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Yale E360
Why U.S. Geothermal May Advance, Despite Political Headwinds The Trump administration is outwardly hostile to clean energy sourced from solar and wind. But...
3 weeks ago
3
3 weeks ago
The Trump administration is outwardly hostile to clean energy sourced from solar and wind. But thanks to close ties to the fossil fuel industry and new technological breakthroughs, U.S. geothermal power may survive the GOP assaults on support for renewables and even thrive. Read...
Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians Solve Long-Standing Coloring Problem A new result shows how much of the plane can be colored by points that are never exactly one unit...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
A new result shows how much of the plane can be colored by points that are never exactly one unit apart. The post Mathematicians Solve Long-Standing Coloring Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
What Your Brain Is Doing When You’re Not Doing Anything When your mind is wandering, your brain’s “default mode” network is active. Its discovery 20 years...
a year ago
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a year ago
When your mind is wandering, your brain’s “default mode” network is active. Its discovery 20 years ago inspired a raft of research into networks of brain regions and how they interact with each other. The post What Your Brain Is Doing When You’re Not Doing Anything...
Yale E360
Reciprocity: Rethinking Our Relationship with the Natural World Robin Wall Kimmerer, the bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, recently published The...
5 months ago
2
5 months ago
Robin Wall Kimmerer, the bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, recently published The Serviceberry, which explores the economies of nature. In an e360 interview, the Native American ecologist discusses reciprocity, gratitude, and aligning human law with ecological law. Read...
Marine Madness
Book Club: ‘Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia’ by Christina Thompson Who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific? Where did they come from? How did they get...
over a year ago
56
over a year ago
Who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific? Where did they come from? How did they get there, and how do we know? The answers to these and more questions are all explored in this mesmerizing novel by Pacific historian Christina Thompson.  For over a millennium,...
Asterisk
The Case for Insect Consciousness The evidence that insects feel pain is mounting, however we approach the issue.
6 months ago
Yale E360
A Year of Climate Extremes, In Photos From floods in Brazil to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, extreme weather exacted a devastating...
6 months ago
7
6 months ago
From floods in Brazil to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, extreme weather exacted a devastating toll in 2024. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
Data Compression Drives the Internet. Here’s How It Works. One student’s desire to get out of a final exam led to the ubiquitous algorithm that shrinks data...
over a year ago
56
over a year ago
One student’s desire to get out of a final exam led to the ubiquitous algorithm that shrinks data without sacrificing information. The post Data Compression Drives the Internet. Here’s How It Works. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
brr
Redeployment Part One Emerging from winter and preparing for our first flight!
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph Dijkstra’s algorithm was long thought to be the most efficient way to find a graph’s best routes....
8 months ago
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8 months ago
Dijkstra’s algorithm was long thought to be the most efficient way to find a graph’s best routes. Researchers have now proved that it’s “universally optimal.” The post Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
Sins of the Children The circle of life on Chelicer 14d.
a year ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Introducing The OOP Talent Collective | Out-Of-Pocket if you're hiring, this will help you find the best candidates
a year ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Weird issues in value-based care | Out-Of-Pocket Thoughts on value-based care from people actually building in it
9 months ago
The Works in...
The Cocktail Revolution How bad drinks became good, and good drinks became great
a year ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Deep Sea Mining for Minerals Could Harm Environment It is an unfortunate reality that with over 8 billion people on the planet almost anything we...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
It is an unfortunate reality that with over 8 billion people on the planet almost anything we collectively do has the potential to have huge environmental impacts. When the human population was in the mere millions we could treat the planet as an essentially unlimited resource....
Quanta Magazine
The Deep Link Equating Math Proofs and Computer Programs Mathematical logic and the code of computer programs are, in an exact way, mirror images of each...
a year ago
29
a year ago
Mathematical logic and the code of computer programs are, in an exact way, mirror images of each other. The post The Deep Link Equating Math Proofs and Computer Programs first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
Magnetism May Have Given Life Its Molecular Asymmetry The preferred “handedness” of biomolecules could have emerged from biased interactions between...
a year ago
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a year ago
The preferred “handedness” of biomolecules could have emerged from biased interactions between electrons and magnetic surfaces, new research suggests. The post Magnetism May Have Given Life Its Molecular Asymmetry first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Breck's Blog
A funny thing about the original Microsoft Source Code
3 months ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Newsletter One + Patient Zero | Out-Of-Pocket Shall we begin?
a year ago
IEEE Spectrum
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...
11 months ago
81
11 months ago
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
Dwarf Planet Ring Mystery Scientists love mysteries, because that is where new discoveries lay. It is nice to find evidence...
over a year ago
49
over a year ago
Scientists love mysteries, because that is where new discoveries lay. It is nice to find evidence consistent with existing theories, providing further confirmation, but it’s exciting to find evidence that cannot be explained with existing theories. Astronomers may have found such...
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....
a year ago
25
a year ago
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 ...
Asterisk
The Misery Bomb Children across the Western world are getting less happy. If we can’t find a way to reverse the...
a year ago
14
a year ago
Children across the Western world are getting less happy. If we can’t find a way to reverse the trend, it might have an outsized impact on their future.
Casey Handmer's blog
The Los Angeles wildfires are self-inflicted I don’t ordinarily write about events “in the moment” but for this I will make an exception, as I...
6 months ago
62
6 months ago
I don’t ordinarily write about events “in the moment” but for this I will make an exception, as I was personally affected. Caveats aside, my family and I are safe, we evacuated for several days, and due to heroic efforts by professional firefighters and psychotically brave...
Quanta Magazine
Why the Brain’s Connections to the Body Are Crisscrossed In all bilaterally symmetrical animals, from humans down to simple worms, nerves cross from one side...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
In all bilaterally symmetrical animals, from humans down to simple worms, nerves cross from one side of the body to the opposite side of the brain. Geometry may explain why. The post Why the Brain’s Connections to the Body Are Crisscrossed first appeared on Quanta...
Chris Grossack's...
Analytic Combinatorics -- A Worked Example Another day, another blog post that starts with “I was on mse the other day…”. This time, someone...
3 months ago
84
3 months ago
Another day, another blog post that starts with “I was on mse the other day…”. This time, someone asked an interesting question amounting to “how many unordered rooted ternary trees with $n$ nodes are there, up to isomorphism?”. I’m a sucker for these kinds of combinatorial...
Quanta Magazine
The Cosmos Teems with Complex Organic Molecules Wherever astronomers look, they see life’s raw materials. The post The Cosmos Teems with...
8 months ago
52
8 months ago
Wherever astronomers look, they see life’s raw materials. The post The Cosmos Teems with Complex Organic Molecules first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
What If the Worst AI Fear Is AI Fear Itself? It’s been just about a year now—a nonprofit called the Future of Life Institute posted an open...
a year ago
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a year ago
It’s been just about a year now—a nonprofit called the Future of Life Institute posted an open letter reflecting people’s darkest fears about artificial intelligence. “Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks,” it said. It called for a pause in...
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...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
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...
Yale E360
Bill McKibben on Climate Activism in the Age of Trump 2.0 Activist Bill McKibben says Americans upset by the Trump administration’s gutting of U.S. climate...
4 months ago
3
4 months ago
Activist Bill McKibben says Americans upset by the Trump administration’s gutting of U.S. climate efforts need to move beyond despair. In an interview with e360, he talks about rethinking the role of protest, the global push on clean energy, and why he sees reason for hope. Read...
The Works in...
The End Kidney Deaths Act Congress should start compensating compassion
a month ago
Melting Asphalt
Here Be Sermons I've long turned up my nose at sermons and related forms of mass moralizing. One reason, quite...
over a year ago
30
over a year ago
I've long turned up my nose at sermons and related forms of mass moralizing. One reason, quite simply, is that they bore me. Honesty good. Violence bad. My eyes glaze over. Empathy, rah! Racism, boo! Please, don't we know this… Read more ›
Wanderingspace
Eclipse 2024 from Space https://twitter.com/ThePlanetaryGuy
a year ago
Stephen Wolfram...
Yet More New Ideas and New Functions: Launching Version 14.1 of Wolfram Language & Mathematica For the 36th Time… the Latest from Our R&D Pipeline There’s Now a Unified Wolfram App Vector...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
For the 36th Time… the Latest from Our R&D Pipeline There’s Now a Unified Wolfram App Vector Databases and Semantic Search RAGs and Dynamic Prompting for LLMs Connect to Your Favorite LLM Symbolic Arrays and Their Calculus Binomials and Pitchforks: Navigating Mathematical...
The Works in...
What's new in building beautifully Interesting developments from the last two decades
2 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
The Alzheimer’s Revolution Decades of complex research and persevering through repeated disappointment appears to be finally...
a year ago
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a year ago
Decades of complex research and persevering through repeated disappointment appears to be finally paying off for the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s  disease (AD). In 2021 Aduhelm was the first drug approved by the FDA (granted contingent accelerated approval) that is...
IEEE Spectrum
The Costly Impact of Non-Strategic Patents The five largest auto manufacturers will face massive U.S. patent fees within the next five years....
over a year ago
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over a year ago
The five largest auto manufacturers will face massive U.S. patent fees within the next five years. This report examines auto industry lapse trends and how a company’s decisions on keeping, selling or pruning patents can greatly impact its cost savings and revenue generation...
Quanta Magazine
How Scientists Are Tackling the Tricky Task of Solar Cycle Prediction Scientists have struggled to accurately forecast the strength of the sun’s 11-year cycle — even...
a year ago
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a year ago
Scientists have struggled to accurately forecast the strength of the sun’s 11-year cycle — even after centuries of solar observations. The post How Scientists Are Tackling the Tricky Task of Solar Cycle Prediction first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quantum Frontiers
I know I am but what are you? Mind and Matter in Quantum Mechanics Nowadays it is best to exercise caution when bringing the words “quantum” and “consciousness”...
a month ago
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a month ago
Nowadays it is best to exercise caution when bringing the words “quantum” and “consciousness” anywhere near each other, lest you be suspected of mysticism or quackery. Eugene Wigner did not concern himself with this when he wrote his “Remarks on … Continue reading →
Quanta Magazine
Michel Talagrand Wins Abel Prize for Work Wrangling Randomness The French mathematician spent decades developing a set of tools now widely used for taming random...
a year ago
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a year ago
The French mathematician spent decades developing a set of tools now widely used for taming random processes. The post Michel Talagrand Wins Abel Prize for Work Wrangling Randomness first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale E360
A Win for Farmers and Tribes Brings New Hope to the Klamath In the long-contentious Klamath River watershed, an experiment that turned a barley field into a...
a month ago
3
a month ago
In the long-contentious Klamath River watershed, an experiment that turned a barley field into a wetland not only improved water quality. It also offered a path forward for restoring populations of two endangered fish species that are of cultural importance to Native tribes. Read...
IEEE Spectrum
A Brief History of the World’s First Planetarium In 1912, Oskar von Miller, an electrical engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum, had an idea:...
a year ago
105
a year ago
In 1912, Oskar von Miller, an electrical engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum, had an idea: Could you project an artificial starry sky onto a dome, as a way of demonstrating astronomical principles to the public? It was such a novel concept that when von Miller approached...
NeuroLogica Blog
3D Printing With Metallic Gel One of the futuristic technologies that I find most promising is 3D printing (additive...
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
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...
symmetry magazine
CERN opens Science Gateway About 1,400 people attended the grand opening of CERN’s new science education center.
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
When Data Is Missing, Scientists Guess. Then Guess Again. Across the social and biological sciences, statisticians use a technique that leverages randomness...
9 months ago
59
9 months ago
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
NeuroLogica Blog
Age of the Moon Revised There are a few interesting stories lurking in this news item, but lets start with the top level – a...
a year ago
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a year ago
There are a few interesting stories lurking in this news item, but lets start with the top level – a new study revises the minimum age of the Moon to 4.46 billion years, 40 million years older than the previous estimate. That in itself is interesting, but not game-changing. It’s...
Uncharted...
16 Most Surprising Facts About Korea As I research the country, these are the most interesting and surprising facts I gathered—and some...
3 months ago
43
3 months ago
As I research the country, these are the most interesting and surprising facts I gathered—and some beautiful images along the way.
NeuroLogica Blog
Intuitive and Analytical Thinking Here is a relatively simple math problem:  A bat and a ball cost $1.10 combined. The bat costs $1...
a year ago
88
a year ago
Here is a relatively simple math problem:  A bat and a ball cost $1.10 combined. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? (I will provide the answer below the fold.) This problem is the basis of a large psychological literature on thinking systems in the...
Sean Carroll
Thanksgiving This year we give thanks for Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem. (We’ve previously given thanks for the...
over a year ago
51
over a year ago
This year we give thanks for Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem. (We’ve previously given thanks for the Standard Model Lagrangian, Hubble’s Law, the Spin-Statistics Theorem, conservation of momentum, effective field theory, the error bar, gauge symmetry, Landauer’s Principle, the...
Quanta Magazine
The Year in Biology In a year packed with fascinating discoveries, biologists pushed the limits of synthetic life,...
a year ago
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a year ago
In a year packed with fascinating discoveries, biologists pushed the limits of synthetic life, probed how organisms keep time, and refined theories about consciousness and emotional health. The post The Year in Biology first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale E360
A Craze for Tiny Plants Is Driving a Poaching Crisis in South Africa South Africa’s Succulent Karoo is the most biodiverse arid region on the planet, with thousands of...
4 months ago
7
4 months ago
South Africa’s Succulent Karoo is the most biodiverse arid region on the planet, with thousands of plants found nowhere else. But to meet a demand fueled by social media, criminal networks have been poaching these colorful succulents by the millions and smuggling them...
nanoscale views
Experimental techniques: bridge measurements When we teach undergraduates about materials and measuring electrical resistance, we tend to gloss...
11 months ago
12
11 months ago
When we teach undergraduates about materials and measuring electrical resistance, we tend to gloss over the fact that there are specialized techniques for this - it's more than just hooking up a battery and an ammeter.  If you want to get high precision results, such as measuring...
Quantum Frontiers
Memories of things past My best friend—who’s held the title of best friend since kindergarten—calls me the keeper of her...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
My best friend—who’s held the title of best friend since kindergarten—calls me the keeper of her childhood memories. I recall which toys we played with, the first time I visited her house,1 and which beverages our classmates drank during snack … Continue reading →
Yale E360
Severe Cold Spells May Persist Because of Warming, Not in Spite of It Huge swaths of North America are facing subfreezing temperatures this week as cold Arctic air pushes...
6 months ago
1
6 months ago
Huge swaths of North America are facing subfreezing temperatures this week as cold Arctic air pushes southward. Paradoxically, such cold spells may persist or even become more common as the planet warms, scientists say. Read more on E360 →
NeuroLogica Blog
Some Battery News I have been following battery technology pretty closely, as this is a key technology for the...
over a year ago
85
over a year ago
I have been following battery technology pretty closely, as this is a key technology for the transition to green energy. The most obvious application is in battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The second most obvious application is in grid storage. But also there are all the...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Healthcare, but funny | Out-Of-Pocket US healthcare is a joke. Let's make it funny.
a year ago
Confessions of a...
A first step into the unknown world of academia……. At the beginning of this blog I did promise to include some writings that would at least be...
over a year ago
40
over a year ago
At the beginning of this blog I did promise to include some writings that would at least be semi-useful (hopefully!) to future students hoping to move into a career in marine science; so here it goes! From today I am beginning a year long Postgraduate Teaching Internship at UWA....
Bartosz Ciechanowski
Bicycle There is something delightful about riding a bicycle. Once mastered, the simple action of pedaling...
over a year ago
145
over a year ago
There is something delightful about riding a bicycle. Once mastered, the simple action of pedaling to move forward and turning the handlebars to steer makes bike riding an effortless activity. In the demonstration below, you can guide the rider with the slider, and you can also...
Yale E360
Deadly Encounter: Mountain Lion Attacks Spark Controversy A mountain lion attack that killed a young California man last year has reignited a debate over how...
5 months ago
6
5 months ago
A mountain lion attack that killed a young California man last year has reignited a debate over how the big cats should be managed. Some are calling for renewed hunting of the animals, while others are advocating nonlethal methods of instilling a fear of humans in the big...
The Works in...
Gentrification as a housing problem The root cause of displacement is inflexible supply
a year ago
IEEE Spectrum
35 Years Ago, Researchers Used Brain Waves to Control a Robot Using the brain to directly control an object was long the stuff of science fiction, and in 1988 the...
a year ago
27
a year ago
Using the brain to directly control an object was long the stuff of science fiction, and in 1988 the vision became a reality. IEEE Life Senior Member Stevo Bozinovski and Members Mihail Sestakov and Dr. Liljana Bozinovska used a student volunteer’s electroencephalogram (EEG)...
NeuroLogica Blog
Decarbonizing Aviation and Agriculture When we talk about reducing carbon release in order to slow down and hopefully stop anthropogenic...
9 months ago
65
9 months ago
When we talk about reducing carbon release in order to slow down and hopefully stop anthropogenic global warming much of the focus is on the energy and transportation sectors. There is a good reason for this – the energy sector is responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas (GHG)...
Wanderingspace
Triton Image from Voyager Colored Nice update to an old Voyager image with colors added based on actual colors captured in other...
over a year ago
39
over a year ago
Nice update to an old Voyager image with colors added based on actual colors captured in other images. See original post here by Jason Major.
Quanta Magazine
A New Proof Smooths Out the Math of Melting A powerful mathematical technique is used to model melting ice and other phenomena. But it has long...
3 months ago
39
3 months ago
A powerful mathematical technique is used to model melting ice and other phenomena. But it has long been imperiled by certain “nightmare scenarios.” A new proof has removed that obstacle. The post A New Proof Smooths Out the Math of Melting first appeared on Quanta...
IEEE Spectrum
Franklin’s Franklins Were Freakishly Un-Fakeable To make something hard to fake, you can use exotic materials or clever tricks. Benjamin Franklin, a...
a year ago
34
a year ago
To make something hard to fake, you can use exotic materials or clever tricks. Benjamin Franklin, a printer by vocation, a scientist by avocation, leaned on cleverness, developing measures that are still in use. Those black arts have now yielded to the latest analytical...
Quanta Magazine
A New Map of the Universe, Painted With Cosmic Neutrinos Physicists finally know where at least some of these high-energy particles come from, which helps...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Physicists finally know where at least some of these high-energy particles come from, which helps make the neutrinos useful for exploring fundamental physics. The post A New Map of the Universe, Painted With Cosmic Neutrinos first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale E360
Warming Doubled the Odds of Record Fires in South Korea Warming fueled the hot, dry, windy weather that gave rise to a spate of record-breaking fires in...
2 months ago
3
2 months ago
Warming fueled the hot, dry, windy weather that gave rise to a spate of record-breaking fires in South Korea in March, an analysis finds. Read more on E360 →
ToughSF
Riding Sunbeams with Solar Sails Reset your expectations of solar sails. They are a fast and free way to travel to any point in the...
over a year ago
25
over a year ago
Reset your expectations of solar sails. They are a fast and free way to travel to any point in the Solar System, as many times as you want, any time of the year. Solar sails can carry passengers and they have a nearly unlimited number of uses. You just have to... think...
Uncharted...
Rise Up, Europe! The Five Beliefs That Cripple a Continent
4 months ago
Yale E360
Renewables Supplied Two-Thirds of Germany's Power Last Year Germany, the largest economy in Europe, got nearly two-thirds of its power from renewables last...
6 months ago
5
6 months ago
Germany, the largest economy in Europe, got nearly two-thirds of its power from renewables last year, an analysis shows. Read more on E360 →
Yale E360
Carbon Dioxide Levels Rose by a Record Amount Last Year Carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than ever before, putting hopes of limiting...
6 months ago
4
6 months ago
Carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than ever before, putting hopes of limiting warming in jeopardy. Read more on E360 →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Video Games x Healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket Video games should be our models for engagement
a year ago
Casey Handmer's blog
Entrepreneurship changed the way I think A quick note with some self reflection on the eve of my 37th year and after nearly three years of...
10 months ago
29
10 months ago
A quick note with some self reflection on the eve of my 37th year and after nearly three years of running a hardware start up. I never saw myself as a founder. At some point a few years ago I realized nearly all my friends were founders or managers of their own business, but I...
Chris Grossack's...
An Empty Product of Nonempty Sets A few days ago I saw a cute question on mse asking about a particularly non-intuitive failing of...
a month ago
17
a month ago
A few days ago I saw a cute question on mse asking about a particularly non-intuitive failing of the axiom of choice. I remember when I was an undergrad talking to a friend of mine about various statements equivalent to choice, and being particularly hung up on the same...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Some VoiceAI in Healthcare thoughts | Out-Of-Pocket Features vs. companies, AI scribes can do more, and pricing questions
a month ago
Probably...
Political Alignment and Outlook This is the fourth in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from...
7 months ago
20
7 months ago
This is the fourth in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. It’s from Chapter 15, which is part of the political alignment case study. You can read the complete chapter here, or run the Jupyter notebook on Colab....
Yale E360
Penguin Droppings May Be Seeding Clouds, Study Finds Penguin droppings may play a role in the formation of clouds over Antarctica, new research...
a month ago
15
a month ago
Penguin droppings may play a role in the formation of clouds over Antarctica, new research finds. Read more on E360 →
Stephen Wolfram...
On the Nature of Time The Computational View of Time Time is a central feature of human experience. But what actually is...
9 months ago
117
9 months ago
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
911 Conspiracy Theories Persist On September 11, 2001, as part of a planned terrorist attack, commercial planes were hijacked and...
8 months ago
54
8 months ago
On September 11, 2001, as part of a planned terrorist attack, commercial planes were hijacked and flown into each of the two towers at the World Trade Center in New York. A third plane was flown into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed after the passengers fought back. This, of...
Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians Cross the Line to Get to the Point A new paper establishes a long-conjectured bound about the size of the overlap between sets of lines...
a year ago
27
a year ago
A new paper establishes a long-conjectured bound about the size of the overlap between sets of lines and points. The post Mathematicians Cross the Line to Get to the Point first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wanderingspace
Saturn Family Portrait From planetary.org: On July 29, 2011, Cassini captured five of Saturn’s moons in a single frame with...
over a year ago
44
over a year ago
From planetary.org: On July 29, 2011, Cassini captured five of Saturn’s moons in a single frame with its narrow-angle camera: Janus, Pandora, Enceladus, Rhea, and Mimas. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute. This is a full-color look at a view that was originally published in...
symmetry magazine
Rap with an undercurrent of particle physics UK musician Consensus spins the big ideas of physics into rap and hip-hop tracks.
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’ Has Been Debunked It was intuitive, even obvious. It was also wrong. The post Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’...
8 months ago
105
8 months ago
It was intuitive, even obvious. It was also wrong. The post Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’ Has Been Debunked first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
A Greener Li-Ion Battery It is increasingly obvious that battery technology is one of the keys to transitioning our...
a year ago
102
a year ago
It is increasingly obvious that battery technology is one of the keys to transitioning our civilization away from burning fossil fuels. Batteries facilitate the use of cheap, green, but intermittent energy sources. They also allow for the electrification of technology sectors...
Explorations of an...
Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 2: The Huachucas September 1, 2024 For the first and only time in the trip I managed a much-needed seven hours of...
9 months ago
15
9 months ago
September 1, 2024 For the first and only time in the trip I managed a much-needed seven hours of sleep. Unfortunately, some of the others were woken up earlier than they would have liked. The owner of Beatty's Guest Ranch (he lives in a different building on the property) owns a...
Quanta Magazine
‘Once in a Century’ Proof Settles Math’s Kakeya Conjecture The deceptively simple Kakeya conjecture has bedeviled mathematicians for 50 years. A new proof of...
4 months ago
50
4 months ago
The deceptively simple Kakeya conjecture has bedeviled mathematicians for 50 years. A new proof of the conjecture in three dimensions illuminates a whole crop of related problems. The post ‘Once in a Century’ Proof Settles Math’s Kakeya Conjecture first appeared on...
Quanta Magazine
The Physicist Decoding the Nonbinary Nature of the Subatomic World Inside the proton, quarks and gluons shift and morph their properties in ways that physicists are...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
Inside the proton, quarks and gluons shift and morph their properties in ways that physicists are still struggling to understand. Rithya Kunnawalkam Elayavalli brings to the problem a perspective unlike many of their peers. The post The Physicist Decoding the...
Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians Discover New Shapes to Solve Decades-Old Geometry Problem Mathematicians have long wondered how “shapes of constant width” behave in higher dimensions. A...
10 months ago
89
10 months ago
Mathematicians have long wondered how “shapes of constant width” behave in higher dimensions. A surprisingly simple construction has given them an answer. The post Mathematicians Discover New Shapes to Solve Decades-Old Geometry Problem first appeared on Quanta...
Quanta Magazine
How 3D Changes in the Genome Turned Sharks Into Skates Changes in the 3D structure of their genome gave skates and rays their distinctive winglike fins and...
over a year ago
49
over a year ago
Changes in the 3D structure of their genome gave skates and rays their distinctive winglike fins and pancake flatness. The post How 3D Changes in the Genome Turned Sharks Into Skates first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale E360
Research Details Devastating Toll of Colonization on Pacific Northwest Wildlife When Europeans arrived to the Pacific Northwest, they spread smallpox that devastated the Indigenous...
12 hours ago
2
12 hours ago
When Europeans arrived to the Pacific Northwest, they spread smallpox that devastated the Indigenous people, plundered stocks of salmon and herring, hunted down deer and other game, and built sprawling cities and ports. New research tallies the profound impact on wildlife. Read...
brr
Sunset Hunkering down for the winter!
over a year ago
Yale E360
Uncertain Future for Clean Tech Boom Underway in Republican Strongholds Government support for clean energy has spurred new projects across the U.S., with more than 80...
4 months ago
3
4 months ago
Government support for clean energy has spurred new projects across the U.S., with more than 80 percent of the spending flowing to Republican districts. But since President Trump took office, new project announcements have seen a precipitous drop. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill Black hole and Big Bang singularities break our best theory of gravity. A trilogy of theorems hints...
a month ago
21
a month ago
Black hole and Big Bang singularities break our best theory of gravity. A trilogy of theorems hints that physicists will need to go to the ends of space and time to find a fix. The post Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
Emmy Murphy Is a Mathematician Who Finds Beauty in Flexibility The prize-winning geometer feels most fulfilled when exploring the fertile ground where constraint...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
The prize-winning geometer feels most fulfilled when exploring the fertile ground where constraint meets creation. The post Emmy Murphy Is a Mathematician Who Finds Beauty in Flexibility first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Roots of...
Developing a technology with safety in mind If a technology may introduce catastrophic risks, how do you develop it? It occurred to me that the...
over a year ago
75
over a year ago
If a technology may introduce catastrophic risks, how do you develop it? It occurred to me that the Wright Brothers’ approach to inventing the airplane might make a good case study. The catastrophic risk for them, of course, was dying in a crash. This is exactly what happened...
NeuroLogica Blog
Living with Predators For much of human history, wolves and other large carnivores were considered pests. Wolves were...
4 months ago
35
4 months ago
For much of human history, wolves and other large carnivores were considered pests. Wolves were actively exterminated on the British Isles, with the last wolf killed in 1680. It is more difficulty to deliberately wipe out a species on a continent than an island, but across Europe...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How Healthcare Payments Work with Candid Health | Out-Of-Pocket A walkthrough of how money flows between payers and providers
a year ago
Quantum Frontiers
Astrobiology meets quantum computation? The origin of life appears to share little with quantum computation, apart from the difficulty of...
a year ago
74
a year ago
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...
Quanta Magazine
Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of Shock Therapy Electroconvulsive therapy is highly effective in treating major depressive disorder, but no one...
a year ago
50
a year ago
Electroconvulsive therapy is highly effective in treating major depressive disorder, but no one knows why it works. New research suggests it may restore balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain. The post Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of...
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...
3 months ago
34
3 months ago
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.
NeuroLogica Blog
Did They Find Amelia Earhart’s Plane Is this sonar image taken at 16,000 feet below the surface about 100 miles from Howland island, that...
a year ago
38
a year ago
Is this sonar image taken at 16,000 feet below the surface about 100 miles from Howland island, that of a downed Lockheed Model 10-E Electra plane? Tony Romeo hopes it is. He spent $9 million to purchase an underwater drone, the Hugan 6000, then hired a crew and scoured 5,200...
Drew Ex Machina
An ISS Success Story: CyMISS (Tropical Cyclone Intensity Measurements from the ISS) to the Hurricane... The team at Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA), where this author is the Chief Scientist, had the...
11 months ago
Beautiful Public...
Mapping Volcano Eruptions With Drones Drones have become an essential tool to map, measure and observe the extremely dangerous...
over a year ago
124
over a year ago
Drones have become an essential tool to map, measure and observe the extremely dangerous environments surrounding volcanic eruptions.
Asterisk
Get In, Weirdos
6 months ago
Asterisk
Democracy by Mistake Most political scientists see democracy as the natural consequence of economic development or the...
a year ago
18
a year ago
Most political scientists see democracy as the natural consequence of economic development or the result of strategic and rational choice. A detailed look through history suggests democracy emerges as often as not by another path: human error.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Dental Insurance, Value-Based Dental, and Beam Benefits | Out-Of-Pocket Why doesn’t dental have value-based care?
a year ago
Blog - Practical...
The Most Confusing Part of the Power Grid [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In March of 1989, Earth...
a year ago
117
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In March of 1989, Earth experienced one of its strongest geomagnetic storms in modern history. It all started when scientists observed a cluster of sunspots—active, magnetic areas on the sun's surface—emerging...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Random Uncontrolled Trials/Tweets | Out-Of-Pocket I need to deactivate my Twitter smh
a year ago
NeuroLogica Blog
How Should We Talk About Autism RFK Jr.’s recent speech about autism has sparked a lot of deserved anger. But like many things in...
2 months ago
16
2 months ago
RFK Jr.’s recent speech about autism has sparked a lot of deserved anger. But like many things in life, it’s even more complicated than you think it is, and this is a good opportunity to explore some of the issues surrounding this diagnosis. While the definition has shifted over...
Quanta Magazine
To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA Under a microscope, cells in a worm embryo deliberately eliminated one-third of their genome — an...
a year ago
46
a year ago
Under a microscope, cells in a worm embryo deliberately eliminated one-third of their genome — an uncompromising tactic that may combat harmful genetic parasites. The post To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Articles - Chris...
My $500M Mars Rover Mistake: A Failure Story Some mistakes feel worse than death.
a year ago
Quantum Frontiers
Quantum Frontiers salutes an English teacher If I ever mention a crazy high-school English teacher to you, I might be referring to Mr. Lukacs....
a year ago
91
a year ago
If I ever mention a crazy high-school English teacher to you, I might be referring to Mr. Lukacs. One morning, before the first bell rang, I found him wandering among the lockers, wearing a white beard and a mischievous grin. … Continue reading →
Beautiful Public...
Trademark Design Codes The United States Patent and Trademark Office has a system of 1,400 descriptive "design codes"...
a year ago
118
a year ago
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has a system of 1,400 descriptive "design codes" allowing you to search for trademarks with “Rickshaws”, “Centaurs” or “Mechanical women”.
IEEE Spectrum
Tiny Exploding Houses Promoted 18th-Century Lightning Rods Imagine if engineers were required to build a working model to demonstrate every new technological...
over a year ago
28
over a year ago
Imagine if engineers were required to build a working model to demonstrate every new technological concept to the general public. Done right, tech literacy might soar! A compelling visual example can really help people understand the applications and implications of new...
Sean Carroll
Energy Conservation and Non-Conservation in Quantum Mechanics Conservation of energy is a somewhat sacred principle in physics, though it can be tricky in certain...
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
Conservation of energy is a somewhat sacred principle in physics, though it can be tricky in certain circumstances, such as an expanding universe. Quantum mechanics is another context in which energy conservation is a subtle thing — so much so that it’s still worth writing papers...
nanoscale views
Science slow down - not a simple question I participated in a program about 15 years ago that looked at science and technology challenges...
2 weeks ago
13
2 weeks ago
I participated in a program about 15 years ago that looked at science and technology challenges faced by a subset of the US government. I came away thinking that such problems fall into three broad categories. Actual science and engineering challenges, which require...
Uncharted...
What Are My Politics? And my unrefined thoughts on US politics
3 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
GMOs and Butterflies Are attitudes towards genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our agriculture softening? Back in...
over a year ago
35
over a year ago
Are attitudes towards genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our agriculture softening? Back in 2015 a Pew survey found that the gap between public opinion and that of scientists was greatest on acceptance of GMOs (more than any other topic surveyed), with a 51% gap. But more...
Yale E360
Forest Service Plan Threatens the Heart of an Alaskan Wilderness Alaska’s Tongass is the world’s largest temperate rainforest and a sanctuary for wildlife. The Trump...
a week ago
1
a week ago
Alaska’s Tongass is the world’s largest temperate rainforest and a sanctuary for wildlife. The Trump administration’s plan to rescind a rule banning roads in wild areas of national forests would open untouched parts of the Tongass and other forests to logging and...
Drew Ex Machina
NASA’s Viking Mission & The Search for Life on Mars: The Experiments For young space enthusiasts like myself growing up in the 1970s, NASA’s Viking mission to Mars was...
over a year ago
42
over a year ago
For young space enthusiasts like myself growing up in the 1970s, NASA’s Viking mission to Mars was one of the more exciting and memorable. The Viking […]
Quantum Frontiers
The quantum gold rush Even if you don’t recognize the name, you probably recognize the saguaro cactus. It’s the archetype...
a year ago
136
a year ago
Even if you don’t recognize the name, you probably recognize the saguaro cactus. It’s the archetype of the cactus, a column from which protrude arms bent at right angles like elbows. As my husband pointed out, the cactus emoji is … Continue reading →
NeuroLogica Blog
Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers as Fuel The press release for a recent study declares: “New catalyst could provide liquid hydrogen fuel of...
a year ago
26
a year ago
The press release for a recent study declares: “New catalyst could provide liquid hydrogen fuel of the future.” But don’t get excited – the optimism is more than a bit gratuitous. I have written about hydrogen fuel before, and the reasons I am not optimistic about hydrogen as a...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Application reminder, new virtual discussion, new course | Out-Of-Pocket quick housekeeping things
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
The Question of What’s Fair Illuminates the Question of What’s Hard Computational complexity theorists have discovered a surprising new way to understand what makes...
a year ago
46
a year ago
Computational complexity theorists have discovered a surprising new way to understand what makes certain problems hard. The post The Question of What’s Fair Illuminates the Question of What’s Hard first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Malpractice, Expert Witnesses, and Lawsuits with Dr. Eric Funk | Out-Of-Pocket Suits and White Coats
a year ago
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: A winter's tale Melting snow can make the season easier
over a year ago
Blog - Practical...
How To Install a Pipeline Under a Railroad [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] This is the Union Pacific...
a year ago
86
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] This is the Union Pacific Railroad’s Austin Subdivision in central Texas. It’s a busy corridor that moves both freight and passengers north and south between Austin and San Antonio… But it’s mostly freight....
symmetry magazine
Imagining the future of gravitational-wave research To understand why scientists are excited about detecting a new background, just look to the history...
a year ago
60
a year ago
To understand why scientists are excited about detecting a new background, just look to the history of studies of the CMB.
symmetry magazine
Listening to the radio on the far side of the moon LuSEE-Night will demonstrate whether an experiment to search for ancient radio signals can survive...
a year ago
41
a year ago
LuSEE-Night will demonstrate whether an experiment to search for ancient radio signals can survive the moon’s unforgiving environment.
symmetry magazine
Vera C. Rubin Observatory brings the universe to everyone The Rubin Observatory is making education and outreach a top priority.
a year ago
Yale E360
Warming Linked to Rising Cancer Rates Among Women in the Middle East New research finds a link between increasingly extreme heat in the Middle East and rising rates of...
a month ago
3
a month ago
New research finds a link between increasingly extreme heat in the Middle East and rising rates of cancer in women. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
New Book-Sorting Algorithm Almost Reaches Perfection The library sorting problem is used across computer science for organizing far more than just books....
5 months ago
71
5 months ago
The library sorting problem is used across computer science for organizing far more than just books. A new solution is less than a page-width away from the theoretical ideal. The post New Book-Sorting Algorithm Almost Reaches Perfection first appeared on Quanta...
nanoscale views
Lots to read, including fab for quantum and "Immaterial Science" Sometimes there are upticks in the rate of fun reading material.  In the last few days: A...
9 months ago
11
9 months ago
Sometimes there are upticks in the rate of fun reading material.  In the last few days: A Nature paper has been published by a group of authors predominantly from IMEC in Belgium, in which they demonstrate CMOS-compatible manufacturing of superconducting qubit hardware...
Quanta Magazine
How to Build a Big Prime Number A new algorithm brings together the advantages of randomness and deterministic processes to reliably...
over a year ago
40
over a year ago
A new algorithm brings together the advantages of randomness and deterministic processes to reliably construct large prime numbers. The post How to Build a Big Prime Number first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
A Galaxy Without Dark Matter Dark matter is one of the greatest current scientific mysteries. It’s a fascinating story playing...
a year ago
26
a year ago
Dark matter is one of the greatest current scientific mysteries. It’s a fascinating story playing out in real time, although over years, so you have to be patient. Future generations might be able to binge the dark matter show, but not us. We have to wait for each episode to...
symmetry magazine
Practice makes perfect (particle detectors) Prototyping is an indispensable step in the development of particle physics experiments like DUNE...
over a year ago
40
over a year ago
Prototyping is an indispensable step in the development of particle physics experiments like DUNE and projects like PIP-II. When complete, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, or DUNE, will be the world’s most comprehensive neutrino experiment—and...
Yale E360
Wildlife Returns to Site of Devastating Southern California Wildfire Four months after the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, California, wildlife is making a...
2 months ago
Many Worlds
All Six Element Needed For Life as We Know It Have Now Been Found in The Watery Plumes of Enceladus The elements needed for life as we know it are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen sulfur and...
over a year ago
30
over a year ago
The elements needed for life as we know it are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen sulfur and phosphorus. Before today, planetary scientists could say that five of those crucial elements had been found in the watery spray that spurts out of the Saturn’s moon, Enceladus.  All that...
NeuroLogica Blog
Passive Solar Water Desalination I know we are supposed to be worried about the world supply of fresh water. I have been hearing that...
a year ago
22
a year ago
I know we are supposed to be worried about the world supply of fresh water. I have been hearing that at least for the last 40 years, and the statistics are alarming. According to the Global Commission on the Economics of Water: “We are seeing the consequences not of freak events,...
Asterisk
Development Finance Done Right A veteran diplomat explains how to navigate the U.S. development ecosystem, master the interagency...
a year ago
15
a year ago
A veteran diplomat explains how to navigate the U.S. development ecosystem, master the interagency process, and bring electricity to 200 million people.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How To (Properly) Text Patients | Out-Of-Pocket Do’s and don’ts + tactical tips from an actual doctor
a year ago
The Works in...
The fewer the merrier The merits of unified land ownership
2 months ago
Quanta Magazine
How Colorful Ribbon Diagrams Became the Face of Proteins Proteins are often visualized as cascades of curled ribbons and twisted strings, which both reveal...
10 months ago
94
10 months ago
Proteins are often visualized as cascades of curled ribbons and twisted strings, which both reveal and conceal the mess of atoms that make up these impossibly complex molecules. The post How Colorful Ribbon Diagrams Became the Face of Proteins first appeared on Quanta...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Wet Labs Shouldn’t Be Boring (for young scientists) | Out-Of-Pocket This is the first touchpoint for science, we should make it more enticing
a month ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Quiet Supersonic Aircraft Ready for Testing It was six years ago that I first wrote about NASA’s X-59 QueSST project, contracted to Lockheed...
over a year ago
51
over a year ago
It was six years ago that I first wrote about NASA’s X-59 QueSST project, contracted to Lockheed Martin. Now the plane has finally been built and is ready for testing. At the time it was reported that NASA “had a design” for a quiet supersonic jet, one that would not create a...
Yale E360
Loss of Antarctic Sea Ice Is Giving Rise to More Frequent Storms The decline of sea ice around Antarctica is fueling more frequent storms in the Southern Ocean, a...
6 months ago
4
6 months ago
The decline of sea ice around Antarctica is fueling more frequent storms in the Southern Ocean, a new study finds. Read more on E360 →
Yale E360
China’s Mega Dam Project Poses Big Risks for Asia’s Grand Canyon China’s plans to build a massive hydro project in Tibet have sparked fears about the environmental...
2 months ago
3
2 months ago
China’s plans to build a massive hydro project in Tibet have sparked fears about the environmental impacts on the world’s longest and deepest canyon. It has also alarmed neighboring India, which fears that China could hold back or even weaponize river water it depends on. Read...
Eukaryote Writes...
Learn to write well BEFORE you have something worth saying Lessons learned from trip reports and journal articles.
6 months ago
symmetry magazine
Whatever happened to the theory of everything? A theory of everything was all the rage in the 1980s. So where did it go? It is...
over a year ago
91
over a year ago
A theory of everything was all the rage in the 1980s. So where did it go? It is only the optimists who achieve anything in this world—theorist John Ellis once read this adage on a candy wrapper. It stuck with him, so much so that in 1986 he referenced this...
Quanta Magazine
What Has the Pandemic Taught Us About Vaccines? Should Covid-19 vaccines be judged by how well they prevent disease or how well they prevent death?...
over a year ago
48
over a year ago
Should Covid-19 vaccines be judged by how well they prevent disease or how well they prevent death? Anna Durbin, a public health expert and vaccine researcher, talks with Steven Strogatz about the science behind vaccines. The post What Has the Pandemic Taught Us About...
wadertales
Why count shorebirds? A tale from Portugal The Sado Estuary is one of Portugal’s most important wetlands – a key link in the chain of sites...
over a year ago
45
over a year ago
The Sado Estuary is one of Portugal’s most important wetlands – a key link in the chain of sites connecting Africa and the Arctic, on the East Atlantic Flyway. In a paper in Waterbirds, João Belo and colleagues analyse changes in numbers of waders wintering in this estuary over...
IEEE Spectrum
32 Bits That Changed Microprocessor Design In the late 1970s, a time when 8-bit processors were state of the art and CMOS was the underdog of...
a month ago
90
a month ago
In the late 1970s, a time when 8-bit processors were state of the art and CMOS was the underdog of semiconductor technology, engineers at AT&T’s Bell Labs took a bold leap into the future. They made a high-stakes bet to outpace IBM, Intel, and other competitors in chip...
NeuroLogica Blog
Pentagon Report – No UFOs In response to a recent surge in interest in alien phenomena and claims that the US government is...
a year ago
52
a year ago
In response to a recent surge in interest in alien phenomena and claims that the US government is hiding what it knows about extraterrestrials, the Pentagon established a committee to investigate the question – the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). They have recently...
Quanta Magazine
Exotic New Superconductors Delight and Confound Three new species of superconductivity were spotted this year, illustrating the myriad ways...
7 months ago
57
7 months ago
Three new species of superconductivity were spotted this year, illustrating the myriad ways electrons can join together to form a frictionless quantum soup. The post Exotic New Superconductors Delight and Confound first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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...
7 months ago
57
7 months ago
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
Quanta Magazine
How Did Altruism Evolve? If evolution favors the survival of the fittest, where did the impulse to help others come from?...
a year ago
58
a year ago
If evolution favors the survival of the fittest, where did the impulse to help others come from? Host Janna Levin speaks with Stephanie Preston, a neuropsychologist who studies the biology of altruism. The post How Did Altruism Evolve? first appeared on Quanta...
Yale E360
The ‘Green’ Aviation Fuel That Would Increase Carbon Emissions The U.S. agriculture lobby has long promoted ethanol for cars. If President Trump’s “Big Beautiful...
a month ago
3
a month ago
The U.S. agriculture lobby has long promoted ethanol for cars. If President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” becomes law, the industry would be given tax credits for producing crop-based fuel for planes, too, despite evidence it would spur deforestation and increase emissions. Read...
Asterisk
Half A Million Kinksters Can’t Be Wrong The story of how one independent researcher conducted the largest-ever survey on fetishes, and what...
a year ago
19
a year ago
The story of how one independent researcher conducted the largest-ever survey on fetishes, and what it has to teach us about sex, pleasure, and social science methodology.
NeuroLogica Blog
Oxygen As A Technosignature This is one of the biggest thought experiments in science today – as we look for life elsewhere in...
a year ago
34
a year ago
This is one of the biggest thought experiments in science today – as we look for life elsewhere in the universe, what should we be looking for, exactly? Other stellar systems are too far away to examine directly, and even our most powerful telescopes can only resolve points of...
Quanta Magazine
How the Square Root of 2 Became a Number Useful mathematical concepts, like the number line, can linger for millennia before they are...
a year ago
103
a year ago
Useful mathematical concepts, like the number line, can linger for millennia before they are rigorously defined. The post How the Square Root of 2 Became a Number first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Superconducting Kagome Metals Superconductivity is an extremely interesting, and potentially extremely useful, physical...
10 months ago
64
10 months ago
Superconductivity is an extremely interesting, and potentially extremely useful, physical phenomenon. It refers to a state in which current flows through a material without resistance, and therefore without any loss of energy or waste heat. As our civilization is increasingly run...
IEEE Spectrum
Meet Mr. Internet: Vint Cerf It was June 1973. For the past three months, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn had been working together on a...
over a year ago
19
over a year ago
It was June 1973. For the past three months, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn had been working together on a problem Kahn had been pondering for some time: how to connect ground-based military computers seamlessly to communications satellites and mobile radios. The two had been...
NeuroLogica Blog
Is Mars the New Frontier? In the excellent sci fi show, The Expanse, which takes place a couple hundred years in the future,...
a year ago
39
a year ago
In the excellent sci fi show, The Expanse, which takes place a couple hundred years in the future, Mars has been settled and is an independent self-sustaining society. In fact, Mars is presented as the most scientifically and technologically advanced society of humans in the...
Eukaryote Writes...
Book review: Air-borne by Carl Zimmer Man, it’s embarrassing to be part of a field of study (biosecurity, in this case) that had such a...
a month ago
19
a month ago
Man, it’s embarrassing to be part of a field of study (biosecurity, in this case) that had such a public moment of unambiguously whiffing it.
Yale E360
To Protect Amazon from Drug Traffickers, Title Indigenous Lands, Report Says Drug traffickers are violently seizing Indigenous lands in the Peruvian Amazon to clear rainforest...
a month ago
13
a month ago
Drug traffickers are violently seizing Indigenous lands in the Peruvian Amazon to clear rainforest and grow coca. To combat the drug trade, a new report calls for titling Indigenous territories along major trafficking routes.  Read more on E360 →
Yale E360
As Wind and Solar Grow, China Ships More Coal Overseas A slowing economy and the rapid growth of wind and solar have blunted demand for coal in China....
3 weeks ago
14
3 weeks ago
A slowing economy and the rapid growth of wind and solar have blunted demand for coal in China. Increasingly, producers are selling coal overseas. Read more on E360 →
Yale E360
Russia's War Is Driving Up Emissions by Forcing Planes to Reroute Since war broke out in Ukraine, Western airlines have been charting longer routes to avoid flying...
5 months ago
2
5 months ago
Since war broke out in Ukraine, Western airlines have been charting longer routes to avoid flying over Russia, with a discernible impact on emissions. Read more on E360 →
Asterisk
A Defense of Weird Research Government-funded scientific research may appear strange or impractical, but it has repeatedly...
5 months ago
28
5 months ago
Government-funded scientific research may appear strange or impractical, but it has repeatedly yielded scientific breakthroughs — and continues to pay for itself many times over.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Should Social Determinants Come From Payers and Providers? | Out-Of-Pocket I've got some questions
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
Why Do Researchers Care About Small Language Models? Larger models can pull off greater feats, but the accessibility and efficiency of smaller models...
4 months ago
40
4 months ago
Larger models can pull off greater feats, but the accessibility and efficiency of smaller models make them attractive tools. The post Why Do Researchers Care About Small Language Models? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Transgene-Free Gene Editing in Plants Regulations are a classic example of a proverbial double-edged sword. They are essential to create...
2 months ago
91
2 months ago
Regulations are a classic example of a proverbial double-edged sword. They are essential to create and maintain a free and fair market, to prevent exploitation, and to promote safety and the public interest. Just look at 19th century America for countless examples of what happens...
NeuroLogica Blog
AI Humor It’s been less than two years (November 2022) since ChatGPT launched. In some ways the new large...
11 months ago
49
11 months ago
It’s been less than two years (November 2022) since ChatGPT launched. In some ways the new large language model (LLM) type of artificial intelligence (AI) applications have been on the steep part of the improvement curve. And yet, they are still LLMs with the same limitations. In...
Quanta Magazine
To See Black Holes in Stunning Detail, She Uses ‘Echoes’ Like a Bat The astrophysicist Erin Kara measures time lags in black holes’ X-ray glows, which reveal the...
a year ago
46
a year ago
The astrophysicist Erin Kara measures time lags in black holes’ X-ray glows, which reveal the complexity of the objects’ closest surroundings. The post To See Black Holes in Stunning Detail, She Uses ‘Echoes’ Like a Bat first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale E360
Growing Risk of 'Thirstwaves' as the Planet Warms The atmosphere is getting thirstier. A new study finds that warming is leading to more frequent...
3 months ago
3
3 months ago
The atmosphere is getting thirstier. A new study finds that warming is leading to more frequent bouts of hot, dry weather that cause soils to lose large volumes of water to evaporation. Read more on E360 →
Yale E360
As Earth's Magnetic Field Grows Stronger, Oxygen Levels Rise When the magnetic field around the Earth grows stronger, oxygen levels rise. That is the surprising...
a month ago
3
a month ago
When the magnetic field around the Earth grows stronger, oxygen levels rise. That is the surprising finding of a new study looking at more than half a billion years of planetary history. Read more on E360 →
pcloadletter
Coding interviews are effective Coding interviews are controversial. It can be unpleasant to code in front of someone else, knowing...
a year ago
47
a year ago
Coding interviews are controversial. It can be unpleasant to code in front of someone else, knowing you're being judged. And who likes failing? Especially when it feels like you failed intellectually. But, coding interviews are effective. One big criticism of coding interviews is...
Yale E360
How African Communities Are Taking Lead on Protecting Wildlife A new analysis shows that African wildlife increasingly depend on lands managed by villagers and...
6 months ago
6
6 months ago
A new analysis shows that African wildlife increasingly depend on lands managed by villagers and herders. In many areas, locally-run conservancies now more effectively protect wildlife than national parks do, with communities reaping tourism revenue and other benefits. Read more...
NeuroLogica Blog
Journalists Fail on UAP Story Nothing about the recent resurgence in interest in UFOs (now called UAPs for unidentified anomalous...
a year ago
28
a year ago
Nothing about the recent resurgence in interest in UFOs (now called UAPs for unidentified anomalous phenomena) is really new. It’s basically the same stories with the same level of completely unconvincing evidence. But what is somewhat new is the level of credulity and outright...
Quanta Magazine
The Year in Computer Science Artificial intelligence learned how to generate text and art better than ever before, while computer...
a year ago
28
a year ago
Artificial intelligence learned how to generate text and art better than ever before, while computer scientists developed algorithms that solved long-standing problems. The post The Year in Computer Science first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
DNA Directed Assembly of Nanomaterials Arguably the type of advance that has the greatest impact on technology is material science....
a year ago
39
a year ago
Arguably the type of advance that has the greatest impact on technology is material science. Technology can advance by doing more with the materials we have, but new materials can change the game entirely. It is no coincidence that we mark different technological ages by the...
NeuroLogica Blog
Using AI To Create Virtual Environments Generative AI applications seem to be on the steep part of the development curve – not only is the...
a year ago
105
a year ago
Generative AI applications seem to be on the steep part of the development curve – not only is the technology getting better, but people are finding more and more uses for it. It’s a new powerful tool with broad applicability, and so there are countless startups and researchers...
Quanta Magazine
Heat Destroys All Order. Except for in This One Special Case. Heat is supposed to destroy anything it touches. But physicists have shown that an idealized form of...
6 months ago
66
6 months ago
Heat is supposed to destroy anything it touches. But physicists have shown that an idealized form of magnetism is heatproof. The post Heat Destroys All Order. Except for in This One Special Case. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
ToughSF
Inter-Orbital Kinetic Energy Exchanges: Part I Electrical power can be transferred between planets using high velocity masses. Kinetic Energy...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
Electrical power can be transferred between planets using high velocity masses. Kinetic Energy Exchanges are an efficient concept that can output more energy than it consumes and only gets better with distance. Guest writer Zerraspace (Zach Hajj) works out the details and...
Yale E360
To Protect Amazon from Drug Traffickers, Title Indigenous Lands, Report Says Drug traffickers are violently seizing Indigenous lands in the Peruvian Amazon to clear rainforest...
a month ago
3
a month ago
Drug traffickers are violently seizing Indigenous lands in the Peruvian Amazon to clear rainforest and grow coca. To combat the drug trade, a new report calls for titling Indigenous territories along major trafficking routes.  Read more on E360 →
Damn Interesting
Journey to the Invisible Planet In the late 17th century, natural philosopher Isaac Newton was deeply uneasy with a new scientific...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
In the late 17th century, natural philosopher Isaac Newton was deeply uneasy with a new scientific theory that was gaining currency in Europe: universal gravitation. In correspondence with a scientific contemporary, Newton complained that it was “an absurdity” to suppose that...
Quanta Magazine
New Proof Shows That ‘Expander’ Graphs Synchronize The proof establishes new conditions that cause connected oscillators to sway in sync. ...
a year ago
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a year ago
The proof establishes new conditions that cause connected oscillators to sway in sync. The post New Proof Shows That ‘Expander’ Graphs Synchronize first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Roots of...
What is progress? In one sense, the concept of progress is simple, straightforward, and uncontroversial. In another...
a year ago
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a year ago
In one sense, the concept of progress is simple, straightforward, and uncontroversial. In another sense, it contains an entire worldview. The most basic meaning of “progress” is simply advancement along a path, or more generally from one state to another that is considered more...
NeuroLogica Blog
New Platform for Timed Drug Release This is one of those technologies that most people probably never think about, but could potentially...
over a year ago
90
over a year ago
This is one of those technologies that most people probably never think about, but could potentially have a significant impact on our lives – timed drug release. The concept is nothing new, but there is a lot of room for improvement on current technologies. We already have...
Marine Madness
Book club: ‘Being Salmon Being Human’ by Martin Lee Mueller Encountering the Wild in Us and Us in the Wild Norwegian and Pacific Northwest salmon industries...
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
Encountering the Wild in Us and Us in the Wild Norwegian and Pacific Northwest salmon industries remain largely overlooked and Martin Lee Mueller cleverly weaves the stories of artificially inseminated and reared salmon to highlight the long-standing notion of human...
Yale E360
Antarctic Ice Sheet May Be Less Vulnerable Than Previously Thought A new study reveals the massive West Antarctic ice sheet did not completely collapse during the last...
5 months ago
2
5 months ago
A new study reveals the massive West Antarctic ice sheet did not completely collapse during the last warm period, as prior modeling had suggested. The findings offer some hope for the future of the ice sheet as the planet heats up. Read more on E360 →
Yale E360
Britain Sees Sunniest Spring on Record This spring was the warmest and sunniest on record in the U.K., a symptom of a rapidly warming...
a month ago
14
a month ago
This spring was the warmest and sunniest on record in the U.K., a symptom of a rapidly warming climate, weather officials say. Read more on E360 →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
“There Are Too Many Entrenched Interests” | Out-Of-Pocket The Six Stages Of Health Tech Grief Part 3
a year ago
Quantum Frontiers
Happy 200th birthday, Carnot’s theorem! In Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, a Mole meets a Water Rat who lives on a...
7 months ago
87
7 months ago
In Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, a Mole meets a Water Rat who lives on a River. The Rat explains how the River permeates his life: “It’s brother and sister to me, and aunts, and company, … Continue reading →
Quantum Frontiers
The rain in Portugal My husband taught me how to pronounce the name of the city where I’d be presenting a talk late last...
a year ago
101
a year ago
My husband taught me how to pronounce the name of the city where I’d be presenting a talk late last July: Aveiro, Portugal. Having studied Spanish, I pronounced the name as Ah-VEH-roh, with a v partway to a hard b. … Continue reading →
Yale E360
African Solar Installations Headed for Banner Year African solar installations are projected to grow by 42 percent this year, according to an industry...
4 months ago
7
4 months ago
African solar installations are projected to grow by 42 percent this year, according to an industry group. Read more on E360 →
brr
Redeployment Part Two Station opening, and my flight out of Pole!
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
Is Gravity Just Entropy Rising? Long-Shot Idea Gets Another Look. A new argument explores how the growth of disorder could cause massive objects to move toward one...
a month ago
27
a month ago
A new argument explores how the growth of disorder could cause massive objects to move toward one another. Physicists are both interested and skeptical. The post Is Gravity Just Entropy Rising? Long-Shot Idea Gets Another Look. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
The Neolithic Revolution What was the greatest invention of human civilization? Arguably it was agriculture, which allowed...
a year ago
89
a year ago
What was the greatest invention of human civilization? Arguably it was agriculture, which allowed for civilization itself. Prior to agriculture humans were some combination of hunters, gatherers, scavengers, and fishers. We lived off the land, which was a full-time job. Many...
Asterisk
What We Get Wrong About AI & China Everyone’s afraid of what China can and will do with AI. On the ground, the picture looks a lot more...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
Everyone’s afraid of what China can and will do with AI. On the ground, the picture looks a lot more complicated.
Yale E360
In California, Hummingbird Beaks Have Been Transformed by Feeders The profusion of hummingbird feeders in California homes has not only allowed some hummingbirds to...
a month ago
16
a month ago
The profusion of hummingbird feeders in California homes has not only allowed some hummingbirds to expand their range, but has also altered the shape of their beaks. Read more on E360 →
Yale E360
Planned EV Battery Plant Threatens Uncontacted Tribe in Indonesia A planned EV battery factory in Indonesia poses a grave threat to an uncontacted tribe, a watchdog...
3 weeks ago
10
3 weeks ago
A planned EV battery factory in Indonesia poses a grave threat to an uncontacted tribe, a watchdog warns. Read more on E360 →
Chris Grossack's...
$\mathsf{B}\text{Diff}(\Sigma)$ Classifies $\Sigma$-bundles I’ve been trying to learn all about topological (quantum) field theories, the cobordism hypothesis,...
7 months ago
92
7 months ago
I’ve been trying to learn all about topological (quantum) field theories, the cobordism hypothesis, and how to use $(\infty,n)$-categories. This is all in service of some stuff I’m doing with skein algebras (which are part of a “$3+1$ TQFT” often named after Crane–Yetter, but...
NeuroLogica Blog
Electronic Noses I am always sniffing around (pun intended) for new and interesting technology, especially anything...
8 months ago
65
8 months ago
I am always sniffing around (pun intended) for new and interesting technology, especially anything that I think is currently flying under the radar of public awareness but has the potential to transform our world in some way. I think electronic nose technology fits into this...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How are hospitals actually organized | Out-Of-Pocket We’re gonna need a whiteboard for this one
5 months ago
Explorations of an...
Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 4: The Chiricahuas September 3, 2024 It was another beautiful day in paradise, and all of us were up early to watch the...
9 months ago
17
9 months ago
September 3, 2024 It was another beautiful day in paradise, and all of us were up early to watch the sun rise over the desert. The active bird feeders gave us something to study while we drank our coffee and ate our egg sandwiches that Nikki had crafted for us.  Black-throated...
Cremieux Recueil
High-Frequency Trading Is Good Sichuan Mala has written a guest post on one of the most unfairly maligned parts of the financial...
10 months ago
30
10 months ago
Sichuan Mala has written a guest post on one of the most unfairly maligned parts of the financial industry
nanoscale views
This week in the arXiv: quantum geometry, fluid momentum "tunneling", and pasta sauce Three papers caught my eye the other day on the arXiv at the start of the new year: arXiv:2501.00098...
6 months ago
20
6 months ago
Three papers caught my eye the other day on the arXiv at the start of the new year: arXiv:2501.00098 - J. Yu et al., "Quantum geometry in quantum materials" - I hope to write up something about quantum geometry soon, but I wanted to point out this nice review even if I haven't...
NeuroLogica Blog
Confidently Wrong How certain are you of anything that you believe? Do you even think about your confidence level, and...
9 months ago
59
9 months ago
How certain are you of anything that you believe? Do you even think about your confidence level, and do you have a process for determining what your confidence level should be or do you just follow your gut feelings? Thinking about confidence is a form of metacognition – thinking...
NeuroLogica Blog
A Discussion about Biological Sex At CSICON this year I gave talk about topics over which skeptics have and continue to disagree with...
8 months ago
73
8 months ago
At CSICON this year I gave talk about topics over which skeptics have and continue to disagree with each other. My core theme was that these are the topics we absolutely should be discussing with each other, especially at skeptical conferences. Nothing should be taboo or too...
Cremieux Recueil
Why America’s Racial Poverty Statistics Are a Lesson for Researchers What if a single government employee could tell you an entire literature was wrong?
10 months ago
Sean Carroll
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion Just in case there are any blog readers out there who haven’t heard from other channels: I have a...
over a year ago
39
over a year ago
Just in case there are any blog readers out there who haven’t heard from other channels: I have a new book out! The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion is Volume One of a planned three-volume series. It grew out of the videos that I did in 2020, trying to offer...
NeuroLogica Blog
Eclipse 2024 I am currently in Dallas Texas waiting to see, hopefully, the 2024 total solar eclipse. This would...
a year ago
93
a year ago
I am currently in Dallas Texas waiting to see, hopefully, the 2024 total solar eclipse. This would be my first total eclipse, and everything I have heard indicates that it is an incredible experience. Unfortunately, the weather calls for some clouds, although forecasts have been...
Blog - Practical...
How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In February 2021, a winter...
over a year ago
56
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In February 2021, a winter storm that swept through Texas caused one of the most severe power crises in American history. The cold weather created shockingly high electricity demands as people tried to keep...
Asterisk
A User’s Guide to Building a Subculture First, you’re going to need something to care about.
8 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
The Threat of Technology In my second book (shameless plug alert) – The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future – my coauthors and I...
a year ago
20
a year ago
In my second book (shameless plug alert) – The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future – my coauthors and I try to imagine both the utopian and dystopian versions of the future, brought about by technology, either individually or collectively. This topic has come up multiple times recently...
Explorations of an...
Borneo: Quest for the Bornean Peacock-Pheasant October 19, 2024 Laura and I were up dark and early from our accommodations in Ranau. I filled my...
6 months ago
22
6 months ago
October 19, 2024 Laura and I were up dark and early from our accommodations in Ranau. I filled my thermos with coffee, we quickly packed (though not quietly, as every dog in the neighbourhood began barking), and we headed eastwards to the town of Telupid where we had a very...
Light from Space
The Cat's Paw Located very close to the Lobster Nebula in the southern constellation of Scorpius, the Cat's Paw...
over a year ago
38
over a year ago
Located very close to the Lobster Nebula in the southern constellation of Scorpius, the Cat's Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) does indeed have a striking resemblance to a feline footprint. It's quite low in the sky here from Tucson (at a maximum of about 22º above
The Roots of...
Can we “cure” cancer? In an excellent recent essay on “big visions for biology,” Sam Rodriques writes: Ask most biologists...
over a year ago
51
over a year ago
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
How Humans Solve Problems The human brain is extremely good at problem-solving, at least relatively speaking. Cognitive...
a month ago
15
a month ago
The human brain is extremely good at problem-solving, at least relatively speaking. Cognitive scientists have been exploring how, exactly, people approach and solve problems – what cognitive strategies do we use, and how optimal are they. A recent study extends this research and...
Blog - Practical...
Why Bridges Don't Sink [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] The essence of a bridge is not...
a year ago
135
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] The essence of a bridge is not just that it goes over something, but that there’s clear space underneath for a river, railway, or road. Maybe this is already obvious to you, but bridges present a unique...
Yale E360
How Climate Change Puts the Safety of Drinking Water at Risk Wildfires, floods, intense heat, droughts, and other extreme events fueled by climate change are...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
Wildfires, floods, intense heat, droughts, and other extreme events fueled by climate change are threatening water systems in the U.S. and around the globe. Experts warn of the increasing threat of contamination and the need to improve infrastructure to keep drinking water...
IEEE Spectrum
How This Record Company Engineer Invented the CT Scanner The inspiration for computed tomography (CT) came from a chance conversation that research engineer...
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
The inspiration for computed tomography (CT) came from a chance conversation that research engineer Godfrey Hounsfield had with a doctor while on vacation in the 1960s. The physician complained that X-ray images of the brain were too grainy and only two-dimensional. Hounsfield...
Quanta Magazine
Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex A new suggestion that complexity increases over time, not just in living organisms but in the...
3 months ago
40
3 months ago
A new suggestion that complexity increases over time, not just in living organisms but in the nonliving world, promises to rewrite notions of time and evolution. The post Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale E360
In a First, Solar Was Europe's Biggest Source of Power Last Month For the first time, solar was the largest source of electricity in the EU last month, supplying a...
a week ago
7
a week ago
For the first time, solar was the largest source of electricity in the EU last month, supplying a record 22 percent of the bloc's power. Read more on E360 →
The Roots of...
Event, Feb 29: “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” in Boston and on Zoom On Thursday, February 29, I’ll be giving my talk “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” to the New...
a year ago
94
a year ago
On Thursday, February 29, I’ll be giving my talk “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” to the New England Legal Foundation, for their Economic Liberty Speaker Series. The talk will be held over breakfast at NELF’s offices in Boston, and will also be livestreamed over Zoom. See...
NeuroLogica Blog
Science News in 2023 This is not exactly a “best of” because I don’t know how that applies to science news, but here are...
a year ago
28
a year ago
This is not exactly a “best of” because I don’t know how that applies to science news, but here are what I consider to be the most impactful science news stories of 2023 (or at least the ones that caught by biased attention). This was a big year for medical breakthroughs. We are...
Interaction Magic -...
Orientation Using Mahony & Madgwick to calibrate and process Arduino orientation data.
over a year ago
The Works in...
Issue 09: Cheap shots and killer bots Plus: Why scientific writing is so bad, how to stop snakebites from killing 100,000 people every...
over a year ago
35
over a year ago
Plus: Why scientific writing is so bad, how to stop snakebites from killing 100,000 people every year, and what science can learn from the fight against global poverty.
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...
over a year ago
82
over a year ago
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...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Decentralizing Journals and Peer Review DAOs | Out-Of-Pocket the evolution of legitimacy in scientific publishing
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
How Metabolism Can Shape Cells’ Destinies A growing body of work suggests that cell metabolism — the chemical reactions that provide energy...
3 months ago
31
3 months ago
A growing body of work suggests that cell metabolism — the chemical reactions that provide energy and building materials — plays a vital, overlooked role in the first steps of life. The post How Metabolism Can Shape Cells’ Destinies first appeared on Quanta Magazine
brr
Brr Wants A Job 8 months post-ice, it's time for something new!
12 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Electric ‘Ripples’ in the Resting Brain Tag Memories for Storage New experiments reveal how the brain chooses which memories to save and add credence to advice about...
a year ago
112
a year ago
New experiments reveal how the brain chooses which memories to save and add credence to advice about the importance of rest. The post Electric ‘Ripples’ in the Resting Brain Tag Memories for Storage first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Damn Interesting
Much Ado About Adenoids Edmund Lawall must have felt cursed. He’d brought his family to New York in the late 1800s to carry...
3 weeks ago
16
3 weeks ago
Edmund Lawall must have felt cursed. He’d brought his family to New York in the late 1800s to carry on his father’s business as a pharmacist, but fate—or perhaps the city itself—seemed determined to drive him back out again. Lawall’s health had been in decline since their...
SubAnima
What is a biological individual? Some individuals have no clear boundaries. Here’s an assortment of some of the most interesting...
over a year ago
13
over a year ago
Some individuals have no clear boundaries. Here’s an assortment of some of the most interesting problem cases
Many Worlds
Getting To Know Rogue Planets In our Earthling minds, planets exist in solar systems with a Sun in the middle and objects large...
a year ago
36
a year ago
In our Earthling minds, planets exist in solar systems with a Sun in the middle and objects large and small orbiting around it.   This is hardly surprising since planets are pretty much exclusively illustrated in solar systems and, until the onset of the 21st century, no other...
nanoscale views
Brief items A few tidbits that I encountered recently: The saga of Ranga Dias at Rochester draws to a close,...
7 months ago
18
7 months ago
A few tidbits that I encountered recently: The saga of Ranga Dias at Rochester draws to a close, as described by the Wall Street Journal.  It took quite some time for this to propagate through their system.  This is after multiple internal investigations that somehow were...
Yale E360
As Oceans Warm, Predators Are Falling Out of Sync with Their Prey In the sea as on land, climate change is driving shifts in the abundance and distribution of...
5 months ago
5
5 months ago
In the sea as on land, climate change is driving shifts in the abundance and distribution of species. Scientists are just beginning to focus on why some fish predators and prey — like striped bass and menhaden on the U.S. East Coast — are changing their behavior as waters warm....
Yale E360
Global Economy More Vulnerable to Warming Than Previously Thought A new study finds warming could inflict far more damage to the global economy than previously...
3 months ago
Beautiful Public...
Wild Horses The Bureau of Land Management wants to pay you $1,000 to adopt a wild horse. But the program has...
a year ago
125
a year ago
The Bureau of Land Management wants to pay you $1,000 to adopt a wild horse. But the program has been criticized by animal rights advocates and subject to scrutiny by Congress.
Light from Space
The Soul of the Heart Nebula A spectacular emission Nebula, the Heart Nebula is one of the classics of Northern Hemisphere...
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
A spectacular emission Nebula, the Heart Nebula is one of the classics of Northern Hemisphere amateury astronomy. In the gallery below, I've highlighted 3 very different areas of the image: Left: Planetary Nebula WeBo-1 Middle: Melotte 15 in the... heart of the Heart...
Quanta Magazine
Dogged Dark Matter Hunters Find New Hiding Places to Check Perhaps dark matter is made of an entirely different kind of particle than the ones physicists have...
a year ago
73
a year ago
Perhaps dark matter is made of an entirely different kind of particle than the ones physicists have been searching for. New experiments are springing up to look for these ultra-lightweight phantoms. The post Dogged Dark Matter Hunters Find New Hiding Places to Check...
Quantum Frontiers
Noncommuting charges are much like Batman Understanding a character’s origins enriches their narrative and motivates their actions. Take...
a year ago
52
a year ago
Understanding a character’s origins enriches their narrative and motivates their actions. Take Batman as an example: without knowing his backstory, he appears merely as a billionaire who might achieve more by donating his wealth rather than masquerading as a bat … Continue...
Drew Ex Machina
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...
over a year ago
48
over a year ago
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 […]
NeuroLogica Blog
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,...
a month ago
17
a month ago
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...
brr
South Pole Water Infrastructure Fresh water from snow, at 70 below!
a year ago
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
A.I., Wine, and Beer There have been many studies using scientific instrumentation, mostly gas chromatography, in...
a year ago
18
a year ago
There have been many studies using scientific instrumentation, mostly gas chromatography, in attempts to find what distinguishes a superb wine from an inexpensive house wine. A typical wine can contain more than 800 different aroma compounds. One study examined two Australian...
IEEE Spectrum
50 Years Later, We’re Still Living in the Xerox Alto’s World I’m sitting in front of a computer, looking at its graphical user interface with overlapping windows...
over a year ago
25
over a year ago
I’m sitting in front of a computer, looking at its graphical user interface with overlapping windows on a high-resolution screen. I interact with the computer by pointing and clicking with a mouse and typing on a keyboard. I’m using a word processor with the core features and...
Explorations of an...
A Quest Nature Tour to Colombia's Central Andes I have recently returned from an excellent tour to Colombia that I led for Quest Nature Tours. This...
3 months ago
31
3 months ago
I have recently returned from an excellent tour to Colombia that I led for Quest Nature Tours. This was my third time guiding in Colombia, following excellent trips in 2020 and 2022. Those previous tours covered a lot of ground, in the eastern Andes near Bogotá, the Central Andes...
Uncharted...
The Moral Case for More People on Earth Today we’re going to cover four points that have emerged from the last few articles on growing our...
7 months ago
41
7 months ago
Today we’re going to cover four points that have emerged from the last few articles on growing our population, but which I haven’t covered yet:
Eukaryote Writes...
Internet Harvest (2020, 1) Internet Harvest is a selection of the most succulent links on the internet that I’ve recently...
over a year ago
54
over a year ago
Internet Harvest is a selection of the most succulent links on the internet that I’ve recently plucked from its fruitful boughs.
Quanta Magazine
The Year in Biology Biologists used artificial intelligence to make discoveries about molecules and the brain, and...
7 months ago
87
7 months ago
Biologists used artificial intelligence to make discoveries about molecules and the brain, and overturned long-held assumptions about the immune system and RNA. The post The Year in Biology first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
Why Insect Memories May Not Survive Metamorphosis The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t...
a year ago
26
a year ago
The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t persist in adults. The post Why Insect Memories May Not Survive Metamorphosis first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale E360
Saving U.S. Climate and Environmental Data Before It Goes Away Some 2,000 records went missing from government data sets after the Trump administration took office...
4 months ago
8
4 months ago
Some 2,000 records went missing from government data sets after the Trump administration took office in January. Canadian geographer Eric Nost talks about the work he and colleagues are doing to archive data related to climate and the environment while it is still...
Quanta Magazine
How the Ancient Art of Eclipse Prediction Became an Exact Science The timing of the total eclipse on April 8, 2024, will be known to within a second, thousands of...
a year ago
66
a year ago
The timing of the total eclipse on April 8, 2024, will be known to within a second, thousands of years after fearful humans first started trying to anticipate these cosmic events. The post How the Ancient Art of Eclipse Prediction Became an Exact Science first...
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: The stats gap Students understand just enough statistics to get by
over a year ago
Quanta Magazine
In the Milky Way’s Stars, a History of Violence Our galaxy's stars keep a record of its past. By reading those stories, astronomers are learning...
a year ago
85
a year ago
Our galaxy's stars keep a record of its past. By reading those stories, astronomers are learning more about how the Milky Way came to be — and about the galaxy we live in today. The post In the Milky Way’s Stars, a History of Violence first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
Why Is This Shape So Terrible to Pack? Two mathematicians have proved a long-standing conjecture that is a step on the way toward finding...
a year ago
108
a year ago
Two mathematicians have proved a long-standing conjecture that is a step on the way toward finding the worst shape for packing the plane. The post Why Is This Shape So Terrible to Pack? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
What does longevity medicine actually mean? | Out-Of-Pocket An interview with a practicing longevity medicine doctor
8 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Being Trans Is Not A Mental Illness On the current episode of the SGU, because it is pride month, we expressed our general support for...
over a year ago
81
over a year ago
On the current episode of the SGU, because it is pride month, we expressed our general support for the LGBTQ community. I also opined about how important it is to respect individual liberty, the freedom to simply live your authentic life as you choose, and how ironic it is that...
Quanta Magazine
These Cells Spark Electricity in the Brain. They’re Not Neurons. For decades, researchers have debated whether brain cells called astrocytes can signal like neurons....
a year ago
25
a year ago
For decades, researchers have debated whether brain cells called astrocytes can signal like neurons. Researchers recently published the best evidence yet that some astrocytes are part of the electrical conversation. The post These Cells Spark Electricity in the Brain....
Quantum Frontiers
To thermalize, or not to thermalize, that is the question. If Hamlet had been a system of noncommuting charges, his famous soliloquy may have gone like this…...
a year ago
93
a year ago
If Hamlet had been a system of noncommuting charges, his famous soliloquy may have gone like this… To thermalize, or not to thermalize, that is the question:Whether ’tis more natural for the system to sufferThe large entanglement of thermalizing dynamics,Or … Continue reading →
NeuroLogica Blog
Making Computers More Efficient An analysis in 2021 found that 10% of the world’s electricity production is used by computers,...
a year ago
22
a year ago
An analysis in 2021 found that 10% of the world’s electricity production is used by computers, including personal use, data centers, the internet and communication centers. The same analysis projected that this was likely to increase to 20% by 2025. This may have been an...
Light from Space
The Fossil Footprint Nebula A rarely imaged target as it is very dim. This image took me over 50h of total exposure time. Total...
a year ago
58
a year ago
A rarely imaged target as it is very dim. This image took me over 50h of total exposure time. Total exposure time: 52h 40' Image resolution: 4,490 × 4,552px (0.96″/px) Shot from my driveway near Tucson, AZ in late 2023 Telescope: William Optics RedCat
The Works in...
How Israel turned homeowners into YIMBYs A housing success story
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
Pierre de Fermat’s Link to a High School Student’s Prime Math Proof How Fermat’s less famous ‘little theorem’ got mathematicians young and old to play with prime-like...
a year ago
48
a year ago
How Fermat’s less famous ‘little theorem’ got mathematicians young and old to play with prime-like Carmichael numbers. The post Pierre de Fermat’s Link to a High School Student’s Prime Math Proof first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
How Is Science Even Possible? How are scientists able to crack fundamental questions about nature and life? How does math make the...
a year ago
90
a year ago
How are scientists able to crack fundamental questions about nature and life? How does math make the complex cosmos understandable? In this episode, the physicist Nigel Goldenfeld and co-host Steven Strogatz explore the deep foundations of the scientific process. The...
Quanta Magazine
Plants Find Light Using Gaps Between Their Cells A mutant seedling revealed how plant tissues scatter incoming light, allowing plants to sense its...
a year ago
35
a year ago
A mutant seedling revealed how plant tissues scatter incoming light, allowing plants to sense its direction and move toward it. The post Plants Find Light Using Gaps Between Their Cells first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Understanding Jumbo Phage Viruses Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, are the most abundant form of life on Earth. And yet...
a year ago
80
a year ago
Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, are the most abundant form of life on Earth. And yet we know comparatively little about them. But in recent years phage research has taken off with renewed interest. This is partly driven by the availability of CRISPR-based tools for...
Asterisk
How Not To Predict The Future Good forecasting thrives on a delicate balance of math, expertise, and…vibes.
a year ago
NeuroLogica Blog
The Clipper Europa Mission I wrote earlier this week about the latest successful test of Starship and the capture of the Super...
9 months ago
64
9 months ago
I wrote earlier this week about the latest successful test of Starship and the capture of the Super Heavy booster by grabbing arms of the landing tower. This was quite a feat, but it should not eclipse what was perhaps even bigger space news this week – the launch of NASAs...
Yale E360
Cuts to U.S. Climate Aid Will Leave Large Gap in Global Funding The U.S. provides nearly a tenth of all climate finance globally, a well of funding that is at risk...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
The U.S. provides nearly a tenth of all climate finance globally, a well of funding that is at risk of drying up as the Trump administration takes aim at overseas spending. Read more on E360 →
Breck's Blog
Knowledge
2 months ago
Yale E360
Despite Ukraine War, Europe Imported Even More Russian Gas Last Year The EU is getting further from its goal of weaning off Russian fossil fuels by 2027. Imports of...
3 months ago
9
3 months ago
The EU is getting further from its goal of weaning off Russian fossil fuels by 2027. Imports of Russian gas rose by 18 percent last year, a new analysis finds. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
Matter vs. Force: Why There Are Exactly Two Types of Particles Every elementary particle falls into one of two categories. Collectivist bosons account for the...
3 weeks ago
17
3 weeks ago
Every elementary particle falls into one of two categories. Collectivist bosons account for the forces that move us while individualist fermions keep our atoms from collapsing. The post Matter vs. Force: Why There Are Exactly Two Types of Particles first appeared on...
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, October 2023 A ~monthly feature. Last month was busy for me with a lot of travel and a lot of focus on The Roots...
a year ago
91
a year ago
A ~monthly feature. Last month was busy for me with a lot of travel and a lot of focus on The Roots of Progress as a nonprofit organization, so I haven’t had as much time as I prefer for research and writing. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find...
The Works in...
Anemia and Malaria In malaria endemic regions, being anemic could be keeping children safe
9 months ago
IEEE Spectrum
Skylab: The Space Station That Fell on Australia end cap from one of Skylab’s oxygen tanks in the dirt. Cattle were drinking collected rainwater from...
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
end cap from one of Skylab’s oxygen tanks in the dirt. Cattle were drinking collected rainwater from the remains of a US $2.2 billion NASA investment. Skylab’s Failure and Recovery Skylab’s fate was sealed moments after lift-off when the sun shield and main solar panel were...
Quanta Magazine
Computer Scientists Figure Out How To Prove Lies An attack on a fundamental proof technique reveals a glaring security issue for blockchains and...
a week ago
11
a week ago
An attack on a fundamental proof technique reveals a glaring security issue for blockchains and other digital encryption schemes. The post Computer Scientists Figure Out How To Prove Lies first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians Identify the Best Versions of Iconic Shapes Researchers are discovering the shortest knots and fattest Möbius strips, among other “optimal...
a year ago
79
a year ago
Researchers are discovering the shortest knots and fattest Möbius strips, among other “optimal shapes.” The post Mathematicians Identify the Best Versions of Iconic Shapes first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
Mysticism & Empiricism The best way to predict if you’ll benefit from psychedelic therapy is a questionnaire asking if...
a year ago
16
a year ago
The best way to predict if you’ll benefit from psychedelic therapy is a questionnaire asking if you’ve met God. Where did it come from, and what is it really measuring?
Many Worlds
A Real ET Discovery With Promise, Amid Some Other Quite Questionable Claims Beware easy answers to the question of whether life exists beyond Earth. Be they “alien” skeletons...
a year ago
33
a year ago
Beware easy answers to the question of whether life exists beyond Earth. Be they “alien” skeletons in Mexico City, interstellar probes that briefly pass through our solar system, UFOs of all sorts and claims to have found “biosignature” chemical byproducts of life around planets...
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
US Independence Day Tikalon is on a short holiday in celebration of US Independence Day, July 4, 2024. Our next article...
a year ago
18
a year ago
Tikalon is on a short holiday in celebration of US Independence Day, July 4, 2024. Our next article will be posted on Monday, July 15, 2024. View my version of the iconic image of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River in which he encounters some unusually large...
IEEE Spectrum
Zen and the Art of Aibo Engineering Sony’s team made that happen. And since Aibo’s debut, the company has sold more than 170,000 of...
7 months ago
77
7 months ago
Sony’s team made that happen. And since Aibo’s debut, the company has sold more than 170,000 of the cute little quadrupeds—a huge number considering their price of several thousand dollars each. From the start, Aibo could express a range of simulated emotions and learn through...
Interaction Magic -...
Plastic archeology The history, science and engineering of Lego bricks, on the cusp between trash and treasure.
a year ago
Melting Asphalt
2015 Meta Time for my annual blogging review. And only 11 days late! I'll keep it brief. Blog stats I...
over a year ago
26
over a year ago
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 ›
Blog - Practical...
How Would a Nuclear EMP Affect the Power Grid? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Late in the morning of April...
over a year ago
52
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Late in the morning of April 28, 1958, the USS Boxer aircraft carrier ship was about 70 miles off the coast of the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The crew of the Boxer was preparing to launch a...
Eukaryote Writes...
[UPDATE to most recent post] I edited the post “A point of clarification on infohazard terminology” in response to a good point...
over a year ago
50
over a year ago
I edited the post “A point of clarification on infohazard terminology” in response to a good point of feedback, and changed a terminology proposal. I’m writing a separate update in case the old unedited version is still lodged in your RSS feed. Read the new one instead! It’s the...
Yale E360
Warmer, Greener Arctic Becoming a Source of Heat-Trapping Gas As the northern latitudes warm, ice is melting and vegetation is spreading. But instead of absorbing...
5 months ago
2
5 months ago
As the northern latitudes warm, ice is melting and vegetation is spreading. But instead of absorbing more carbon, the region is becoming a source of heat-trapping gas, a new study shows. Read more on E360 →
NeuroLogica Blog
Update on Self-Driving Cars The story has become a classic of failed futurism – driverless or self-driving cars were supposed...
a year ago
19
a year ago
The story has become a classic of failed futurism – driverless or self-driving cars were supposed start taking over the roads as early as 2020. But that didn’t happen – it turned that the last 5% of capability was about as difficult to develop as the first 95%. Around 2015 I...
Quanta Magazine
The Best Neighborhoods for Starting a Life in the Galaxy Some neighborhoods in the Milky Way may be better suited for making habitable planets than others. ...
a year ago
47
a year ago
Some neighborhoods in the Milky Way may be better suited for making habitable planets than others. The post The Best Neighborhoods for Starting a Life in the Galaxy first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
The Colorful Problem That Has Long Frustrated Mathematicians The four-color problem is simple to explain, but its complex proof continues to be both celebrated...
over a year ago
78
over a year ago
The four-color problem is simple to explain, but its complex proof continues to be both celebrated and despised. The post The Colorful Problem That Has Long Frustrated Mathematicians first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
‘A-Team’ of Math Proves a Critical Link Between Addition and Sets A team of four prominent mathematicians, including two Fields medalists, proved a conjecture...
a year ago
59
a year ago
A team of four prominent mathematicians, including two Fields medalists, proved a conjecture described as a “holy grail of additive combinatorics.” The post ‘A-Team’ of Math Proves a Critical Link Between Addition and Sets first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Roots of...
Accelerating science through evolvable institutions This is the written version of a talk presented to the Santa Fe Institute at a working group on...
a year ago
43
a year ago
This is the written version of a talk presented to the Santa Fe Institute at a working group on “Accelerating Science.” We’re here to discuss “accelerating science.” I like to start on topics like this by taking the historical view: When (if ever) has science accelerated in the...
NeuroLogica Blog
Energy Demand Increasing For the last two decades electricity demand in the US has been fairly flat. While it has been...
a year ago
50
a year ago
For the last two decades electricity demand in the US has been fairly flat. While it has been increasing overall, the increase has been very low. This has been largely attributed to the fact that as the use of electrical devices has increased, the efficiency of those devices has...
Cremieux Recueil
The Ottoman Origins of Modernity Would we have the modern world without Islamic incursion into Southeastern Europe?
10 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Should Japan Release Radioactive Water Into The Pacific? Japan is planning on releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear accident into...
a year ago
24
a year ago
Japan is planning on releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear accident into the ocean. They claim this will be completely safe, but there are protests going on in both Japan and South Korea, and China has just placed a ban on seafood from Japan. In a perfect...
The Roots of...
Video: Intro to progress studies at Learning Night Boston I got invited to speak at Learning Night Boston and give an intro to progress studies: why study...
over a year ago
84
over a year ago
I got invited to speak at Learning Night Boston and give an intro to progress studies: why study progress, and why do we need a new philosophy of progress? There are then a few minutes of Q&A. (It was in a bar and the audio quality is poor, sorry.)
Inverted Passion
Notes from the book “Hooked” I re-read the book Hooked by Nir Eyal and these are my notes. 1/ The key question that the book...
a year ago
35
a year ago
I re-read the book Hooked by Nir Eyal and these are my notes. 1/ The key question that the book answers is: how to make habit-forming products. And its answer is a model that involves four stages: a) trigger; b) action; c) variable reward; d) investment 2/ Why should products be...
Quanta Magazine
In the ‘Wild West’ of Geometry, Mathematicians Redefine the Sphere High-dimensional spheres can have a much wider variety of structures than mathematicians thought...
a year ago
24
a year ago
High-dimensional spheres can have a much wider variety of structures than mathematicians thought possible. The post In the ‘Wild West’ of Geometry, Mathematicians Redefine the Sphere first appeared on Quanta Magazine