Andrew Fraknoi –...
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
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.
Works in Progress...
The beauty of concrete
Why are buildings today simple and austere, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately...
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.
Quantum Frontiers
What distinguishes quantum from classical thermodynamics?
Should you require a model for an Oxford don in a play or novel, look no farther than Andrew Briggs....
27th Nov 2025
Should you require a model for an Oxford don in a play or novel, look no farther than Andrew Briggs. The emeritus professor of nanomaterials speaks with a southern-English accent as crisp as shortbread, exhibits manners to which etiquette influencer … Continue reading →
Works in Progress...
The perks of being a mole rat
The secrets to extending human lifespans might lie in the animals that can already live for...
4th Feb 2026
The secrets to extending human lifespans might lie in the animals that can already live for centuries.
Chris Grossack's...
Preprint -- The RAAG Functor as a Categorical Embedding
After almost a year of sitting on my hard drive, I finally had time in
August to finish revising my...
5th Oct 2023
After almost a year of sitting on my hard drive, I finally had time in
August to finish revising my new preprint on
Right Angled Artin Groups (Raags). And in September I had time to put
it on the arxiv for people to see! Within 24 hours I had an email from
somebody who had...
Bartosz Ciechanowski
Airfoil
The dream of soaring in the sky like a bird has captivated the human mind for ages. Although many...
27th Feb 2024
The dream of soaring in the sky like a bird has captivated the human mind for ages. Although many failed, some eventually succeeded in achieving that goal. These days we take air transportation for granted, but the physics of flight can still be puzzling.
In this article we’ll...
Works in Progress...
The first non-opioid painkiller
For nearly two centuries, pain relief meant effective but addictive opioids. Scientists have finally...
6th Oct 2025
For nearly two centuries, pain relief meant effective but addictive opioids. Scientists have finally made something better.
The Quanta Podcast
Graduate Student's Side Project Proves Prime Number Conjecture
Jared Duker Lichtman, 26, has proved a longstanding conjecture relating prime numbers to a broad...
14th Sep 2022
Jared Duker Lichtman, 26, has proved a longstanding conjecture relating prime numbers to a broad class of “primitive” sets. To his adviser, it came as a “complete shock.” Read more at quantamagazine.org. Music is “Thought Bot” by Audionautix.
The Roots of...
The Spirit We Lost, part 1
Previously: The Unlimited Horizon, part 1 and part 2.
On a fine day late in May, 1883, hundreds of...
30th Sep 2025
Previously: The Unlimited Horizon, part 1 and part 2.
On a fine day late in May, 1883, hundreds of thousands of people gathered along the East River in New York City for a grand celebration.1 Perhaps a hundred thousand came from outside the city: by train, by boat, by wagon from...
NeuroLogica Blog
It’s Just A Correlation
Did you know that the number of Google searches for cat memes correlates tightly (P-value < 0.01)...
5th Aug 2025
Did you know that the number of Google searches for cat memes correlates tightly (P-value < 0.01) with England’s performance in cricket World Cups? What’s going on here? Is interest in funny cat videos driven by the excitement created by cricket victories. Perhaps cat memes are...
Long Now
Peter Schwartz: The Art Of The Really Long View
### The art of the really long view
For such a weighty subject there was a lot of guffawing going...
13th Dec 2003
### The art of the really long view
For such a weighty subject there was a lot of guffawing going on in the Seminar Thursday night.
The topic was "The Art of the Really Long View." Peter Schwartz chatted through his slides for tonight's lecture, then the discussion waded in....
Works in Progress...
The great reinforcer
Alongside all the successes of science in the Covid era, the pandemic has also sparked an outbreak...
8th Feb 2021
Alongside all the successes of science in the Covid era, the pandemic has also sparked an outbreak of viral misinformation and sloppy research, revealing the glaring flaws in our scientific system.
The Works in...
Flipping the switch on far-UVC
We’ve known about far-UVC’s promise for a decade. Why isn't it everywhere?
10th Mar 2025
We’ve known about far-UVC’s promise for a decade. Why isn't it everywhere?
Long Now
Drew Endy & Jim Thomas: Synthetic Biology Debate
### Terms of Biocontainment
"I want to develop tools that make biology easy to engineer," Drew Endy...
18th Nov 2008
### Terms of Biocontainment
"I want to develop tools that make biology easy to engineer," Drew Endy began. The first purpose is better understanding fundamental biological mechanisms through "learning by building." The toolkit of Synthetic Biology starts with DNA construction...
The Roots of...
If you wish to make an apple pie, you must first become dictator of the universe
The word “robot” is derived from the Czech robota, which means “serfdom.” It was introduced over a...
5th Jul 2023
The word “robot” is derived from the Czech robota, which means “serfdom.” It was introduced over a century ago by the Czech play R.U.R., for “Rossum’s Universal Robots.” In the play, the smartest and best-educated of the robots leads a slave revolt that wipes out most of...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New Wave of Concierge Medicine | Out-Of-Pocket
This episode of Out-Of-Pocket is brought to you by…
9th Jul 2024
This episode of Out-Of-Pocket is brought to you by…
Long Now
Craig Childs: Apocalyptic Planet: Field Guide to the Everending Earth
### How the world keeps ending
“This Earth is a story teller,” Childs began. “And it is not a...
30th Jul 2013
### How the world keeps ending
“This Earth is a story teller,” Childs began. “And it is not a stable place to live. It is always ending. We think of endings as sudden, but it is always a process.”
For his book _Apocalyptic Planet_ he sought out some of the world’s most...
Probably...
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
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...
The Roots of...
Get your fine, handcrafted artisanal essays right here
I don’t use AI to draft my writing. These are fine handcrafted artisanal essays, every word placed...
10th Jun 2026
I don’t use AI to draft my writing. These are fine handcrafted artisanal essays, every word placed individually with loving care.
I use AI a lot for researching, occasionally for brainstorming, and increasingly for fact-checking. But not for outlining, drafting, or directly...
Melting Asphalt
The Elephant in the Brain
It's finally here! The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life — my first book,...
3rd Jan 2018
It's finally here! The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life — my first book, coauthored with Robin Hanson — is now widely available. You can find the ebook version on Kindle, Google Play, and iBooks. It's also…
Read more ›
Long Now
Frank Ostaseski: What the Dying Teach the Living
## Death’s Honesty
**In one of Long Now’s most moving talks** , Ostaseski began: “I’m not romantic...
11th Apr 2017
## Death’s Honesty
**In one of Long Now’s most moving talks** , Ostaseski began: “I’m not romantic about dying. This is the hardest work you will ever do. It is tough. It’s sad and it’s messy and it’s cruel and it’s beautiful sometimes and mysterious, but above all that, it’s...
Long Now
Saul Griffith: Climate Change Recalculated
### The Terawatt World
Engineer Griffith said he was going to make the connection between personal...
17th Jan 2009
### The Terawatt World
Engineer Griffith said he was going to make the connection between personal actions and global climate change. To do that he's been analyzing his own life in extreme detail to figure out exactly how much energy he uses and what changes might reduce the...
Drew Ex Machina
NASA’s Explorer 18: The First Interplanetary Monitoring Platform
Among the greatest scientific achievements of the opening years of the Space Age was the...
27th Nov 2023
Among the greatest scientific achievements of the opening years of the Space Age was the characterization of Earth’s magnetic field and the discovery of what became […]
Drew Ex Machina
Memories of Project RAMOS (Russian American Observation Satellites) 1991 – 2004
During the course of my professional career, one of the more important projects I had the pleasure...
29th Sep 2023
During the course of my professional career, one of the more important projects I had the pleasure to work on was the joint US/Russian Federation (RF) […]
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Things I’m watching in healthcare 2023 | Out-Of-Pocket
it's been a weird year
5th Mar 2024
Asterisk
The Ruin of Mumbai
Mumbai’s land use regulations are designed to keep population density low. Instead, they force...
1st Mar 2024
Mumbai’s land use regulations are designed to keep population density low. Instead, they force Mumbaikars into slums, while all of India pays the price.
Quanta Magazine
Fish Have a Brain Microbiome. Could Humans Have One Too?
The discovery that other vertebrates have healthy, microbial brains is fueling the still...
2nd Dec 2024
The discovery that other vertebrates have healthy, microbial brains is fueling the still controversial possibility that we might have them as well.
The post Fish Have a Brain Microbiome. Could Humans Have One Too? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Interaction Magic -...
Metaphors mold minds
Every good design is founded on a great metaphor. How to use metaphors to design more a inclusive...
21st Mar 2022
Every good design is founded on a great metaphor. How to use metaphors to design more a inclusive future for our cities. My IXDA Interaction 22 conference talk.
Long Now
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
### 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...
Wanderingspace
Kind of Cool Image of Io from Juno
Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI
The brightest spot is a radiation signature, but all the...
18th Aug 2021
Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI
The brightest spot is a radiation signature, but all the rest are thought to be active volcanos on the Io surface. The moons are not a primary target of the Juno mission, but they do occasionally take a peek to try and monitor such...
Quantum Frontiers
Sculpting quantum steampunk
In 2020, many of us logged experiences that we’d never anticipated. I wrote a nonfiction book and...
28th Oct 2024
In 2020, many of us logged experiences that we’d never anticipated. I wrote a nonfiction book and got married outside the Harvard Faculty Club (because nobody was around to shoo us away). Equally unexpectedly, I received an invitation to collaborate … Continue reading →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Google x Out-Of-Pocket!! | Out-Of-Pocket
Plus other fun updates
3rd Oct 2025
NeuroLogica Blog
Virtual Walking
When I use my virtual reality gear I do practical zero virtual walking – meaning that I don’t have...
1st Mar 2024
When I use my virtual reality gear I do practical zero virtual walking – meaning that I don’t have my avatar walk while I am not walking. I general play standing up which means I can move around the space in my office mapped by my VR software – so I am physically walking to...
Long Now
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
### 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...
Interaction Magic -...
Hacking the terrorist timepiece
The hardest part of building hardware interfaces is not having the right tools to prototype, test...
15th Aug 2022
The hardest part of building hardware interfaces is not having the right tools to prototype, test and validate ideas. A behind the scenes look at my prototyping process, on a project to re-invent the famous Casio F-91W watch.
Peder M. Isager
Fifty ways to leave your model
A method for calculating the number of alternative causal models, given a number of variables/nodes.
15th Feb 2020
A method for calculating the number of alternative causal models, given a number of variables/nodes.
Interaction Magic -...
Modelling my brain
A 22 hour medical experiment breathing 12% oxygen, and the 7000 images of my brain that came out of...
29th Mar 2021
A 22 hour medical experiment breathing 12% oxygen, and the 7000 images of my brain that came out of it.
The Quanta Podcast
Machines Learn Better if We Teach Them the Basics
A wave of research improves reinforcement learning algorithms by pre-training them as if they were...
5th Jul 2023
A wave of research improves reinforcement learning algorithms by pre-training them as if they were human. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Quasi Motion” by Kevin MacLeod.
Works in Progress...
The ultimate horse
Selective breeding has pushed horses to the limits of biology. But at what cost?
5th Aug 2026
Selective breeding has pushed horses to the limits of biology. But at what cost?
Marine Madness
Book Club: ‘The Island of Sea Women’ by Lisa See
Little is known about Jeju- a Korean island- occupied by brutal Japanese troops in the 1930s and...
1st Sep 2021
Little is known about Jeju- a Korean island- occupied by brutal Japanese troops in the 1930s and ’40s, later liberated by US forces and turned over to the even more barbarous Korean regime whose wrongdoings were overlooked by both American and U.N. occupiers. Lisa See travels...
The Quanta Podcast
At Tiny Scales, a Giant Burst on Tree of Life
A new technique for finding and characterizing microbes has boosted the number of known bacteria by...
6th Aug 2015
A new technique for finding and characterizing microbes has boosted the number of known bacteria by almost 50 percent, revealing a hidden world all around us.
The post At Tiny Scales, a Giant Burst on Tree of Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Long Now
Matt Ridley: Deep Optimism
### Undeniable Progress
Hominids had upright walking, stone tools, fire, even language but still...
23rd Mar 2011
### Undeniable Progress
Hominids had upright walking, stone tools, fire, even language but still remained in profound stasis. What led to humanity's global takeoff, Ridley argues, was the invention of exchange about 120,000 years ago. "That's ten times older than...
Wanderingspace
Dust Storm On Mars
A dust storm in Olympia Planum's north polar dune fields was triggered by a late Martian summer cold...
8th Apr 2024
A dust storm in Olympia Planum's north polar dune fields was triggered by a late Martian summer cold front. As the northern polar cap shrinks fast, it releases cold air that sometimes moves south, like on Earth. These cold fronts strengthen in late summer and early fall due to...
IEEE Spectrum
Sci-fi and Hi-fi
Many a technologist has been inspired by science fiction. Some have even built, or rebuilt, entire...
4th Mar 2024
Many a technologist has been inspired by science fiction. Some have even built, or rebuilt, entire companies around an idea introduced in a story they read, as the founders of Second Life and Meta did, working from the metaverse as imagined by Neal Stephenson in his seminal 1992...
Conservation...
3 things our experts loved in May
26th Jun 2024
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Some sick wearable projects | Out-Of-Pocket
Robots, wearables for kids, and more
3rd Jun 2026
Robots, wearables for kids, and more
Many Worlds
Many Worlds Archive is Available
I had the pleasure of reporting and writing the Many Worlds column — sponsored by NASA’s NExSS...
14th Nov 2023
I had the pleasure of reporting and writing the Many Worlds column — sponsored by NASA’s NExSS initiative and the Lunar & Planetary Institute — for almost eight years. But the run came to an end in October. Now an archive of the more than 400 columns is easily available at...
Stephen Wolfram...
Who Can Understand the Proof? A Window on Formalized Mathematics
Related writings: “Logic, Explainability and the Future of Understanding” (2018) » “The...
9th Jan 2025
Related writings: “Logic, Explainability and the Future of Understanding” (2018) » “The Physicalization of Metamathematics and Its Implications for the Foundations of Mathematics” (2022) » “Computational Knowledge and the Future of Pure Mathematics” (2014) » The Simplest Axiom...
Bartosz Ciechanowski
Sound
Invisible and relentless, sound is seemingly just there, traveling through our surroundings to carry...
18th Oct 2022
Invisible and relentless, sound is seemingly just there, traveling through our surroundings to carry beautiful music or annoying noises. In this article I’ll explain what sound is, how it’s created and propagated.
Throughout this presentation you will be hearing different sounds,...
Beautiful Public...
FAA Aviation Maps
Among all of the visual information published by the U.S. government, there may be no product with a...
29th Jan 2024
Among all of the visual information published by the U.S. government, there may be no product with a higher information density than the Federal Aviation Administration’s aviation maps.
Casey Handmer's blog
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
[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...
Quantum Frontiers
Astrobiology meets quantum computation?
The origin of life appears to share little with quantum computation, apart from the difficulty of...
23rd Oct 2023
The origin of life appears to share little with quantum computation, apart from the difficulty of achieving it and its potential for clickbait. Yet similar notions of complexity have recently garnered attention in both fields. Each topic’s researchers expect only … Continue...
NeuroLogica Blog
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
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...
Probably...
Think DSP second edition
I have started work on a second edition of Think DSP! You can see the current draft here. I started...
4th Nov 2025
I have started work on a second edition of Think DSP! You can see the current draft here. I started this project in part because of this announcement: Once in a while, a few of the Scicloj friends will meet to learn about signal processing, following the Think DSP book by Allen...
Long Now
David Eagleman: The Brain and The Now
### The Brain’s Now
Our perception of time raises all sorts of questions, Eagleman began. “Why does...
5th Oct 2016
### The Brain’s Now
Our perception of time raises all sorts of questions, Eagleman began. “Why does time seem to slow down when you’re scared? And why does it seem to speed up as you get older?”
With an onscreen demonstration, Eagleman showed that “Time is actively constructed...
The Quanta Podcast
A Zombie Gene Protects Elephants From Cancer
Elephants did not evolve to become huge animals until after they turned a bit of genetic junk into a...
12th Apr 2018
Elephants did not evolve to become huge animals until after they turned a bit of genetic junk into a unique defense against inevitable tumors.
The post A Zombie Gene Protects Elephants From Cancer first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Works in Progress...
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
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...
Drew Ex Machina
Pioneer 3: JPL’s First Moonshot Attempt
With the new push by the United States and other space faring powers to renew the exploration of the...
6th Dec 2022
With the new push by the United States and other space faring powers to renew the exploration of the Moon, miniaturized spacecraft have been made part […]
IEEE Spectrum
Designing the First Apple Macintosh: The Engineers’ Story
In 1979 the Macintosh personal computer existed only as the pet idea of Jef Raskin, a veteran of the...
2nd Jul 2023
In 1979 the Macintosh personal computer existed only as the pet idea of Jef Raskin, a veteran of the Apple II team, who had proposed that Apple Computer Inc. make a low-cost “appliance”-type computer that would be as easy to use as a toaster. Mr. Raskin believed the computer he...
Long Now
Daniel Janzen: Third World Conservation: It's ALL Gardening
### Mega gardening
Big as life and twice as opinionated, the renowned preservation biologist Daniel...
10th Apr 2004
### Mega gardening
Big as life and twice as opinionated, the renowned preservation biologist Daniel Janzen spoke for The Long Now on Friday, April 9, 2005. His perspective on preservation may be jarring to some: "It's ALL Gardening".
Dan Janzen is most widely known for his...
The Quanta Podcast
A Long-Sought Proof, Found and Almost Lost
When a German retiree proved a famous long-standing mathematical conjecture, the response was...
1st Jun 2017
When a German retiree proved a famous long-standing mathematical conjecture, the response was underwhelming.
The post A Long-Sought Proof, Found and Almost Lost first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Works in Progress...
Just bury your trash
What if everything we know about recycling is wrong?
2 weeks ago
What if everything we know about recycling is wrong?
Casey Handmer's blog
Terraform Talent Development
Originally posted at the Terraform Blog on November 17, 2025. Terraform Industries is the vehicle by...
24th Nov 2025
Originally posted at the Terraform Blog on November 17, 2025. Terraform Industries is the vehicle by which I build the people that build the team I need to build the future I am determined to build. One of the unexpected privileges of founding an ambitious, future-oriented...
The Quanta Podcast
To Live Your Best Life, Do Mathematics
The ancient Greeks argued that the best life was filled with beauty, truth, justice, play and love....
2nd Mar 2017
The ancient Greeks argued that the best life was filled with beauty, truth, justice, play and love. The mathematician Francis Su knows just where to find them.
The post To Live Your Best Life, Do Mathematics first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
Saving Academics from Themselves
The university will survive AI. That doesn’t mean we’ll like what it turns into.
1st Jul 2026
The university will survive AI. That doesn’t mean we’ll like what it turns into.
Stephen Wolfram...
On the Nature of Time
The Computational View of Time Time is a central feature of human experience. But what actually is...
8th Oct 2024
The Computational View of Time Time is a central feature of human experience. But what actually is it? In traditional scientific accounts it’s often represented as some kind of coordinate much like space (though a coordinate that for some reason is always systematically...
Works in Progress...
Why we didn’t get a malaria vaccine sooner
Hundreds of thousands of people die from malaria each year, but it took 141 years to develop a...
7th Sep 2023
Hundreds of thousands of people die from malaria each year, but it took 141 years to develop a vaccine for it. Advance market commitments could speed things up next time.
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 8: Pale-billed Antpittas In The Elfin Forest (February 10, 2024)
February 10, 2024
The Pale-billed Antpitta is a large, fancy-looking Grallaria antpitta only found...
8th Jun 2024
February 10, 2024
The Pale-billed Antpitta is a large, fancy-looking Grallaria antpitta only found in the high Andes of northern Peru. Because of its proclivity towards dense forest with an abundance of bamboo, there are few places where this species can be easily found. These...
Chris Grossack's...
Externalizing Some Simple Topos Statements
Hey all! It’s been a minute. I’ve been super busy with
the UC strike and honestly I haven’t done...
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...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Enjoy the Coming Leap Day: Some Thoughts about the Calendar
This year February will have an extra day -- we discuss why?
The post Enjoy the Coming Leap Day: ...
12th Feb 2024
This year February will have an extra day -- we discuss why?
The post Enjoy the Coming Leap Day: Some Thoughts about the Calendar appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
The Quanta Podcast
Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter
A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT — “brightest of all time” — appears to have produced a...
1st Mar 2023
A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT — “brightest of all time” — appears to have produced a high-energy particle that shouldn’t exist. For some, dark matter provides the explanation. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Pulse” by Geographer.
NeuroLogica Blog
Problems with the Institute Of Noetic Sciences
I was interviewed recently for a Daily Beast article on recent research involving the Institute of...
1st May 2023
I was interviewed recently for a Daily Beast article on recent research involving the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). Overall the article is very good, and author Maddie Bender was fair and reasonable in how I was quoted. I can’t always take that as a given. No matter how...
Conservation...
5 things you didn’t know sharks do for you
3rd Sep 2025
Long Now
Terry Hunt & Carl Lipo: The Statues Walked -- What Really Happened on Easter Island
### Easter Island reconsidered
In the most isolated place on Earth a tiny society built world-class...
18th Jan 2013
### Easter Island reconsidered
In the most isolated place on Earth a tiny society built world-class monuments. Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is 1,000 miles from the nearest Pacific island, 3,000 miles from the nearest continent. It is just six by ten miles in size, with no running...
Long Now
Tim Flannery: Here on Earth
### Wallace beats Darwin
The great insight of natural selection was published simultaneously by...
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...
lcamtuf’s thing
See it with your lying ears
This blog has a history of answering questions that no one should be asking. Today, we continue that...
10th Jan 2026
This blog has a history of answering questions that no one should be asking. Today, we continue that proud legacy.
Andrew Fraknoi –...
128 New Moons Found Around Saturn
An international team of astronomers announced recently that they had discovered 128 new, small...
9th Apr 2025
An international team of astronomers announced recently that they had discovered 128 new, small moons orbiting the planet Saturn. That brings the total number of moons known around the ringed planet to 274, breaking all planetary records. Jupiter, the runner-up, has “only” 95...
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: Artificial flavoring
"Artificial" didn't scare Americans in the 19th century. Why does it scare us now?
6th Apr 2023
"Artificial" didn't scare Americans in the 19th century. Why does it scare us now?
Explorations of an...
The Gambia, Part 1 of 2
In November I visited The Gambia along with ten travellers from Quest Nature Tours. Why The Gambia,...
19th Dec 2025
In November I visited The Gambia along with ten travellers from Quest Nature Tours. Why The Gambia, you may ask? This tiny country is not well-known to the international community, but it is an attractive ecotourism destination. The Gambia is a stable, English-speaking democracy...
Beautiful Public...
The USGS Cooperative National Geologic Map
A new, colorful map from the USGS synthesizes decades of state and federal geologic surveys to...
1st Dec 2025
A new, colorful map from the USGS synthesizes decades of state and federal geologic surveys to create the most detailed visualization of the geology of the contiguous United States to date.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The AI Projects From Our B2B Hackathon | Out-Of-Pocket
DME coordination, assessing AI vendors using AI, physician recruiting tools, and more
5th Dec 2025
DME coordination, assessing AI vendors using AI, physician recruiting tools, and more
Long Now
Rose McDermott: Ideology in our Genes: The Biological Basis for Political Traits
While traditionally social factors have been considered to have primary influence on political...
1st Dec 2017
While traditionally social factors have been considered to have primary influence on political behaviors and preferences, more recent research shows that there's also a strong heritable component to ideological attitudes. Rose McDermott, professor of International Relations at...
Long Now
Mary Lou Jepsen: Toward Practical Telepathy
With her stunning breakthroughs in neural imaging, Mary Lou Jepsen is making the brain readable (and...
5th Nov 2018
With her stunning breakthroughs in neural imaging, Mary Lou Jepsen is making the brain readable (and stimulatable) in real time. That will revolutionize brain study and brain medicine, but what about brain communication? Could a direct high-resolution interface to the brain lead...
Long Now
Timothy Ferriss: Accelerated Learning in Accelerated Times
### Learning to learn fast
To acquire "the meta-skill of acquiring skills," Ferriss recommends...
15th Sep 2011
### Learning to learn fast
To acquire "the meta-skill of acquiring skills," Ferriss recommends approaching any subject with some contrarian analysis: "What if I try the opposite of best practices?" Some conventional wisdom---"children learn languages faster than adults" (no they...
Damn Interesting
The Rube’s Dilemma
It all started with a hat. A straw boater, to be precise, with a flat, round brim and brightly...
28th Oct 2022
It all started with a hat. A straw boater, to be precise, with a flat, round brim and brightly colored ribbon tied around the crown. Originally popularized by gondoliers in Venice, this jaunty accessory had reached the height of American couture by the turn of the 20th century....
The Quanta Podcast
Secrets of Early Animal Evolution Revealed by Chromosome 'Tectonics'
Large blocks of genes conserved through hundreds of millions of years of evolution hint at how the...
14th Apr 2022
Large blocks of genes conserved through hundreds of millions of years of evolution hint at how the first animal chromosomes came to be.
The post Secrets of Early Animal Evolution Revealed by Chromosome ‘Tectonics’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine
brr
Pressure Altitude
Day-to-day variability at the South Pole.
6th Aug 2023
Day-to-day variability at the South Pole.
Long Now
Brewster Kahle: Universal Access to All Knowledge
### All knowledge, to all people, for all time, for free
Universal access to all knowledge, Kahle...
1st Dec 2011
### All knowledge, to all people, for all time, for free
Universal access to all knowledge, Kahle declared, will be one of humanity's greatest achievements. We are already well on the way. "We're building the Library of Alexandria, version 2. We can one-up the Greeks!"
Start...
Long Now
Sara Seager: Other Earths. Other Life.
## To find living exoplanets
Thanks to recent exoplanet research, Seager began, we now know that...
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”...
The Works in...
Fertility on demand
Technology could allow women to have it all
1st May 2025
Technology could allow women to have it all
Long Now
Bjorn Lomborg: From Feel-Good to High-Yield Good: How to Improve Philanthropy and Aid
## Doing Good...
14th Mar 2017
## Doing Good Better
[](https://media.longnow.org/files/2/lomborghaiti.jpg)
**Lomborg opened with a photo from Haiti** , showing a young girl dressed for school wading through the muck and garbage of a slum, with pigs...
Long Now
Kara Platoni: Transforming Perception, One Sense at a Time
Kara Platoni, author and journalism professor at UC-Berkeley, set out to find the sensory pioneers...
3rd Jul 2017
Kara Platoni, author and journalism professor at UC-Berkeley, set out to find the sensory pioneers who are changing the way we experience the world. Her boot-strapped and crowd-sourced quest led her to laboratories and workshops around the world. In her book _[We Have The...
Interaction Magic -...
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
Nobody likes stroking a pane of glass, so why do we love touchscreens so much? Let's build distributed interfaces that work.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Can AI solve the pain of endless hold times? | Out-Of-Pocket
A look at how it works under the hood + what Assort is doing
11th Nov 2025
A look at how it works under the hood + what Assort is doing
Casey Handmer's blog
California’s path to redemption
California is by far the richest and most powerful polity led by Progressive ideals, and it has...
2nd Mar 2025
California is by far the richest and most powerful polity led by Progressive ideals, and it has taken a beating of late. In this post, I discuss a practical roadmap by which California must reclaim its mantle as the shining city on the hill, an embodiment of the positive...
The Quanta Podcast
A Domesticated Dingo? No, but Some Are Getting Less Wild
Near an Australian desert mining camp, wild dingoes are losing their fear of humans. Their genetic...
9th Aug 2018
Near an Australian desert mining camp, wild dingoes are losing their fear of humans. Their genetic and behavioral changes may echo those from the domestication of dogs.
The post A Domesticated Dingo? No, but Some Are Getting Less Wild first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
AI After Drug Development
Coming up with drug candidates isn’t the bottleneck on finding new treatments. Can AI help with the...
1st Jan 1970
Coming up with drug candidates isn’t the bottleneck on finding new treatments. Can AI help with the things that are?
Apoorva Srinivasan
an experiment in navigating the knowledge frontier beyond search
Lately, I've been experimenting with interfaces for large language models (LLMs) in my free time....
21st Nov 2023
Lately, I've been experimenting with interfaces for large language models (LLMs) in my free time. The fruit of this labor is something I'm calling "curie," an exploratory and sense-making tool designed to navigate complex topics.
0:00
...
Probably...
Young Adults Want Fewer Children
The most recent data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) provides a first look at...
19th Mar 2025
The most recent data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) provides a first look at people born in the 2000s as young adults and an updated view of people born in the 1990s at the peak of their child-bearing years. Compared to previous generations at the same ages,...
Long Now
Brian Behlendorf: A Foundation of Trust: Building a Blockchain Future
An Open Source pioneer, [Brian Behlendorf](https://twitter.com/brianbehlendorf) now leads the effort...
7th Jun 2019
An Open Source pioneer, [Brian Behlendorf](https://twitter.com/brianbehlendorf) now leads the effort to build the infrastructure for trust as a service. In the past he helped build the foundations of the Web with [the Apache Foundation](http://www.apache.org/) and brought Open...
Melting Asphalt
2015 Meta
Time for my annual blogging review. And only 11 days late! I'll keep it brief. Blog stats I...
11th Jan 2016
Time for my annual blogging review. And only 11 days late! I'll keep it brief. Blog stats I published a paltry six full essays this year. Don't get me wrong: I'm proud of them. But still, six. It would be…
Read more ›
IEEE Spectrum
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
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...
Works in Progress...
Watt lies beneath
The earth’s core is hot. So hot, that if we drilled deep enough, we could power the world millions...
15th Nov 2023
The earth’s core is hot. So hot, that if we drilled deep enough, we could power the world millions of times over with cheap, clean energy, supporting renewables when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. But getting there is tough.
Long Now
Rick Prelinger: Lost Landscapes of San Francisco
### Four Dimensional Cities
Cities are designed and built in three dimensions. Watching...
20th Dec 2008
### Four Dimensional Cities
Cities are designed and built in three dimensions. Watching Prelinger's historic footage of San Francisco last night (to a more than overflowing crowd) reminds us however that one of the most compelling dimensions to a city is its fourth dimension -...
IEEE Spectrum
Why the Art of Invention Is Always Being Reinvented
Every invention begins with a problem—and the creative act of seeing a problem where others might...
1st Nov 2024
Every invention begins with a problem—and the creative act of seeing a problem where others might just see unchangeable reality. For one 5-year-old, the problem was simple: She liked to have her tummy rubbed as she fell asleep. But her mom, exhausted from working two jobs, often...
Inverted Passion
Why aren’t things changing faster?
Been wondering lately that given everyone has a consultant with all the world’s knowledge in their...
4th May 2026
Been wondering lately that given everyone has a consultant with all the world’s knowledge in their pockets, we should be seeing efficiency rise across the board everywhere. Literally everyone can now get personalised advise on how to serve their customers better, improve quality...
Melting Asphalt
A Nihilist's Guide to Meaning
I've never been plagued by the big existential questions. You know, like What's my purpose? or What...
11th Jul 2016
I've never been plagued by the big existential questions. You know, like What's my purpose? or What does it all mean? Growing up I was a very science-minded kid — still am — and from an early age I learned…
Read more ›
Yale E360
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
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 →
Quanta Magazine
When Data Is Missing, Scientists Guess. Then Guess Again.
Across the social and biological sciences, statisticians use a technique that leverages randomness...
2nd Oct 2024
Across the social and biological sciences, statisticians use a technique that leverages randomness to deal with the unknown.
The post When Data Is Missing, Scientists Guess. Then Guess Again. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Long Now
Niall Ferguson: Networks and Power
“This time is different.”
Historians: “Ha.”
“The Net is net beneficial.”
Historian Niall...
13th Dec 2018
“This time is different.”
Historians: “Ha.”
“The Net is net beneficial.”
Historian Niall Ferguson: “Globalization is in crisis. Populism is on the march. Authoritarian states are ascendant. Technology meanwhile marches inexorably ahead, threatening to render most human beings...
Articles - Chris...
My $500M Mars Rover Mistake: A Failure Story
Some mistakes feel worse than death.
27th Nov 2023
Some mistakes feel worse than death.
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Total Eclipse of the Moon Coming Mar. 13-14
There will be a total eclipse of the Moon visible in the Americas the night of March 13-14
The post...
13th Feb 2025
There will be a total eclipse of the Moon visible in the Americas the night of March 13-14
The post Total Eclipse of the Moon Coming Mar. 13-14 appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
The Quanta Podcast
Milestone Experiment Proves Quantum Communication Really Is Faster
In a Paris lab, researchers have shown for the first time that quantum methods of transmitting...
7th Nov 2019
In a Paris lab, researchers have shown for the first time that quantum methods of transmitting information are superior to classical ones.
The post Milestone Experiment Proves Quantum Communication Really Is Faster first appeared on Quanta Magazine
wadertales
Peatland restoration – ploughing for plovers.
Commercial forestry was never a good option for the wet peatlands of northeast Scotland, with...
16th Aug 2025
Commercial forestry was never a good option for the wet peatlands of northeast Scotland, with planting financed by tax subsidies and sold on the mantra of ‘rural jobs’. The trees did not grow well and, thirty years on, more government money started to be spent to restore the same...
Beautiful Public...
Government Comic Books
Government comics have taught Americans how to prevent forest fires, survive a nuclear blast, and...
27th Nov 2023
Government comics have taught Americans how to prevent forest fires, survive a nuclear blast, and how soldiers should handle homosexuality in the military.
Drew Ex Machina
You Can’t Fail Unless You Try: NASA’s Pioneer P-3 Lunar Orbiter
Space enthusiasts of a certain age, like myself, grew up learning about the trio of NASA’s unmanned...
26th Nov 2024
Space enthusiasts of a certain age, like myself, grew up learning about the trio of NASA’s unmanned programs which provided scientists and engineers with vital information […]
Melting Asphalt
Crony Beliefs
[Note: if you prefer audio, you can listen to this essay narrated by Grognor on his excellent...
2nd Nov 2016
[Note: if you prefer audio, you can listen to this essay narrated by Grognor on his excellent podcast Second Enumerations. —Ed.] Credits up front: This essay draws heavily from Overcoming Bias, Less Wrong, Slate Star Codex, Robert Kurzban, Robert…
Read more ›
Uncharted...
Why Is Argentina Poor?
The root of its economic mismanagement
1st Nov 2025
The root of its economic mismanagement
NeuroLogica Blog
Clickbait and Misinformation
Which is worse – clickbaity headlines for news articles that are factually correct, but may be...
3rd Jun 2024
Which is worse – clickbaity headlines for news articles that are factually correct, but may be playing up a sensational angle, or straight-up misinformation? It depends on what you mean by “worse”. A new study tries to address this information, with some interesting findings....
Long Now
Emily Levine & Jill Tarter: Long Conversation 4 of 19
**This is one conversation out of the 19 that took place as part of the Long Conversation.[Media...
16th Oct 2010
**This is one conversation out of the 19 that took place as part of the Long Conversation.[Media links for the other Conversations are available here.](https://longnow.org/seminars/02010/oct/16/long-conversation/)**
Long Conversation, an epic relay of one-to-one conversations...
The Works in...
Getting people to donate their organs
Too few people donate their organs, dead or alive. How can we make it easier?
2nd Apr 2024
Too few people donate their organs, dead or alive. How can we make it easier?
NeuroLogica Blog
Harvesting Energy from Water Vapor
I did not plan to write yet another post about energy, but this popped up and I had to write about...
1st Jun 2023
I did not plan to write yet another post about energy, but this popped up and I had to write about it. UMASS researchers have produced a device that generates electricity by harvesting charge from water vapor. They write: The common feature of these materials is that they are...
ToughSF
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
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...
The Works in...
Heat waves
Why a hotter world might be a more dangerous, violent, and less productive one
12th Jul 2024
Why a hotter world might be a more dangerous, violent, and less productive one
SubAnima
Evolution Isn't Always For The Best
Evolution is not, I repeat, NOT natural selection
17th Mar 2022
Evolution is not, I repeat, NOT natural selection
Chris Grossack's...
Life in Johnstone's Topological Topos 1 -- Fundamentals
I’ve been thinking a lot about the internal logic of topoi again, and I
want to have more examples...
3rd Jul 2024
I’ve been thinking a lot about the internal logic of topoi again, and I
want to have more examples of topoi that I understand well enough to
externalize some statements. There’s more to life than just a localic
$\mathsf{Sh}(B)$, and since I’m starting to feel like I understand...
Long Now
Steven Johnson: The Long Zoom
### Consilience defeats miasma
Steven Johnson began his long zoom survey with the "prior art" of...
12th May 2007
### Consilience defeats miasma
Steven Johnson began his long zoom survey with the "prior art" of Joyce's Stephen Daedalus locating himself in himself, his neighborhood, Dublin, on out to the universe. The value of a long zoom is in identifying and employing every scale between...
Long Now
Arthur Ganson: Machines and the Breath of Time
### Dancing chairs
"You follow the feeling of the piece," Ganson explained, "and then wrestle it...
15th Sep 2009
### Dancing chairs
"You follow the feeling of the piece," Ganson explained, "and then wrestle it into physicality." As long as the idea is nonphysical, it is permanent; it becomes temporary as a physical device; and then it becomes permanent again in the mind of the viewer.
As...
IEEE Spectrum
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
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...
nanoscale views
Vortices everywhere
The 2026 APS Oliver E. Buckley Prize in condensed matter physics was announced this week, and it's a...
8th Nov 2025
The 2026 APS Oliver E. Buckley Prize in condensed matter physics was announced this week, and it's a really interesting combination of topics that, to a lay person, may seem to be completely unrelated.
Fig. 1 from this follow-up PRB.
On the one hand, John Reppy (at age 94!)...
Quanta Magazine
How Math Has Changed the Shape of Gerrymandering
New tools make it possible to detect hidden manipulation of maps.
The post How Math Has...
1st Jun 2023
New tools make it possible to detect hidden manipulation of maps.
The post How Math Has Changed the Shape of Gerrymandering first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Tong Test for Artificial General Intelligence
Most readers are probably familiar with the Turing Test – a concept proposed by early computing...
2nd Oct 2023
Most readers are probably familiar with the Turing Test – a concept proposed by early computing expert Alan Turing in 1950, and originally called “The Imitation Game”. The original paper is enlightening to read. Turing was not trying to answer the question “can machines think”....
Apoorva Srinivasan
getting started with bayesian inference
In my previous post, we spoke about hypothesis testing from a frequentist perspective. This is the...
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...
wadertales
Inland feeding by coastal godwits
Species such as Dunlin and Knot are well-served by conservation measures that aim to protect...
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
3D Printing With Metallic Gel
One of the futuristic technologies that I find most promising is 3D printing (additive...
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...
Eukaryote Writes...
There’s no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically)
Dendronization – Evolving into a tree-like morphology. (In the style of “carcinization".) From...
3rd May 2021
Dendronization – Evolving into a tree-like morphology. (In the style of “carcinization".) From 'dendro', the ancient Greek root for tree.
The Quanta Podcast
Dark Matter Recipe Calls for One Part Superfluid
A different kind of dark matter could help to resolve an old celestial conundrum.
The...
25th Aug 2017
A different kind of dark matter could help to resolve an old celestial conundrum.
The post Dark Matter Recipe Calls for One Part Superfluid first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
What to Make of Havana Syndrome
I have not written before about Havana Syndrome, mostly because I have not been able to come to any...
1st Apr 2024
I have not written before about Havana Syndrome, mostly because I have not been able to come to any strong conclusions about it. In 2016 there was a cluster of strange neurological symptoms among people working at the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba. They would suddenly experience...
Quanta Magazine
Years After the Early Death of a Math Genius, Her Ideas Gain New Life
A new proof extends the work of the late Maryam Mirzakhani, cementing her legacy as a pioneer of...
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
Quantum Frontiers
Unleashing the Advantage of Quantum AI
As experimental capabilities advance rapidly, the quantum computing community faces a critical...
10th Apr 2026
As experimental capabilities advance rapidly, the quantum computing community faces a critical elephant in the room: What will these quantum machines eventually be useful for? Will they deliver the promised broad societal impact, or will they remain highly specialized devices …...
Probably...
Think Java, but interactive
The online version of Think Java now features interactive widgets that run the code examples in the...
3 weeks ago
The online version of Think Java now features interactive widgets that run the code examples in the browser. For readers, it means you can try out the examples, modify them, and test your code. And for us it means we can publish an interactive version of the book without...
Willem Pennings
Balancing cube
This cube manages to balance itself on a corner, and can simultaneously rotate around its axis in a...
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...
Cremieux Recueil
"Nutrition Science's Most Preposterous Result" is False
There's no mysterious health benefit to eating ice cream
2nd Apr 2026
There's no mysterious health benefit to eating ice cream
The Quanta Podcast
To Make Sense of the Present, Brains May Predict the Future
A controversial theory suggests that perception, motor control, memory and other brain functions all...
9th May 2019
A controversial theory suggests that perception, motor control, memory and other brain functions all depend on comparisons between ongoing actual experiences and the brain’s modeled expectations.
The post To Make Sense of the Present, Brains May Predict the Future...
Quanta Magazine
Fresh X-Rays Reveal a Universe as Clumpy as Cosmology Predicts
By mapping the largest structures in the universe in X-rays, cosmologists have found striking...
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...
Casey Handmer's blog
Career Development Guide for Job Seekers
Context October 2025: With the government shut down and NASA JPL business in apparent terminal...
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...
The Roots of...
Can we “cure” cancer?
In an excellent recent essay on “big visions for biology,” Sam Rodriques writes:
Ask most biologists...
1st Feb 2023
In an excellent recent essay on “big visions for biology,” Sam Rodriques writes:
Ask most biologists about the cure for cancer, and they will tell you it doesn’t exist: cancer is many diseases that are mostly unrelated to each other, and that all have to be cured one at a...
Drew Ex Machina
The Hurricane Hunter Satellites: A Weather Nanosatellite Constellation
As part of ongoing outreach efforts by Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA) to the meteorological...
17th Apr 2025
As part of ongoing outreach efforts by Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA) to the meteorological community, TWA’s Chief Scientist, Andrew LePage, attended the National Tropical Weather Conference […]
The Quanta Podcast
Mathematicians Set Numbers in Motion to Unlock Their Secrets
A new proof demonstrates the power of arithmetic dynamics, an emerging discipline that combines...
10th Jun 2021
A new proof demonstrates the power of arithmetic dynamics, an emerging discipline that combines insights from number theory and dynamical systems.
The post Mathematicians Set Numbers in Motion to Unlock Their Secrets first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Works in Progress...
Advancing antivenom
Snakebites kill between 80,000 and 140,000 people every year. Better antivenom should be a high...
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.
Uncharted...
Should We Eradicate Mosquitoes?
They kill us and bother us, but is that enough to eradicate them, or their role in the environment...
2 weeks ago
They kill us and bother us, but is that enough to eradicate them, or their role in the environment is too important?
Works in Progress...
Escaping science’s paradox
Scientific research today is afflicted by poor reliability and low utility, despite the best efforts...
19th Oct 2020
Scientific research today is afflicted by poor reliability and low utility, despite the best efforts of individual researchers.
Peder M. Isager
Four one-sided test of significance (FOST). Dear reader, does this make sense?
In this blog post I propose a four one-sided test of significance (FOST) that can be used to test...
24th May 2024
In this blog post I propose a four one-sided test of significance (FOST) that can be used to test whether an effect is smaller than OR larger than OR equivalent to the smallest effect size of interest. I lay out the general setup and interpretation of FOST, and ask readers to...
Drew Ex Machina
Recollections of NASA’s Apollo 11 Mission
Like a lot of kids who grew up during the ‘60s and ‘70s, I had a fascination with spaceflight. This...
20th Jul 2024
Like a lot of kids who grew up during the ‘60s and ‘70s, I had a fascination with spaceflight. This interest started honestly enough back around […]
The Quanta Podcast
Why Don’t Patients Get Sick in Sync? Modelers Find Statistical Clues.
The long, variable times that some diseases incubate after infection defies simple explanation. An...
8th Nov 2018
The long, variable times that some diseases incubate after infection defies simple explanation. An idealized model of tumor growth offers a statistical solution.
The post Why Don’t Patients Get Sick in Sync? Modelers Find Statistical Clues. first appeared on Quanta...
Explorations of an...
Borneo: Ridiculous Mothing At Trus Madi Entomology Camp
When doing research on the few possible "lifer" birds that I could find on this trip to Sabah, and...
14th Dec 2024
When doing research on the few possible "lifer" birds that I could find on this trip to Sabah, and in particular, looking for sites to find the Bornean Frogmouth, I read about the Trus Madi Entomology Camp. This piqued my interest, as there is almost nothing I like more than...
Uncharted...
6 Questions You Asked Yourself about Solar
How fast will it take over, how fast are costs shrinking, why is it so cheap, what industries will...
2nd Nov 2024
How fast will it take over, how fast are costs shrinking, why is it so cheap, what industries will it birth, how much surface will it take up, where will it appear first?
Confessions of a...
Reflections of a postgrad lecturer-in-training: Part 1
In a previous post, I mentioned that I was beginning a stint as postgraduate teaching intern at UWA,...
9th Mar 2013
In a previous post, I mentioned that I was beginning a stint as postgraduate teaching intern at UWA, and that part of the internship involved keeping a reflective journal. So I’ve decided that instead of merely writing down my thoughts (and possibly becoming lazy about it as the...
The Quanta Podcast
High-Temperature Superconductivity Understood at Last
A new atomic-scale experiment all but settles the origin of the strong form of superconductivity...
1st Feb 2023
A new atomic-scale experiment all but settles the origin of the strong form of superconductivity seen in cuprate crystals, confirming a 35-year-old theory. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Quasi Motion” by Kevin MacLeod.
Quantum Frontiers
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
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 →
Peder M. Isager
What is Worth Replicating? - SIPS 2020 Unconference session
Given that most research is original and we have limited resources available for replication, we...
30th Jun 2020
Given that most research is original and we have limited resources available for replication, we need guidelines for study selection in replication research. But what makes a study worth replicating? In our unconference session at SIPS this year, we had the pleasure of discussing...
Long Now
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
## 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...
Long Now
James Carse: Religious War In Light of the Infinite Game
### Finite and infinite games
Countless readers have been hooked by the opening line of James P....
15th Jan 2005
### Finite and infinite games
Countless readers have been hooked by the opening line of James P. Carse's [_Finite and Infinite Games_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345341848/qid=1105811409/lono0a-20) -- "There are at least two kinds of games. One could be...
Long Now
Susan Freinkel: Eternal Plastic
### Making plastic even better
Plastic is so new, Freinkel began, that among all the objects...
23rd May 2012
### Making plastic even better
Plastic is so new, Freinkel began, that among all the objects preserved in the sunken _Titanic_ , none are synthetic plastic, because there was hardly any available in 1912. Natural plastic, however, was a familiar material. Amber was popular....
Long Now
Jenny Odell: Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock
Jenny Odell describes _Saving Time_, her second book and the inspiration for her first Long Now...
14th Apr 2023
Jenny Odell describes _Saving Time_, her second book and the inspiration for her first Long Now Talk, as a “panoramic assault on nihilism.”
The particular nihilism that Odell confronts is rooted in what she calls “Clock Time.” While the rigid, regular progression of clock time...
Apoorva Srinivasan
what's happened since the human genome project
When the human genome project was deemed “complete” in 2003, it was met with incredible fanfare. The...
17th May 2022
When the human genome project was deemed “complete” in 2003, it was met with incredible fanfare. The entire project leading up to that moment had all the drama to keep its audience enthralled. Fierce rivalry between a public and private institution, multiple countries involved,...
Works in Progress...
The failure of the land value tax
Land value taxes are once again becoming a popular all-purpose solution to housing issues. But...
13th Mar 2025
Land value taxes are once again becoming a popular all-purpose solution to housing issues. But implementing them in early 1900s Britain destroyed the then-dominant Liberal Party.
Eukaryote Writes...
Eukaryote Skips Town – why I’m leaving DC
I’m hesitant to write this piece because it’s directly about my EA ambitions, and I’ve talked to a...
26th Mar 2025
I’m hesitant to write this piece because it’s directly about my EA ambitions, and I’ve talked to a lot of EAs trying to get into biosecurity who want advice, and I have no idea what they should take away from my story or if any of this should be taken as any kind of advice.
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, September 2023
A quasi-monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them...
6th Sep 2023
A quasi-monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests. I’ve been busy helping to choose the first cohort of our blogging fellowship, so my reading has been relatively light. All emphasis in bold in the quotes...
The Quanta Podcast
Sphere Packing Solved in Higher Dimensions
The Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska has solved the centuries-old sphere-packing problem in...
7th Apr 2016
The Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska has solved the centuries-old sphere-packing problem in dimensions eight and 24.
The post Sphere Packing Solved in Higher Dimensions first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Long Now
Neal Stephenson: Neal Stephenson - Fall, or Dodge in Hell
Neal Stephenson author of _Fall, or Dodge in Hell_ in conversation with Long Now Board Member, Kevin...
14th Aug 2019
Neal Stephenson author of _Fall, or Dodge in Hell_ in conversation with Long Now Board Member, Kevin Kelly.
Tickets included a signed copy of _Fall, or Dodge in Hell_.
[_Fall, or Dodge in Hell_](https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062458711/fall-or-dodge-in-hell/) is pure,...
Long Now
Vernor Vinge: What If the Singularity Does NOT Happen?
### Non-Singularity scenarios
Vinge began by declaring that he still believes that a Singularity...
16th Feb 2007
### Non-Singularity scenarios
Vinge began by declaring that he still believes that a Singularity event in the next few decades is the most likely outcome-- meaning that self-accelerating technologies will speed up to the point of so profound a transformation that the other side...
Works in Progress...
The story of Viktor Zhdanov
Although Viktor Zhdanov’s name is little known today, he spearheaded one of the greatest projects in...
20th Aug 2020
Although Viktor Zhdanov’s name is little known today, he spearheaded one of the greatest projects in history. Who was he and what did he do?
Long Now
Sander van der Leeuw: The Archaeology of Innovation
### History of Innovation
The development of human mental ability can be tracked through the...
19th Nov 2009
### History of Innovation
The development of human mental ability can be tracked through the progressive crafting of stone tools, Van der Leeuw explained. First we learned to shape an edge---a line---then the surface, then the whole volume of the tool, then the sophisticated...
Long Now
Andrew McAfee: More From Less
Andrew McAfee draws on a wide range of evidence to show that the world is already on the right track...
2nd Dec 2019
Andrew McAfee draws on a wide range of evidence to show that the world is already on the right track toward long-term health when it combines 1) technological progress, 2) capitalism, 3) responsive government, and 4) public awareness. That blend demonstrably gets humanity “more...
Works in Progress...
The golden age of vaccine development
The first vaccine was a lucky accident. Now we can design new vaccines in weeks, atom by atom.
7th Jan 2026
The first vaccine was a lucky accident. Now we can design new vaccines in weeks, atom by atom.
Quantum Frontiers
Nicole’s guide to navigating faculty-position offers
It’s happening. Your inbox registers an email from the chair of a faculty-hiring committee. With...
11th Mar 2026
It’s happening. Your inbox registers an email from the chair of a faculty-hiring committee. With trembling fingers, you click on the message. “We were very impressed…we’re delighted to offer…” Months of labor, soul-searching, strain, and anxiety give way to jubilation. …...
Confessions of a...
Predation of juvenile reef fish in coral patches at Ningaloo Reef
The second research article I have decided to discuss is one I had the pleasure to be involved with!...
11th Feb 2013
The second research article I have decided to discuss is one I had the pleasure to be involved with! In fact, it was the first paper I was a co-author on, after linking up with the Department of Environment and Conservation through an ANNiMS internship program. The paper was...
Quantum Frontiers
Lessons in frustration
Assa Auerbach’s course was the most maddening course I’ve ever taken. I was a master’s student in...
17th Feb 2025
Assa Auerbach’s course was the most maddening course I’ve ever taken. I was a master’s student in the Perimeter Scholars International program at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Perimeter trotted in world experts to lecture about modern physics. Many … Continue...
Stephen Wolfram...
New Features Everywhere: Launching Version 14.3 of Wolfram Language & Mathematica
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5th Aug 2025
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#blog .post_content .inline-table-of-contents div a { color: #19749a; font-size: 14px; line-height:...
Long Now
Brittany Cox: Horological Heritage: Generating bird song, magic, and music through mechanism
From kings and philosophers to craftsmen and inventors, horology has been prized as an extraordinary...
6th Nov 2019
From kings and philosophers to craftsmen and inventors, horology has been prized as an extraordinary marriage between art and science. Antiquarian Horologist Brittany Nicole Cox shared her unique experience with objects born from this lineage. We traced their origins to discover...
Stephen Wolfram...
What’s Really Going On in Machine Learning? Some Minimal Models
The Mystery of Machine Learning It’s surprising how little is known about the foundations of machine...
22nd Aug 2024
The Mystery of Machine Learning It’s surprising how little is known about the foundations of machine learning. Yes, from an engineering point of view, an immense amount has been figured out about how to build neural nets that do all kinds of impressive and sometimes almost...
pcloadletter
AI hype is excessive, but its productivity gains are real
I'm kind of writing this to "past" me, who I assume is "current" you for a number of folks out...
19th Oct 2025
I'm kind of writing this to "past" me, who I assume is "current" you for a number of folks out there. For the rest of you, this might just sound like ramblings of an old fogey super late to the party.
Yes, AI is over-hyped. LLMs will not solve every problem under the sun but,...
Works in Progress...
The bad science behind expensive nuclear
How a dubious theory of radiation damage based on fruit flies and a secretive weapons testing...
27th May 2025
How a dubious theory of radiation damage based on fruit flies and a secretive weapons testing program came to be – and why its time may now be up.
Marine Madness
Farming Fiasco: The world’s first commercial octopus breeding programme
It seems ironic that shortly after an amendment to the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill stating...
4th Jan 2022
It seems ironic that shortly after an amendment to the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill stating octopuses to be ‘sentient beings’ capable of a range of human-like emotions such as joy, pleasure, excitement, as well as pain, distress, and harm, plans of the word’s first commercial...
Probably...
Young Adults Are Not Very Happy
Since 1972, the General Social Survey has asked respondents: “Taken all together, how would you say...
19th Mar 2026
Since 1972, the General Social Survey has asked respondents: “Taken all together, how would you say things are these days—would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?” The following figure shows how the responses have changed over time and between birth...
Quantum Frontiers
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
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...
Wanderingspace
URANUS FROM THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE
This is not natural light, nothing is from Webb. The infrared image combines data from two filters...
21st Jul 2023
This is not natural light, nothing is from Webb. The infrared image combines data from two filters which are shown in blue and orange,. The planet displays a blue hue in the resulting representative-color image which is similar to the planet’s actual color. But in reality Uranus...
Interaction Magic -...
3 tips for co-designing with kids
Designing future sports products with a group of 11 year olds.
28th Mar 2023
Designing future sports products with a group of 11 year olds.
Beautiful Public...
Aerial Glacier Photographs
A collection of 100,000 striking high-resolution aerial photos of glaciers, photographed over 40...
18th Jun 2024
A collection of 100,000 striking high-resolution aerial photos of glaciers, photographed over 40 years with a 63-pound WW II surveillance camera.
Confessions of a...
Marine science, the environment, and the 2013 Australian election
I’ve been a bit reluctant to write about the upcoming election in this blog; after all the point of...
10th Sep 2013
I’ve been a bit reluctant to write about the upcoming election in this blog; after all the point of this blog has never been about anything political! However, for better or worse the state of our environment (including our oceans) are inextricably linked to politics, so here...
wadertales
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
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...
Quantum Frontiers
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
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 →
Inverted Passion
2024 wrapped
This year’s review is going to be shorter than 2023 (and previous years) because I’m in Goa right...
31st Dec 2024
This year’s review is going to be shorter than 2023 (and previous years) because I’m in Goa right now for a holiday and I don’t feel like being in front of a screen for long. I mean, just look at this view and tell me that you’d rather be in front of a screen writing…
Read...
Eukaryote Writes...
Internet Harvest (2020, 1)
Internet Harvest is a selection of the most succulent links on the internet that I’ve recently...
1st Feb 2020
Internet Harvest is a selection of the most succulent links on the internet that I’ve recently plucked from its fruitful boughs.
Peder M. Isager
How to share your data online with OSF
The Open Science movement is here to stay. However, incorporating open practices like data sharing...
2nd Oct 2018
The Open Science movement is here to stay. However, incorporating open practices like data sharing into your work flow can seem like a challenging task. If you have never made data available online before, the process can feel a bit daunting. Where should I put the data? What...
The Quanta Podcast
A New Twist Reveals Superconductivity’s Secrets
An unexpected superconductor was beginning to look like a fluke, but a new theory and a second...
8th Jul 2021
An unexpected superconductor was beginning to look like a fluke, but a new theory and a second discovery have revealed that emergent quasiparticles may be behind the effect.
The post A New Twist Reveals Superconductivity’s Secrets first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wanderingspace
Webb’s Jupiter
So this is “false color” becuase it is infrared (like all Webb images) and made from only two...
23rd Aug 2022
So this is “false color” becuase it is infrared (like all Webb images) and made from only two filters orange and cyan. However, the detail is incredible. That dot is tiny Amalthea at the left and— yes… that is Jupiter’s elusive ring. According to researcher Thierry Fouchet, “This...
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