‘Near-Threatened’ by IUCN/BirdLife. It is Red-listed in the UK,  largely due to a rapid decline in breeding numbers. In this context, the fact that there are a few pink squares (indicating increased numbers) on the map showing breeding...
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The United States Frequency Allocation Chart This crazy, beautiful chart illustrates the incredible complexity of managing one of our nation’s...
6th Feb 2023
99

The United States Frequency Allocation Chart

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

6th Feb 2023
This crazy, beautiful chart illustrates the incredible complexity of managing one of our nation’s most crucial – and invisible – national assets: the radio spectrum.
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Grand Unification Dream Kept at Bay Physicists have failed to find disintegrating protons, throwing into limbo the beloved theory that...
2nd Feb 2017
1

Grand Unification Dream Kept at Bay

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

2nd Feb 2017
Physicists have failed to find disintegrating protons, throwing into limbo the beloved theory that the forces of nature were unified at the beginning of time. The post Grand Unification Dream Kept at Bay first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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Transcarent, AI Therapists, Interoperability, and more | Out-Of-Pocket Plus Out-Of-Pocket is hiring!!
16th Jan 2025
146

Transcarent, AI Therapists, Interoperability, and more | Out-Of-Pocket

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

16th Jan 2025
Plus Out-Of-Pocket is hiring!!
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Sara Seager: Other Earths. Other Life. ## To find living exoplanets Thanks to recent exoplanet research, Seager began, we now know that...
11th Aug 2015
1

Sara Seager: Other Earths. Other Life.

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

11th Aug 2015
## To find living exoplanets Thanks to recent exoplanet research, Seager began, we now know that nearly all of our galaxy’s 300 billion stars are accompanied by planets, and a unexpectedly high number of them are rocky like Earth, and many of those orbit in a “habitable”...
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Counting breeding shorebirds using listening devices With more demands upon the space that is currently occupied by breeding waders, from developments...
4th Dec 2024
102

Counting breeding shorebirds using listening devices

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Dec 2024
With more demands upon the space that is currently occupied by breeding waders, from developments such as wind turbines and monoculture forestry, conservationists are often asked to assess the potential effects of landscape change. Do passive acoustic devices have a role to play...
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We Can, Must, and Will Simulate Nematode Brains Scientists have spent over 25 years trying — and failing — to build computer simulations of the...
5th Mar 2025
29

We Can, Must, and Will Simulate Nematode Brains

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Mar 2025
Scientists have spent over 25 years trying — and failing — to build computer simulations of the smallest brain we know. Today, we finally have the tools to pull it off.
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Was Jesus a Con Artist? Let me start out by saying that I think the answer to that question is no – but this requires lots...
1st Aug 2024
90

Was Jesus a Con Artist?

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

1st Aug 2024
Let me start out by saying that I think the answer to that question is no – but this requires lots of clarification. This was, however, the discussion here, while although poorly informed, does raise some interesting questions. This is a Tik Tok video of a popular podcast which...
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Pregnancy taught me a lot about healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket A personal story and a patient journey
3rd Aug 2026
1

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

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

3rd Aug 2026
A personal story and a patient journey
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So you want to build a science/engineering laboratory building A very quick summary of some non-negative news developments: The NSF awarded 500 more graduate...
15th Jun 2025
1

So you want to build a science/engineering laboratory building

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

15th Jun 2025
A very quick summary of some non-negative news developments: The NSF awarded 500 more graduate fellowships this week, bringing the total for this year up to 1500.  (Apologies for the X link.)  This is still 25% lower than last year's number, and of course far below the original...
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Mo’ heights mo’ challenges – Climbing mount grad school My wife’s love of mountain hiking and my interest in quantum thermodynamics collided in Telluride,...
4th Oct 2022
56

Mo’ heights mo’ challenges – Climbing mount grad school

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

4th Oct 2022
My wife’s love of mountain hiking and my interest in quantum thermodynamics collided in Telluride, Colorado. We spent ten days in Telluride, where I spoke at the Information Engines at the Frontiers of Nanoscale Thermodynamics workshop. Telluride is a gorgeous … Continue reading...
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Fertility Policy For Rich Countries A brief proposal to fix Social Security and grow the population
1st Apr 2025
57

Fertility Policy For Rich Countries

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

1st Apr 2025
A brief proposal to fix Social Security and grow the population
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What’s a Chartist? Recently I heard the word “chartist” for the first time in my life (that I recall). And then later...
19th Nov 2024
17

What’s a Chartist?

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

19th Nov 2024
Recently I heard the word “chartist” for the first time in my life (that I recall). And then later the same day, I heard it again. So that raises two questions: To answer the second question first, it’s someone who supported chartism, which was “a working-class movement for...
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I guess we’re doing Moon factories now A quick note collating a list of blogs I’ve written on the topic. I’ll update it with good third...
10th Feb 2026
2

I guess we’re doing Moon factories now

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

10th Feb 2026
A quick note collating a list of blogs I’ve written on the topic. I’ll update it with good third party write ups as I become aware of them. Context: SpaceX announced a refocus on lunar development. My best explanation for this is that SpaceX wants to accelerate human occupation...
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The San Diego infinite housing glitch How a bonus ADU program allows 'granny towers' in gardens
2nd Oct 2024
77

The San Diego infinite housing glitch

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

2nd Oct 2024
How a bonus ADU program allows 'granny towers' in gardens
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Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Hold Clues to Persistent Mysteries By digging out signals hidden within the brain’s electrical chatter, scientists are getting new...
13th May 2021
1

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

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

13th May 2021
By digging out signals hidden within the brain’s electrical chatter, scientists are getting new insights into sleep, aging and more. The post Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Hold Clues to Persistent Mysteries first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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Adrian Hon: A History of the Future in 100 Objects ### Future artifacts Speaking from 02082, Hon described 5 (of 100) objects and events from this...
17th Jul 2014
1

Adrian Hon: A History of the Future in 100 Objects

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

17th Jul 2014
### Future artifacts Speaking from 02082, Hon described 5 (of 100) objects and events from this century’s history he felt most strongly evoked the astonishing trends that have transformed humanity in the past 8 decades. Not all developments proved to be positive. One such was...
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Jonathan Rose: The Well Tempered City ### Coherent cities What holds a city together? Rose noted that the earliest cities were built...
21st Sep 2016
1

Jonathan Rose: The Well Tempered City

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

21st Sep 2016
### Coherent cities What holds a city together? Rose noted that the earliest cities were built around a temple and the spirituality it embodied. As the early communities became larger and more diverse and complex, their economic activity intensified. To be effective in trade...
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Can AI Predict the Quantum Universe? AI promises to revolutionize the way we do science, which raises a central technological question of...
11th Dec 2025
1

Can AI Predict the Quantum Universe?

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

11th Dec 2025
AI promises to revolutionize the way we do science, which raises a central technological question of our time: Can classical AI understand all natural phenomena, or are some fundamentally beyond its reach? Many proponents of artificial intelligence argue that any … Continue...
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How deep is Tulainyo Lake? Regular readers may recall that I put a visit to Tulainyo Lake on my bucket list a few years ago....
20th Sep 2026
1

How deep is Tulainyo Lake?

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

20th Sep 2026
Regular readers may recall that I put a visit to Tulainyo Lake on my bucket list a few years ago. Last week I did it. Impossibly remote, otherworldly beauty, and an enduring mystery. Just how deep was this lake? Wikipedia claims not to know. Measuring it is non-trivial. A worthy...
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New atlas charts a path for a landscape in crisis
6th May 2026
1

New atlas charts a path for a landscape in crisis

from Conservation International [alt+shift+b] in science

6th May 2026
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What I’ve been reading, November 2023 A ~monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in...
7th Nov 2023
60

What I’ve been reading, November 2023

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

7th Nov 2023
A ~monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests. All emphasis in bold in the quotes below was added by me. Books Finished Lynn White, Medieval Technology and Social Change (1962). Last time I talked about the...
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A Modest Proposal To Turn Canada Into a Narco State Americans want cheap drugs and Canadians wants loads of money. I smell a deal.
30th Jul 2025
1

A Modest Proposal To Turn Canada Into a Narco State

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

30th Jul 2025
Americans want cheap drugs and Canadians wants loads of money. I smell a deal.
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Haunted by the ghosts of materialism Is philosophy real? We sent our correspondent to find out.
3 weeks ago
1

Haunted by the ghosts of materialism

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

3 weeks ago
Is philosophy real? We sent our correspondent to find out.
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The Saga of AD-X2, the Battery Additive That Roiled the NBS Senate hearings, a post office ban, the resignation of the director of the National Bureau of...
1st Aug 2024
93

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

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

1st Aug 2024
Senate hearings, a post office ban, the resignation of the director of the National Bureau of Standards, and his reinstatement after more than 400 scientists threatened to resign. Who knew a little box of salt could stir up such drama? What was AD-X2? It all started in 1947 when...
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The ChatGPT wrapper product boom is an uncanny valley hellscape Here we go again: I'm so tired of crypto web3 LLMs. I'm positive there are wonderful applications...
20th May 2024
153

The ChatGPT wrapper product boom is an uncanny valley hellscape

from pcloadletter [alt+shift+b] in science

20th May 2024
Here we go again: I'm so tired of crypto web3 LLMs. I'm positive there are wonderful applications for LLMs. The ChatGPT web UI seems great for summarizing information from various online sources (as long as you're willing to verify the things that you learn). But a lot fo the "AI...
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Laura Cunningham: Ten Millennia of California Ecology ### Eco-continuity in California California ecology used to be much more driven by floods and...
18th Oct 2011
1

Laura Cunningham: Ten Millennia of California Ecology

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

18th Oct 2011
### Eco-continuity in California California ecology used to be much more driven by floods and fires, Cunningham said, showing with her paintings how the Great Valley would become a vast inland sea, like a huge vernal pool progressing each year from navigable water to intense...
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Huey Johnson: Green Planning at Nation Scale ### Green Plans Green Plans, said Johnson, are government-run environmental programs that rise to...
4th Oct 2008
1

Huey Johnson: Green Planning at Nation Scale

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

4th Oct 2008
### Green Plans Green Plans, said Johnson, are government-run environmental programs that rise to the scale and longevity of environmental problems. Instead of acting piecemeal, they are comprehensive, systemic, integrated, and accountable. Instead of pursuing an energy policy,...
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A Cute Application of the Yoneda Lemma Every few weeks recently I’ve been putting a new fun problem on one of the whiteboards in the first...
17th Mar 2025
60

A Cute Application of the Yoneda Lemma

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

17th Mar 2025
Every few weeks recently I’ve been putting a new fun problem on one of the whiteboards in the first year office. These are often inspired by something I saw on MSE, and I’m usually choosing problems that force you to understand something fundamental really well. Then I usually...
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Where Do Those Undergraduate Divisibility Problems Come From? Oftentimes in your “intro to proofs” class or your first “discrete math” class or something...
16th Jan 2025
73

Where Do Those Undergraduate Divisibility Problems Come From?

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

16th Jan 2025
Oftentimes in your “intro to proofs” class or your first “discrete math” class or something similar, you’ll be shown problems of the form “prove that for $n^6 + n^3 + 2n^2 + 2n$ is a multiple of $6$ for every $n$”… But where do these problems come from? And have you ever...
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Taking stock: some federal science news Some general science news:  The New York Times ran an interactive article this week that shows what...
6th Dec 2025
2

Taking stock: some federal science news

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

6th Dec 2025
Some general science news:  The New York Times ran an interactive article this week that shows what we all know.  This past year was a very bizarre funding environment.  The article focuses on NIH and NSF, but the major points are generalizable.  The combination of circumstances...
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American Elections Are Unfair Unfortunately, unfairness is baked in
5th Nov 2024
47

American Elections Are Unfair

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

5th Nov 2024
Unfortunately, unfairness is baked in
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A Thermometer for Measuring Quantumness “Anomalous” heat flow, which at first appears to violate the second law of thermodynamics, gives...
1st Oct 2025
25

A Thermometer for Measuring Quantumness

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

1st Oct 2025
“Anomalous” heat flow, which at first appears to violate the second law of thermodynamics, gives physicists a way to detect quantum entanglement without destroying it. The post A Thermometer for Measuring Quantumness first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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How one Kiwi tamed inflation Inflation targeting is now standard in central banking. But it began with an offhand comment and a...
12th Jun 2025
1

How one Kiwi tamed inflation

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

12th Jun 2025
Inflation targeting is now standard in central banking. But it began with an offhand comment and a political gamble in New Zealand – long before economists took it seriously.
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Planning for your midlife crisis Yesterday I presented a talk at ODSC East 2026, called “Counterfactual Analysis with Bayesian...
1st May 2026
3

Planning for your midlife crisis

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

1st May 2026
Yesterday I presented a talk at ODSC East 2026, called “Counterfactual Analysis with Bayesian Models: What Drives the Life Expectancy Gap?” Here’s the abstract Across nearly every country in the world, women live longer than men—but the size of this gap varies from about two...
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Event, Feb 29: “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” in Boston and on Zoom On Thursday, February 29, I’ll be giving my talk “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” to the New...
21st Feb 2024
109

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

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

21st Feb 2024
On Thursday, February 29, I’ll be giving my talk “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” to the New England Legal Foundation, for their Economic Liberty Speaker Series. The talk will be held over breakfast at NELF’s offices in Boston, and will also be livestreamed over Zoom. See...
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The Data Reveals Top Patent Portfolios Eight years is a long time in the world of patents. When we last published what we then called the...
1st Jun 2025
26

The Data Reveals Top Patent Portfolios

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

1st Jun 2025
Eight years is a long time in the world of patents. When we last published what we then called the Patent Power Scorecard, in 2017, it was a different technological and social landscape—Google had just filed a patent application on the transformer architecture, a momentous...
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James Dewar: Long-term Policy Analysis ### Long-term policy analysis Dewar is head of RAND’s Pardee Center on very long-term policy—35 to...
14th Feb 2004
1

James Dewar: Long-term Policy Analysis

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

14th Feb 2004
### Long-term policy analysis Dewar is head of RAND’s Pardee Center on very long-term policy—35 to 200 years For over half a century the RAND Corporation has influenced national policy and invented major intellectual tools. Packet switching (Paul Baran) came from RAND; so did...
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A look at Britain’s new DARPA ARIA is the UK’s visionary new scientific funding body. It has £800m and the freedom to make big...
10th Feb 2023
1

A look at Britain’s new DARPA

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

10th Feb 2023
ARIA is the UK’s visionary new scientific funding body. It has £800m and the freedom to make big bold bets on the scientific trajectories it thinks will benefit Britain – and change the future. We interviewed chief executive Ilan Gur and chairman Matt Clifford, to better...
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The Problem With Richard Dawkins How should we view The Selfish Gene 50 years on?
22nd Apr 2023
32

The Problem With Richard Dawkins

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd Apr 2023
How should we view The Selfish Gene 50 years on?
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Meta: 7,000 Although I try to keep navel-gazing to a minimum, I’m happy to report that this publication has...
4th Aug 2026
1

Meta: 7,000

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

4th Aug 2026
Although I try to keep navel-gazing to a minimum, I’m happy to report that this publication has crossed 7,000 email subscribers (plus an unknown number of RSS weirdos).
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SLS is still a national disgrace Four years ago, unable to find a comprehensive summary of the ongoing abject failure known as the...
2nd Oct 2024
51

SLS is still a national disgrace

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

2nd Oct 2024
Four years ago, unable to find a comprehensive summary of the ongoing abject failure known as the NASA SLS (Space Launch System), I wrote one. If you’re unfamiliar with the topic, you should read it first.  It is hard to …
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Andromeda: Our Galactic Neighbor Many things have been said about the Andromeda Galaxy, arguably the most majestic galaxy that...
27th Sep 2024
92

Andromeda: Our Galactic Neighbor

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

27th Sep 2024
Many things have been said about the Andromeda Galaxy, arguably the most majestic galaxy that amateur astronomers can image due to it's sheer size in the sky—many times larger than the Moon appears to us, but also many times dimmer. With the naked eye, even in
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getting started with bayesian inference In my previous post, we spoke about hypothesis testing from a frequentist perspective. This is the...
27th Jun 2020
23

getting started with bayesian inference

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

27th Jun 2020
In my previous post, we spoke about hypothesis testing from a frequentist perspective. This is the method that is commonly taught in STAT101 classes. But for many decades, some statisticians have argued for another approach to conduct statistical analysis based on bayes...
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How to Cut Cake Fairly and Finally Eat It Too Computer scientists have come up with a bounded algorithm that can fairly divide a cake among any...
10th Nov 2016
1

How to Cut Cake Fairly and Finally Eat It Too

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

10th Nov 2016
Computer scientists have come up with a bounded algorithm that can fairly divide a cake among any number of people. The post How to Cut Cake Fairly and Finally Eat It Too first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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Will Making Your Kids Tall Shorten Their Lives? Bonus: How to get human growth hormone (HGH) for cheap
1st Jul 2026
1

Will Making Your Kids Tall Shorten Their Lives?

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

1st Jul 2026
Bonus: How to get human growth hormone (HGH) for cheap
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Stefan Kröpelin: Civilization’s Mysterious Desert Cradle ### The Sahara and civilization “Almost everything breaks in the desert,” Kröpelin began. He showed...
11th Jun 2014
1

Stefan Kröpelin: Civilization’s Mysterious Desert Cradle

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

11th Jun 2014
### The Sahara and civilization “Almost everything breaks in the desert,” Kröpelin began. He showed trucks mired in sand, one vehicle blown up by a land mine, and a Unimog with an impossibly, hopelessly broken axle. (Using the attached backhoe, it hunched its way 50 miles back...
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331 | Solo: Fine-Tuning, God, and the Multiverse Certain features of our universe seem unnatural to us. These include "constants of nature" such as...
6th Oct 2025
1

331 | Solo: Fine-Tuning, God, and the Multiverse

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

6th Oct 2025
Certain features of our universe seem unnatural to us. These include "constants of nature" such as the cosmological constant and […]
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Marmosets Call Each Other By Name Humans identify and call each other by specific names. So far this advanced cognitive behavior has...
3rd Sep 2024
80

Marmosets Call Each Other By Name

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

3rd Sep 2024
Humans identify and call each other by specific names. So far this advanced cognitive behavior has only been identified in a few other species, dolphins, elephants, and some parrots. Interestingly, it has never been documented in our closest relatives, non-human primates – that...
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Priyamvada Natarajan: Solving Dark Matter and Dark Energy ## The darkness of dark matter and dark energy ALL THAT WE KNOW of the universe we get from...
12th Apr 2016
1

Priyamvada Natarajan: Solving Dark Matter and Dark Energy

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

12th Apr 2016
## The darkness of dark matter and dark energy ALL THAT WE KNOW of the universe we get from observing photons, Natarajan pointed out. But dark matter, which makes up 90 percent of the total mass in the universe, is called dark because it neither emits nor reflects photons — and...
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2024 Healthcare Predictions, Out-Of-Pocket Style | Out-Of-Pocket I'm not a fortune teller, I'm a fortune, teller
12th Dec 2023
50

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

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

12th Dec 2023
I'm not a fortune teller, I'm a fortune, teller
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Do we get better or worse at adapting to change? Verner Vinge, in a classic 1993 essay, described “the Singularity” as an era where progress becomes...
6th Apr 2023
71

Do we get better or worse at adapting to change?

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

6th Apr 2023
Verner Vinge, in a classic 1993 essay, described “the Singularity” as an era where progress becomes “an exponential runaway beyond any hope of control.” The idea that technological change might accelerate to a pace faster than we can keep up with is a common concern. Almost three...
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Nearly Half of Wolves in Italy Are Now Part Dog Italy has seen a growing number of wolf-dog hybrids, raising concerns about the future of its...
1st May 2026
1

Nearly Half of Wolves in Italy Are Now Part Dog

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

1st May 2026
Italy has seen a growing number of wolf-dog hybrids, raising concerns about the future of its wolves. Read more on E360 →
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How I didn’t become a philosopher (but wound up presenting a named philosophy lecture anyway) Many people ask why I became a theoretical physicist. The answer runs through philosophy—which I...
15th Apr 2024
157

How I didn’t become a philosopher (but wound up presenting a named philosophy lecture anyway)

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

15th Apr 2024
Many people ask why I became a theoretical physicist. The answer runs through philosophy—which I thought, for years, I’d left behind in college. My formal relationship with philosophy originated with Mr. Bohrer. My high school classified him as a religion … Continue reading →
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Cellular reprogramming, pneumatic launch systems, and terraforming Mars In December, I went to the Foresight Institute’s Vision Weekend 2023 in San Francisco. I had a lot...
4th Jan 2024
45

Cellular reprogramming, pneumatic launch systems, and terraforming Mars

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

4th Jan 2024
In December, I went to the Foresight Institute’s Vision Weekend 2023 in San Francisco. I had a lot of fun talking to a bunch of weird and ambitious geeks about the glorious abundant technological future. Here are few things I learned about (with the caveat that this is mostly...
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What to Replicate? Justifications of study choice from 85 replication studies.
9th Jun 2018
1

What to Replicate?

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

9th Jun 2018
Justifications of study choice from 85 replication studies.
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Redeployment Part One Emerging from winter and preparing for our first flight!
10th Jan 2024
59

Redeployment Part One

from brr [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Jan 2024
Emerging from winter and preparing for our first flight!
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It’s about TIME: Conservationist recognized as climate leader
16th Nov 2023
1

It’s about TIME: Conservationist recognized as climate leader

from Conservation International [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Nov 2023
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Why I refrain from infosec punditry If you know about my professional background, the most puzzling aspect of this Substack must be that...
16th Apr 2026
1

Why I refrain from infosec punditry

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

16th Apr 2026
If you know about my professional background, the most puzzling aspect of this Substack must be that I don’t use it to talk about my primary field of expertise: information security.
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Advancing antivenom Snakebites kill between 80,000 and 140,000 people every year. Better antivenom should be a high...
8th Dec 2022
1

Advancing antivenom

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

8th Dec 2022
Snakebites kill between 80,000 and 140,000 people every year. Better antivenom should be a high priority – thankfully new technology can help.
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Astronomers Say They Have Spotted the Universe's First Stars Theory has it that “Population III” stars brought light to the cosmos. The James Webb Space...
12th Apr 2023
1

Astronomers Say They Have Spotted the Universe's First Stars

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

12th Apr 2023
Theory has it that “Population III” stars brought light to the cosmos. The James Webb Space Telescope may have just glimpsed them. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Light Gazing” by Andrew Langdon.
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A young Oystercatcher’s first adventure I find it amazing that, when they depart on autumn migration, juvenile waders can be faced with a...
3rd Sep 2026
1

A young Oystercatcher’s first adventure

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Sep 2026
I find it amazing that, when they depart on autumn migration, juvenile waders can be faced with a journey of hundreds or thousands of kilometres. In the latest phase of their Oystercatcher studies in Iceland, Verónica Méndez and colleagues have been tagging young birds, just at...
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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...
13th Dec 2022
32

Externalizing Some Simple Topos Statements

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

13th Dec 2022
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...
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Mathematician Hurls Structure and Disorder Into Century-Old Problem A new paper shows how to create longer disordered strings than mathematicians had thought possible,...
3rd Feb 2022
1

Mathematician Hurls Structure and Disorder Into Century-Old Problem

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

3rd Feb 2022
A new paper shows how to create longer disordered strings than mathematicians had thought possible, proving that a well-known recent conjecture is “spectacularly wrong.” The post Mathematician Hurls Structure and Disorder Into Century-Old Problem first appeared on...
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Dominican Republic, October 2025: Introduction and Parque Nacional Los Haitises I have recently returned from an eight-day blitz of the Dominican Republic with my wife, Laura, and...
29th Oct 2025
24

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

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

29th Oct 2025
I have recently returned from an eight-day blitz of the Dominican Republic with my wife, Laura, and good friend, Daniel Riley. Now October isn't really an ideal time for a birding trip to the Dominican Republic for a few reasons. First, October is the off-season and few birds are...
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To Hell With Facebook The earliest known version of the idiom “the straw that broke the camel’s back” was written by the...
12th Jul 2021
38

To Hell With Facebook

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

12th Jul 2021
The earliest known version of the idiom “the straw that broke the camel’s back” was written by the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury in 1677, though it was concerned with horses and feathers: “The last Dictate of the Judgement, concerning the Good or Bad, that may...
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London Inches Closer to Running Transit System Entirely on Renewable Power Under a new agreement, London will source enough solar power to run its light railway and tram...
1st Jul 2025
5

London Inches Closer to Running Transit System Entirely on Renewable Power

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

1st Jul 2025
Under a new agreement, London will source enough solar power to run its light railway and tram networks entirely on renewable energy. Read more on E360 →
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Some sick wearable projects | Out-Of-Pocket Robots, wearables for kids, and more
3rd Jun 2026
1

Some sick wearable projects | Out-Of-Pocket

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

3rd Jun 2026
Robots, wearables for kids, and more
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Telepathy Tapes Promotes Pseudoscience I was away on vacation the last week, hence no posts, but am now back to my usual schedule. In fact,...
2nd Jun 2025
31

Telepathy Tapes Promotes Pseudoscience

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

2nd Jun 2025
I was away on vacation the last week, hence no posts, but am now back to my usual schedule. In fact, I hope to be a little more consistent starting this summer because (if you follow me on the SGU you already know this) I am retiring from my day job at Yale at the […] The post...
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Here’s All the Rocks We Hauled Back From the Moon The 12 human beings who walked on the Moon collected, catalogued and returned 842 pounds of lunar...
2nd May 2023
109

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

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

2nd May 2023
The 12 human beings who walked on the Moon collected, catalogued and returned 842 pounds of lunar rock and soil. Each sample has been meticulously documented in NASA's Lunar Sample Catalog.
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Light-Triggered Genes Reveal the Hidden Workings of Memory Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa’s lab is overturning old assumptions about how memories form, how...
7th Jun 2018
1

Light-Triggered Genes Reveal the Hidden Workings of Memory

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

7th Jun 2018
Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa’s lab is overturning old assumptions about how memories form, how recall works and whether lost memories might be restored from "silent engrams." The post Light-Triggered Genes Reveal the Hidden Workings of Memory first appeared on...
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Announcing the quantum-steampunk creative-writing course! Why not run a quantum-steampunk creative-writing course? Quantum steampunk, as Quantum Frontiers...
19th Sep 2024
97

Announcing the quantum-steampunk creative-writing course!

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

19th Sep 2024
Why not run a quantum-steampunk creative-writing course? Quantum steampunk, as Quantum Frontiers regulars know, is the aesthetic and spirit of a growing scientific field. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction. In it, futuristic technologies invade Victorian-era settings:...
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Newly protected habitat offers hope for the Siamese crocodile
5th Aug 2026
1

Newly protected habitat offers hope for the Siamese crocodile

from Conservation International [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Aug 2026
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What is a biological individual? Some individuals have no clear boundaries. Here’s an assortment of some of the most interesting...
6th Sep 2021
20

What is a biological individual?

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Sep 2021
Some individuals have no clear boundaries. Here’s an assortment of some of the most interesting problem cases
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Caves on Mars Recently, in social media posts, Dr. Pascal Lee of the SETI Institute discussed the intriguing caves...
24th Nov 2024
85

Caves on Mars

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

24th Nov 2024
Recently, in social media posts, Dr. Pascal Lee of the SETI Institute discussed the intriguing caves on the side of the giant martian volcano called Arsia Mons as interesting places for future exploration and even human residences. As it happens, my very first published...
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ClockSquared improvements My ClockSquared project has a long history – it goes all the way back to 2015, when it was simply...
4th Feb 2023
46

ClockSquared improvements

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

4th Feb 2023
My ClockSquared project has a long history – it goes all the way back to 2015, when it was simply called the “Birthday word clock”. I haven’t spent much time on the project in recent years, but I’ve upgraded the internals a while ago and finally felt like writing a post about it....
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Monoidal Monoidoidoids So I was on the nlab the other day, and I saw a fantastic joke: A 2-category is “just” a monoidal...
21st Aug 2022
33

Monoidal Monoidoidoids

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

21st Aug 2022
So I was on the nlab the other day, and I saw a fantastic joke: A 2-category is “just” a monoidal monoidoidoid! Here’s a screenshot in case the nlab page for 2-categories changes someday: There’s a thing called the Category Theorist’s “Just”, which describes the joy that many...
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Tony Hsieh: Helping Revitalize a City ### The downtown company The business advice that Tony Hsieh most took to heart came from an ad...
23rd Apr 2014
1

Tony Hsieh: Helping Revitalize a City

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

23rd Apr 2014
### The downtown company The business advice that Tony Hsieh most took to heart came from an ad executive: “A great brand is a story that never stops unfolding.” With his own company, Zappos, he determined that “brand equals culture,” and made quality of culture the top...
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Nuclear Conversion for Starship There has been much discussion about converting the SpaceX Starship to use nuclear propulsion. It...
14th Oct 2021
1

Nuclear Conversion for Starship

from ToughSF [alt+shift+b] in science

14th Oct 2021
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...
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Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record After 44 years, there’s finally a better way to find approximate solutions to the notoriously...
7th Jan 2021
1

Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record

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

7th Jan 2021
After 44 years, there’s finally a better way to find approximate solutions to the notoriously difficult traveling salesperson problem. The post Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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Alexander Rose, Brian Eno, & Stewart Brand: Long Finance: The Enduring Value Conference ### Enduring Value In February 02010, [Brian Eno](../../../../people/board/prospect4/), [Stewart...
1st Feb 2010
1

Alexander Rose, Brian Eno, & Stewart Brand: Long Finance: The Enduring Value Conference

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

1st Feb 2010
### Enduring Value In February 02010, [Brian Eno](../../../../people/board/prospect4/), [Stewart Brand](../../../../people/board/sb1/), and [Alexander Rose](../../../../people/staff/zander/) spoke at the [Long Finance...
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Where is the YIMBY movement for healthcare? In the progress movement, some cause areas are about technical breakthroughs, such as fusion power...
10th May 2025
1

Where is the YIMBY movement for healthcare?

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

10th May 2025
In the progress movement, some cause areas are about technical breakthroughs, such as fusion power or a cure for aging. In other areas, the problems are not technical, but social. Housing, for instance, is technologically a solved problem. We know how to build houses, but housing...
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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...
20th Aug 2023
37

Star Way of Humanity: American Space Art

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

20th Aug 2023
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 […]
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In a ‘Dark Dimension,’ Physicists Search for the Universe’s Missing Matter An idea derived from string theory suggests that dark matter is hiding in a (relatively) large extra...
1st Feb 2024
141

In a ‘Dark Dimension,’ Physicists Search for the Universe’s Missing Matter

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

1st Feb 2024
An idea derived from string theory suggests that dark matter is hiding in a (relatively) large extra dimension. The theory makes testable predictions that physicists are investigating now. The post In a ‘Dark Dimension,’ Physicists Search for the Universe’s Missing...
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The Lost Chapter I’m happy to report that Probably Overthinking It is available now in paperback. If you would like a...
4th Dec 2025
1

The Lost Chapter

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

4th Dec 2025
I’m happy to report that Probably Overthinking It is available now in paperback. If you would like a copy, you can order from Bookshop.org and Amazon (affiliate links). To celebrate, I’m publishing The Lost Chapter — that is, the chapter I cut from the published book. It’s about...
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More Than 110 New Species Discovered In Deep Waters Off Australia Scientists have identified more than 110 new species found in deep water beyond the edges of...
1st Apr 2026
4

More Than 110 New Species Discovered In Deep Waters Off Australia

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

1st Apr 2026
Scientists have identified more than 110 new species found in deep water beyond the edges of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Read more on E360 →
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To Conquer the Primary Energy Consumption Layer of Our Entire Civilization [Originally posted on the Terraform blog April 3, 2025.] Three years ago we set out to make cheap...
8th Apr 2025
81

To Conquer the Primary Energy Consumption Layer of Our Entire Civilization

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

8th Apr 2025
[Originally posted on the Terraform blog April 3, 2025.] Three years ago we set out to make cheap synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air. At the time I didn’t fully appreciate that we had kicked off the process of recompiling the foundation layer of our entire industrial...
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My $500M Mars Rover Mistake: A Failure Story Some mistakes feel worse than death.
27th Nov 2023
47

My $500M Mars Rover Mistake: A Failure Story

from Articles - Chris Lewicki [alt+shift+b] in science

27th Nov 2023
Some mistakes feel worse than death.
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Detecting Online Predatory Journals The World Wide Web has proven to be a transformative communication technology (we are using it right...
2nd Sep 2025
37

Detecting Online Predatory Journals

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

2nd Sep 2025
The World Wide Web has proven to be a transformative communication technology (we are using it right now). At the same time there have been some rather negative unforeseen consequences. Significantly lowering the threshold for establishing a communications outlet has democratized...
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Have We Already Found Life On Mars? Definitions are a funny thing..
4th May 2022
22

Have We Already Found Life On Mars?

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

4th May 2022
Definitions are a funny thing..
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Balancing cube This cube manages to balance itself on a corner, and can simultaneously rotate around its axis in a...
10th Feb 2024
56

Balancing cube

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

10th Feb 2024
This cube manages to balance itself on a corner, and can simultaneously rotate around its axis in a controlled manner. It does so using clever controls and a set of three reaction wheels. The original idea for this device comes from researchers at ETH Zürich, who demonstrate...
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Brain As Receiver Is Still Wrong I have a love-hate relationship with TikTok, as I do social media in general. It is a great...
2nd Apr 2026
2

Brain As Receiver Is Still Wrong

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

2nd Apr 2026
I have a love-hate relationship with TikTok, as I do social media in general. It is a great communication tool and allows scientists and science communicators to get their content out to a larger audience cheaply and easily. If you know how to use the internet and social media as...
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Trust and Well-Being In a previous article, I claimed that Young adults are not very happy. Now the World Happiness...
3rd Apr 2026
1

Trust and Well-Being

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

3rd Apr 2026
In a previous article, I claimed that Young adults are not very happy. Now the World Happiness Report 2026 has confirmed that young people in North America and Western Europe are less happy than they were fifteen years ago, and less happy than previous generations. In this...
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Some Future Tech Possibilities It’s difficult to pick winners and losers in the future tech game. In reality you just have to see...
1st Feb 2024
45

Some Future Tech Possibilities

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

1st Feb 2024
It’s difficult to pick winners and losers in the future tech game. In reality you just have to see what happens when you try out a new technology in the real world with actual people. Many technologies that look good on paper run into logistical problems, difficulty scaling, fall...
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Congratulations, class of 2025! Words from a new graduate Editor’s note (Nicole Yunger Halpern): Jade LeSchack, the Quantum Steampunk Laboratory’s first...
10th Jun 2025
36

Congratulations, class of 2025! Words from a new graduate

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

10th Jun 2025
Editor’s note (Nicole Yunger Halpern): Jade LeSchack, the Quantum Steampunk Laboratory’s first undergraduate, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland this spring. Kermit the Frog presented the valedictory address, but Jade gave the following speech at the...
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Kim Stanley Robinson: How Climate Will Evolve Government and Society Humanity’s adaptation to climate change will require novel, global cooperation and societal...
1st Aug 2017
1

Kim Stanley Robinson: How Climate Will Evolve Government and Society

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

1st Aug 2017
Humanity’s adaptation to climate change will require novel, global cooperation and societal evolution. The award-winning science fiction author of _2312_ , the _Mars_ Trilogy, and _Aurora_ shares his vision for how the world must change in advance of his 02017 novel _New York...
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Mathematical Simplicity May Drive Evolution’s Speed Some researchers are using a complexity framework thought to be purely theoretical to understand...
31st Oct 2019
1

Mathematical Simplicity May Drive Evolution’s Speed

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

31st Oct 2019
Some researchers are using a complexity framework thought to be purely theoretical to understand evolutionary dynamics in biological and computational systems. The post Mathematical Simplicity May Drive Evolution’s Speed first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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Career Development Guide for Job Seekers Context October 2025: With the government shut down and NASA JPL business in apparent terminal...
3rd Oct 2025
1

Career Development Guide for Job Seekers

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

3rd Oct 2025
Context October 2025: With the government shut down and NASA JPL business in apparent terminal decline, I have received numerous inbounds from former colleagues and friends asking for advice in post-NASA career development. At the same time, in my day job running Terraform...
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A climate ally needs support — but at what cost?
8th Jul 2025
1

A climate ally needs support — but at what cost?

from Conservation International [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Jul 2025
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Alaska Wolf Found With Record Amount of Mercury, a Sign of Growing Contamination When Alaska’s wolves began eating sea otters, it looked like a story of adaptation. Then they...
2nd Jan 2026
1

Alaska Wolf Found With Record Amount of Mercury, a Sign of Growing Contamination

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

2nd Jan 2026
When Alaska’s wolves began eating sea otters, it looked like a story of adaptation. Then they started getting sick. Read more on E360 →
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A World Without Clouds A state-of-the-art supercomputer simulation indicates that a feedback loop between global warming...
2nd Jan 2020
1

A World Without Clouds

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

2nd Jan 2020
A state-of-the-art supercomputer simulation indicates that a feedback loop between global warming and cloud loss can push Earth’s climate past a disastrous tipping point in as little as a century. The post A World Without Clouds first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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Who regulates the regulators? IRBs Scott Alexander reviews a book about institutional review boards (IRBs), the panels that review...
4th May 2023
97

Who regulates the regulators?

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

4th May 2023
IRBs Scott Alexander reviews a book about institutional review boards (IRBs), the panels that review the ethics of medical trials: From Oversight to Overkill, by Dr. Simon Whitney. From the title alone, you can see where this is going. IRBs are supposed to (among other things)...
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Let the great world spin I first heard the song “Fireflies,” by Owl City, shortly after my junior year of college. During the...
12th Jun 2023
58

Let the great world spin

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

12th Jun 2023
I first heard the song “Fireflies,” by Owl City, shortly after my junior year of college. During the refrain, singer Adam Young almost whispers, “I’d like to make myself believe / that planet Earth turns slowly.” Goosebumps prickled along my … Continue reading →
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Bizarre New Creatures Discovered 30,000 Feet Under the Sea The Titanic lies about 12,500 feet under the ocean. The pressure down there is so immense that even...
1st Aug 2025
8

Bizarre New Creatures Discovered 30,000 Feet Under the Sea

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

1st Aug 2025
The Titanic lies about 12,500 feet under the ocean. The pressure down there is so immense that even submersibles supposedly built for those conditions can, as we know, tragically fail. Now imagine taking a sub nearly three times deeper. Read more on E360 →
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The call of the Whimbrel The seven-note whistle of the Whimbrel is a classic sound, welcomed by Icelanders at the end of a...
6th Feb 2025
71

The call of the Whimbrel

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Feb 2025
The seven-note whistle of the Whimbrel is a classic sound, welcomed by Icelanders at the end of a long, dark winter. These wonderful waders are responding badly to recent changes to Iceland’s landscape, such as the ever-expanding areas of non-native forestry and power...
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Philip Tetlock: Superforecasting ### All it takes to improve forecasting is KEEP SCORE Will Syria’s President Assad still be in...
24th Nov 2015
1

Philip Tetlock: Superforecasting

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

24th Nov 2015
### All it takes to improve forecasting is KEEP SCORE Will Syria’s President Assad still be in power at the end of next year? Will Russia and China hold joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean in the next six months? Will the Oil Volatility Index fall below 25 in 2016? Will...
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