Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Quantum Year 2025
Children decide early in life to become scientists when they find that topics such as the...
4 months ago
Children decide early in life to become scientists when they find that topics such as the Pythagorean theorem and the hydrological cycle are more interesting and more important than knowing which state is noted for corn. My childhood was notable for witnessing the launch of the...
NeuroLogica Blog
AI Designed Drugs
On a recent SGU live streaming discussion someone in the chat asked – aren’t frivolous AI...
8 months ago
On a recent SGU live streaming discussion someone in the chat asked – aren’t frivolous AI applications just toys without any useful output? The question was meant to downplay recent advances in generative AI. I pointed out that the question is a bit circular – aren’t frivolous...
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...
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...
The Roots of...
Levels of safety for AI and other technologies
What does it mean for AI to be “safe”?
Right now there is a lot of debate about AI safety. But...
a year ago
What does it mean for AI to be “safe”?
Right now there is a lot of debate about AI safety. But people often end up talking past each other because they’re not using the same definitions or standards.
For the sake of productive debates, let me propose some distinctions to add...
Asterisk
Why You’ve Never Been In A Plane Crash
The United States leads the world in airline safety. That’s because of the way we assign blame when...
10 months ago
The United States leads the world in airline safety. That’s because of the way we assign blame when accidents do happen.
Math Is Still...
How Colorful Ribbon Diagrams Became the Face of Proteins
Proteins are often visualized as cascades of curled ribbons and twisted strings, which both reveal...
4 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...
Wanderingspace
Mars Express is Still Making Great Images 20 Years Later
Mars Express was launched by the European Space Agency in 2003, and is ESA’s first Mars mission. In...
3 months ago
Mars Express was launched by the European Space Agency in 2003, and is ESA’s first Mars mission. In one shot, you can see Mars as a half-lit disk, with Phobos, its tiny moon, hovering above. Right below Phobos is Olympus Mons, the solar system's largest volcano, towering 22 km...
Math Is Still...
Sparse Networks Come to the Aid of Big Physics
A novel type of neural network is helping physicists with the daunting challenge of data analysis. ...
a year ago
A novel type of neural network is helping physicists with the daunting challenge of data analysis.
The post Sparse Networks Come to the Aid of Big Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Weird issues in value-based care | Out-Of-Pocket
Thoughts on value-based care from people actually building in it
2 months ago
Thoughts on value-based care from people actually building in it
Math Is Still...
Math Proof Draws New Boundaries Around Black Hole Formation
For a half century, mathematicians have tried to define the exact circumstances under which a black...
a year ago
For a half century, mathematicians have tried to define the exact circumstances under which a black hole is destined to exist. A new proof shows how a cube can help answer the question.
The post Math Proof Draws New Boundaries Around Black Hole Formation first...
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...
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...
Explorations of an...
A Quest Nature Tours Adventure To Sulawesi
The island of Sulawesi must be on the bucket list for any naturalist with a strong interest in...
a year ago
The island of Sulawesi must be on the bucket list for any naturalist with a strong interest in biogeography. Though Borneo is situated only a few hundred kilometers to the west, and the Moluccas are not far to the east, the species composition of Sulawesi is significantly...
NeuroLogica Blog
AC vs DC and other Power Questions
I was away last week, first at CSICON and then at a conference in Dubai. I was invited to give a 9...
a month ago
I was away last week, first at CSICON and then at a conference in Dubai. I was invited to give a 9 hour seminar on scientific skepticism for the Dubai Future Foundation. That sounds like a lot of time, but it isn’t. It was a good reminder of the vast body of knowledge that is...
Probably...
Ears Are Weird
In a previous article, I looked at 93 measurements from the ANSUR-II dataset and found that ear...
3 months ago
In a previous article, I looked at 93 measurements from the ANSUR-II dataset and found that ear protrusion is not correlated with any other measurement. In a followup article, I used principle component analysis to explore the correlation structure of the measurements, and found...
symmetry magazine
Celebrating Dark Matter Day in Latin America
Scientists, artists, communicators and physics fans find creative ways to mark the unofficial...
a year ago
Scientists, artists, communicators and physics fans find creative ways to mark the unofficial holiday devoted to dark matter.
Eukaryote Writes...
A point of clarification on infohazard terminology
“Infohazard” means any kind of information that could be harmful in some fashion. Let’s use “memetic...
over a year ago
“Infohazard” means any kind of information that could be harmful in some fashion. Let’s use “memetic hazard” to describe information that could specifically harm the person who knows it.
Wanderingspace
New View of IO from JUNO!
From processor Ted Styrk, “The Juno Jupiter orbiter flew by Io, Jupiter's super-volcanic moon, on...
a year ago
From processor Ted Styrk, “The Juno Jupiter orbiter flew by Io, Jupiter's super-volcanic moon, on May 16, returning arguably the best imagery of the moon since the Galileo Orbiter around the beginning of this century. Definitely the best since New Horizons in 2006.”
Eukaryote Writes...
Book Review: Cuisine and Empire
Things people nigh-universally like to eat: salt, fat, sugar, starch, sauces, meat, drugs...
11 months ago
Things people nigh-universally like to eat: salt, fat, sugar, starch, sauces, meat, drugs...
Asterisk
Intelligence Testing
Everyone agrees that AIs are getting smarter — but it’s surprisingly difficult to measure by how...
a year ago
Everyone agrees that AIs are getting smarter — but it’s surprisingly difficult to measure by how much.
Blog - Practical...
You Spend More on Rust Than Gasoline (Probably)
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In July of 1995, Folsom Lake,...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In July of 1995, Folsom Lake, a reservoir created by Folsom Dam in Northern California, reached its full capacity as snow continued to melt in the upstream Sierra. With the power plant shut down for...
Eukaryote Writes...
There’s no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically)
Dendronization – Evolving into a tree-like morphology. (In the style of “carcinization".) From...
over a year ago
Dendronization – Evolving into a tree-like morphology. (In the style of “carcinization".) From 'dendro', the ancient Greek root for tree.
wadertales
Broad-billed Sandpiper: Now a Red-listed wader
A dedicated team of Scottish bird ringers has been studying breeding waders in northern Norway since...
2 weeks ago
A dedicated team of Scottish bird ringers has been studying breeding waders in northern Norway since 1993. One of the focal species of their fieldwork is the secretive Broad-billed Sandpiper, an unusual taiga wader which nests on low-lying tussocks embedded in floating mats of...
NeuroLogica Blog
Moon Spacesuit Prototype Unveiled
Good spacesuits are deceptively difficult to design, even with today’s technology. NASA is planning...
a year ago
Good spacesuits are deceptively difficult to design, even with today’s technology. NASA is planning to return to the moon in 2025 (if all goes well) but the spacesuit the astronauts will wear is one piece to the puzzle they have not completed yet (the other being the lunar...
IEEE Spectrum
Robert Kahn: The Great Interconnector
In the mid-1960s, Robert Kahn began thinking about how computers with different operating systems...
8 months ago
In the mid-1960s, Robert Kahn began thinking about how computers with different operating systems could talk to each other across a network. He didn’t think much about what they would say to one another, though. He was a theoretical guy, on leave from the faculty of the...
Quantum Frontiers
Announcing the quantum-steampunk creative-writing course!
Why not run a quantum-steampunk creative-writing course? Quantum steampunk, as Quantum Frontiers...
3 months ago
Why not run a quantum-steampunk creative-writing course? Quantum steampunk, as Quantum Frontiers regulars know, is the aesthetic and spirit of a growing scientific field. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction. In it, futuristic technologies invade Victorian-era settings:...
nanoscale views
Strategic planning + departmental reviews
It's been a while since I've written a post about the ways of academia, so I thought it might be...
a year ago
It's been a while since I've written a post about the ways of academia, so I thought it might be time, though it's not exactly glamorous or exciting. There are certain cycles in research universities, and two interrelated ones are the cycle of departmental strategic planning and...
The Works in...
The asbestos times
How asbestos saved cities, before we realized its risks
11 months ago
How asbestos saved cities, before we realized its risks
NeuroLogica Blog
Big Ring Challenges Cosmological Principle
University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) PhD student Alexia Lopez, who two years ago discovered a...
11 months ago
University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) PhD student Alexia Lopez, who two years ago discovered a giant arc of galaxy clusters in the distant universe, has now discovered a Big Ring. This (if real) is one of the largest structures in the observable universe at 1.3 billion light...
NeuroLogica Blog
Predicting Outcome in Severe Brain Injury
One of the most difficult situations that a person can face is to have a loved-one in a critical...
7 months ago
One of the most difficult situations that a person can face is to have a loved-one in a critical medical condition and have to make life-or-death medical decisions for them. I have been in this situation many times as the consulting neurologist, and I have seen how weighty this...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New Era Of Digital Therapeutics | Out-Of-Pocket
Guess it's time to start defining the term again
a year ago
Guess it's time to start defining the term again
Out-of-Pocket Blog
2024 Healthcare Predictions, Out-Of-Pocket Style | Out-Of-Pocket
I'm not a fortune teller, I'm a fortune, teller
a year ago
I'm not a fortune teller, I'm a fortune, teller
IEEE Spectrum
James Wimshurst’s Electrostatic Immortality
James Wimshurst did not invent the machine that bears his name. But thanks to his many refinements...
a year ago
James Wimshurst did not invent the machine that bears his name. But thanks to his many refinements to a distinctive type of electrostatic generator, we now have the Wimshurst influence machine.
What does a Wimshurst machine do?
Influence machines date back to the 18th century....
nanoscale views
Moiré and making superlattices
One of the biggest condensed matter trends in recent years has been the stacking of 2D materials and...
7 months ago
One of the biggest condensed matter trends in recent years has been the stacking of 2D materials and the development of moiré lattices. The idea is, take a layer of 2D material and stack it either (1) on itself but with a twist angle, or (2) on another material with a slightly...
nanoscale views
APS March Meeting 2023, Day 1
Ahh, Las Vegas. I will say, I think every APS March Meeting from now on should have a giant Ferris...
a year ago
Ahh, Las Vegas. I will say, I think every APS March Meeting from now on should have a giant Ferris wheel right by the registration lobby.
Here are a few highlights from what I saw after I arrived around lunchtime today:
Given some of my current research, I spent a fair bit...
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: In pursuit of decent coffee
No great stagnation in home espresso
a year ago
No great stagnation in home espresso
Wanderingspace
Apollo Lunar Rover Video Corrected Speed and Stabilized
It is remarkable the difference watching this version where the time is corrected and camera...
over a year ago
It is remarkable the difference watching this version where the time is corrected and camera stabilized.. The film restorer behind DutchSteamMachine used AI to stabilize shaky footage and generate new frames in NASA moon landing films; increasing the frame rate, smoothed the...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Hardware Demands of AI
I am of the generation that essentially lived through the introduction and evolution of the personal...
a year ago
I am of the generation that essentially lived through the introduction and evolution of the personal computer. I have decades of experience as an active user and enthusiast, so I have been able to notice some patterns. One pattern is the relationship between the power of...
nanoscale views
AI/ML and condensed matter + materials science
Materials define the way we live. That may sound like an exaggeration that I like to spout because...
a year ago
Materials define the way we live. That may sound like an exaggeration that I like to spout because I'm a condensed matter physicist, but it's demonstrably true. Remember, past historians have given us terms like "Stone Age", "Bronze Age", and "Iron Age", and the "Information...
Math Is Still...
To Pack Spheres Tightly, Mathematicians Throw Them at Random
Four mathematicians broke a 75-year-old record by finding a denser way to pack high-dimensional...
7 months ago
Four mathematicians broke a 75-year-old record by finding a denser way to pack high-dimensional spheres.
The post To Pack Spheres Tightly, Mathematicians Throw Them at Random first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
Why L. Ron Hubbard Patented His E-Meter
zombie mysteries, historical fiction, pirate adventure tales, and westerns.
science fiction. The...
8 months ago
zombie mysteries, historical fiction, pirate adventure tales, and westerns.
science fiction. The publishers of Astounding Science Fiction approached Hubbard to write stories that focused on people, rather than robots and machines. His first story, “The Dangerous Dimension,” was...
ToughSF
The Expanse's Epstein Drive
We aim to take a fictional propulsion
technology from The Expanse, and apply the appropriate science...
over a year ago
We aim to take a fictional propulsion
technology from The Expanse, and apply the appropriate science to explain its
features in a realistic manner.
This also applies to other SciFi
settings that want a similar engine for their own spacecraft.
The Epstein Drive
Title art...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Gender Boxing Hubub
Both Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan and Imane Khelif of Algeria earned medals in female boxing competition at...
4 months ago
Both Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan and Imane Khelif of Algeria earned medals in female boxing competition at the 2024 Olympics. This has caused a controversy because both boxers, according to reports, have some form of DSD – difference of sex development. This means they have been caught...
The Roots of...
Quote quiz: “drifting into dependence”
Quote quiz: who said this? (No fair looking it up). I have modified the original quotation slightly,...
a year ago
Quote quiz: who said this? (No fair looking it up). I have modified the original quotation slightly, by making a handful of word substitutions to bring it up to date:
It might be argued that the human race would never be foolish enough to hand over all power to AI. But we are...
NeuroLogica Blog
Should Tech Companies Be Liable for Content
The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is hearing a case that will have profound effects on social media – is...
a year ago
The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is hearing a case that will have profound effects on social media – is Google liable for a terrorist killing? The family of Nohemi Gonzalez is suing Google, because she was shot by an Islamic terrorist in 2015 and the family alleges this act was abetted...
Math Is Still...
New Kind of Magnetism Spotted in an Engineered Material
In an atomically thin stack of semiconductors, a mechanism unseen in any natural substance causes...
11 months ago
In an atomically thin stack of semiconductors, a mechanism unseen in any natural substance causes electrons’ spins to align.
The post New Kind of Magnetism Spotted in an Engineered Material first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
The EA-Progress Studies War is Here, and It’s a Constructive Dialogue!
We’re hoping Marc Andreessen doesn’t read this and polarize everyone again.
6 months ago
We’re hoping Marc Andreessen doesn’t read this and polarize everyone again.
Blog - Practical...
How The Channel Tunnel Works
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
2024 marks thirty years since...
11 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
2024 marks thirty years since the opening of the channel tunnel, or chunnel, or as they say in Calais, Le tunnel sous la Manche. This underground/undersea railroad tunnel connects England with France, crossing...
Explorations of an...
The Iberá Wetlands
The national and provincial parks of Iberá form the largest protected area in Argentina. These parks...
a year ago
The national and provincial parks of Iberá form the largest protected area in Argentina. These parks protect a portion of the Iberá Wetlands, which is the second largest wetland complex in South America after Brazil's Pantanal. The Iberá Wetlands is a vitally important area for...
Asterisk
The Ruin of Mumbai
Mumbai’s land use regulations are designed to keep population density low. Instead, they force...
9 months ago
Mumbai’s land use regulations are designed to keep population density low. Instead, they force Mumbaikars into slums, while all of India pays the price.
Math Is Still...
What Is Entropy? A Measure of Just How Little We Really Know.
Exactly 200 years ago, a French engineer introduced an idea that would quantify the universe’s...
a week ago
Exactly 200 years ago, a French engineer introduced an idea that would quantify the universe’s inexorable slide into decay. But entropy, as it’s currently understood, is less a fact about the world than a reflection of our growing ignorance. Embracing that truth is leading to a...
NeuroLogica Blog
Some Future Tech Possibilities
It’s difficult to pick winners and losers in the future tech game. In reality you just have to see...
10 months ago
It’s difficult to pick winners and losers in the future tech game. In reality you just have to see what happens when you try out a new technology in the real world with actual people. Many technologies that look good on paper run into logistical problems, difficulty scaling, fall...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Dec. 21 is Winter Solstice — Why We Have Seasons on Earth
Saturday, Dec. 21 will be the winter solstice – the shortest day and longest night of the year, with...
3 days ago
Saturday, Dec. 21 will be the winter solstice – the shortest day and longest night of the year, with which we mark the beginning of the winter season in the Earth’s northern hemisphere. It’s interesting to note that the planets Venus and Jupiter do not have seasons like the...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 4: Hits And Misses With Rare Endemics (February 5 and 6, 2024)
February 5, 2024
Today's plan was to complete the drive to Cajamarca, stop for Unicolored Tapaculos...
9 months ago
February 5, 2024
Today's plan was to complete the drive to Cajamarca, stop for Unicolored Tapaculos on the way, and then spend the rest of the day at a particular river valley where the Gray-bellied Comet is regularly seen. Therefore, since we did not have any early morning...
IEEE Spectrum
The Sneaky Standard
A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the...
7 months ago
A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the end of the long tail.
Personal computing has changed a lot in the past four decades, and one of the biggest changes, perhaps the most unheralded, comes down to compatibility. These...
NeuroLogica Blog
Robots and a Sense of Self
Humans (assuming you all experience roughly what I experience, which is a reasonable assumption)...
a month ago
Humans (assuming you all experience roughly what I experience, which is a reasonable assumption) have a sense of self. This sense has several components – we feel as if we occupy our physical bodies, that our bodies are distinct entities separate from the rest of the universe,...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How MainStreet gets you government $ | Out-Of-Pocket
Get government tax credits for your health startup
a year ago
Get government tax credits for your health startup
nanoscale views
Guide to faculty searches, 2024 edition
As you can tell from my posting frequency lately, I have been unusually busy. I hope to be writing...
2 months ago
As you can tell from my posting frequency lately, I have been unusually busy. I hope to be writing about more condensed matter and nano science soon. In the meantime, I realized that I have not re-posted or updated my primer on how tenure-track faculty searches work in physics...
NeuroLogica Blog
Some Thoughts on Aging
If either of the two presumptive nominees for the major political parties in the US are elected in...
5 months ago
If either of the two presumptive nominees for the major political parties in the US are elected in November they will be the oldest person ever to be inaugerated as president. What implications does this have? As a neurologist who sees patients every workday of various ages,...
Math Is Still...
How Do Machines ‘Grok’ Data?
By apparently overtraining them, researchers have seen neural networks discover novel solutions to...
8 months ago
By apparently overtraining them, researchers have seen neural networks discover novel solutions to problems.
The post How Do Machines ‘Grok’ Data? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Cryptographers Discover a New Foundation for Quantum Secrecy
Researchers have proved that secure quantum encryption is possible in a world without hard problems....
6 months ago
Researchers have proved that secure quantum encryption is possible in a world without hard problems.
The post Cryptographers Discover a New Foundation for Quantum Secrecy first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Cremieux Recueil
American Elections Are Unfair
Unfortunately, unfairness is baked in
a month ago
Unfortunately, unfairness is baked in
The Works in...
The concept of sustainment
A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
NeuroLogica Blog
Subjective Neurological Experience
On the SGU we recently talked about aphantasia, the condition in which some people have a decreased...
3 months ago
On the SGU we recently talked about aphantasia, the condition in which some people have a decreased or entirely absent ability to imagine things. The term was coined recently, in 2015, by neurologist Adam Zeman, who described the condition of “congenital aphantasia,” that he...
nanoscale views
Materials labs of the future + cost
The NSF Division of Materials Research has been soliciting input from the community about both the...
over a year ago
The NSF Division of Materials Research has been soliciting input from the community about both the biggest outstanding problems in condensed matter and materials science, and the future of materials labs - what kind of infrastructure, training, etc. will be needed to address...
Many Worlds
Preparing For The Habitable Worlds Observatory, Our Best Shot at Finding ET Life
In a solar system far, far away, life of some sort is just waiting to be found. Or so the world of...
a year ago
In a solar system far, far away, life of some sort is just waiting to be found. Or so the world of astrobiology sure hopes it is. The new player in the astrobiology world, now called the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), is planned to launch in the 2040s if all goes well. ...
Damn Interesting
Fifteen Years Forsaken
Editor’s Note: This article contains quotations from contemporaneous accounts which might be...
over a year ago
Editor’s Note: This article contains quotations from contemporaneous accounts which might be offensive for today’s readers.
The moon was new on the night of 31 July 1761, and the wide expanse of the Indian Ocean uniformly black. But Captain Jean de Lafargue of the French cargo...
nanoscale views
Thoughts on undergrad solid-state content
Figuring out what to include in an undergraduate introduction to solid-state physics course is...
8 months ago
Figuring out what to include in an undergraduate introduction to solid-state physics course is always a challenge. Books like the present incarnation of Kittel are overstuffed with more content than can readily fit in a one-semester course, and because that book has grown...
Explorations of an...
The End Of An Era - Reflections On Our Travels
(Written on April 23, 2023)
In just a few days time, Laura and I will board a jet bound for another...
a year ago
(Written on April 23, 2023)
In just a few days time, Laura and I will board a jet bound for another international destination. Our flight home to Toronto isn't that unique of a scenario, as we have flown on plenty of planes headed home since we began our international travels...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Answers: How Much Info Should A Patient Get? | Out-Of-Pocket
do we need our physicians to be interpreters?
a year ago
do we need our physicians to be interpreters?
Asterisk
Between the Lines: A History of the Most Important Concept in Global Poverty
The global poverty line helps determine how billions of dollars in aid are allocated. But where did...
a year ago
The global poverty line helps determine how billions of dollars in aid are allocated. But where did the idea of measuring poverty come from — and how might it be holding us back?
Asterisk
How Long Until Armageddon?
Scientists, generals, and politicians all failed to accurately predict when the Soviets would get...
a year ago
Scientists, generals, and politicians all failed to accurately predict when the Soviets would get the bomb. Could they have done any better?
Math Is Still...
How Math Achieved Transcendence
Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to...
a year ago
Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to understand them.
The post How Math Achieved Transcendence first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
Nanopasta, no, really
Fig. 1 from the linked paper
Here is a light-hearted bit of research that touches on some fun...
4 weeks ago
Fig. 1 from the linked paper
Here is a light-hearted bit of research that touches on some fun physics. As you might readily imagine, there is a good deal of interdisciplinary and industrial interest in wanting to create fine fibers out of solution-based materials. One...
IEEE Spectrum
The Cheesy Charm of the Clapper
“Clap on! Clap off! Clap on! Clap off! The Clapper!” This 1980s earworm of a jingle touted a gadget...
11 months ago
“Clap on! Clap off! Clap on! Clap off! The Clapper!” This 1980s earworm of a jingle touted a gadget to turn your lights, your TV, or any other electrical device on or off with the clap of your hands. If you watched any amount of American television back then, you probably saw the...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Issue With The COVID Bailout | Out-Of-Pocket
A WHOLE NEW WORLD, A NEW PANDEMIC POINT OF VIEW
a year ago
A WHOLE NEW WORLD, A NEW PANDEMIC POINT OF VIEW
Math Is Still...
Why Insect Memories May Not Survive Metamorphosis
The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t...
a year ago
The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t persist in adults.
The post Why Insect Memories May Not Survive Metamorphosis first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
This 1920 Chess Automaton Was Wired to Win
The Mechanical Turk was a fraud. The chess-playing automaton, dressed in a turban and elaborate...
a year ago
The Mechanical Turk was a fraud. The chess-playing automaton, dressed in a turban and elaborate Ottoman robes, toured Europe in the closing decades of the 18th century accompanied by its inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen. The Turk wowed Austrian empress Maria Theresa, French emperor...
ToughSF
Hypervelocity Macron Accelerators
We
look at the various ways of accelerating micro-scale projectiles up to hypervelocity
(10-10,000...
over a year ago
We
look at the various ways of accelerating micro-scale projectiles up to hypervelocity
(10-10,000 km/s) and their use in space.
Going
small to go fast
Macrons
or macroscopic particles are tiny projectiles that sit on the border between
the complex structures we see under a...
The Roots of...
Who regulates the regulators?
IRBs
Scott Alexander reviews a book about institutional review boards (IRBs), the panels that review...
a year ago
IRBs
Scott Alexander reviews a book about institutional review boards (IRBs), the panels that review the ethics of medical trials: From Oversight to Overkill, by Dr. Simon Whitney. From the title alone, you can see where this is going.
IRBs are supposed to (among other things)...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
First Dollar and the HSA wedge | Out-Of-Pocket
Triple. Tax. Advantage.
a year ago
ToughSF
Starship Lite: from rapid Interplanetary to Interstellar
Elon Musk
stated that a stripped-down SpaceX Starship could become an interplanetary
boost vehicle...
over a year ago
Elon Musk
stated that a stripped-down SpaceX Starship could become an interplanetary
boost vehicle able to push probes towards the farthest objects in our Solar
System.
What
other missions could the Starship ‘Lite’ do, and how quickly?
Near SSTO
Rockets performance
scales...
Asterisk
The Next Revolution in Animal Agriculture
The technologies of precision livestock farming could reshape animal agriculture. How will that go...
5 months ago
The technologies of precision livestock farming could reshape animal agriculture. How will that go for the animals?
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Wiedemann-Franz Law
Science is most useful when it makes predictions. Predictions are based on theory, and one problem...
6 months ago
Science is most useful when it makes predictions. Predictions are based on theory, and one problem with most theories in materials science is that they are based on data that might not exist for all of the intended class of materials. Simple rules were developed to remedy this...
Math Is Still...
Can Math and Physics Save an Arrhythmic Heart?
Abnormal waves of electrical activity can cause a heart’s muscle cells to beat out of sync. In this...
a year ago
Abnormal waves of electrical activity can cause a heart’s muscle cells to beat out of sync. In this episode, Flavio Fenton, an expert in cardiac dynamics, talks with Steve Strogatz about ways to treat heart arrhythmias without resorting to painful defibrillators.
The...
Math Is Still...
The Year in Biology
In a year packed with fascinating discoveries, biologists pushed the limits of synthetic life,...
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
Math Is Still...
Evolving Bacteria Can Evade Barriers to ‘Peak’ Fitness
Paradoxically, natural selection can sometimes seem to block organisms from evolving useful...
a year ago
Paradoxically, natural selection can sometimes seem to block organisms from evolving useful adaptations. But a new study of “fitness landscapes” and antibiotic resistance in bacteria shows that life still finds a way.
The post Evolving Bacteria Can Evade Barriers to...
Cremieux Recueil
The Worst Argument Against Ozempic
Unfortunately, being skinny might require effort
3 months ago
Unfortunately, being skinny might require effort
Math Is Still...
Magnetism May Have Given Life Its Molecular Asymmetry
The preferred “handedness” of biomolecules could have emerged from biased interactions between...
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
Blog - Practical...
How Do You Steer a Drill Below The Earth?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In December 2019, the City of...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In December 2019, the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida experienced a series of catastrophic ruptures in a critical wastewater transmission line, releasing raw sewage into local waterways and neighborhoods....
Quantum Frontiers
A peek inside Northrop Grumman’s subatomic endeavors
As the weather turns colder and we trade outdoor pools for pumpkin spice and then Christmas carols,...
over a year ago
As the weather turns colder and we trade outdoor pools for pumpkin spice and then Christmas carols, perhaps you’re longing for summer’s warmth. For me, it is not just warmth I yearn for: This past summer, I worked as a … Continue reading →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Machine Vision, Robots, and Endoscopes with Matt Schwartz | Out-Of-Pocket
When GI met AI
a year ago
Interaction Magic -...
Modelling my brain
A 22 hour medical experiment breathing 12% oxygen, and the 7000 images of my brain that came out of...
over a year ago
A 22 hour medical experiment breathing 12% oxygen, and the 7000 images of my brain that came out of it.
Explorations of an...
2023 Part 4: Indonesia and Ecuador
September
The island of Sulawesi must be on the bucket list for any naturalist with a strong...
11 months ago
September
The island of Sulawesi must be on the bucket list for any naturalist with a strong interest in biogeography. Though Borneo is situated only a few hundred kilometers to the west, and the Moluccas are not far to the east, the species composition of Sulawesi is...
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
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...
Interaction Magic -...
Metaphors mold minds
Every good design is founded on a great metaphor. How to use metaphors to design more a inclusive...
over a year ago
Every good design is founded on a great metaphor. How to use metaphors to design more a inclusive future for our cities. My IXDA Interaction 22 conference talk.
wadertales
When mates behave differently
Iceland’s 40,000 Oystercatchers are an interesting mix of resident birds and migrants, providing an...
over a year ago
Iceland’s 40,000 Oystercatchers are an interesting mix of resident birds and migrants, providing an ideal system in which to study the costs and benefits of the two options, and to try to work out what influences whether an individual becomes a ‘resident’ or a ‘migrant’. I’ve...
nanoscale views
The Nobels, physics and chemistry
As you undoubtedly know, the 2023 Nobel in physics has been awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc...
a year ago
As you undoubtedly know, the 2023 Nobel in physics has been awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L'Huillier, for the development of techniques associated with attosecond-scale optical pulses. Here is the more popular write-up about this (including a good handwave...
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: Doing science backwards
Preregistering research as a cure for scientific bias
over a year ago
Preregistering research as a cure for scientific bias
Explorations of an...
Black-fronted Piping-Guans at Parque Provincial Urugua-í
February 8, 2023
Laura and I left the environs of Iguazú Falls and worked our way south and then...
a year ago
February 8, 2023
Laura and I left the environs of Iguazú Falls and worked our way south and then east, our destination being Parque Provincial Uragua-í. This park is a little bit off of the standard birding route and is not frequently visited by foreign birders. And, because...
NeuroLogica Blog
Confidently Wrong
How certain are you of anything that you believe? Do you even think about your confidence level, and...
2 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...
Math Is Still...
Quantum Computers Cross Critical Error Threshold
In a first, researchers have shown that adding more “qubits” to a quantum computer can make it more...
a week ago
In a first, researchers have shown that adding more “qubits” to a quantum computer can make it more resilient. It’s an essential step on the long road to practical applications.
The post Quantum Computers Cross Critical Error Threshold first appeared on Quanta...
The Works in...
How to write for Works in Progress
We're looking for new authors and article pitches.
5 months ago
We're looking for new authors and article pitches.
Asterisk
Is Wine Fake?
Wine commands wealth, prestige, and attention from aficionados. How much of what they admire is in...
over a year ago
Wine commands wealth, prestige, and attention from aficionados. How much of what they admire is in their heads?
wadertales
How do wader chicks respond to being handled?
Every wader researcher knows that their actions can have negative consequences for the birds they...
2 months ago
Every wader researcher knows that their actions can have negative consequences for the birds they are studying. Given that most shorebird species are in trouble or causing concern, conservation science is a tricky balancing act between ‘need to understand’ and ‘disturbance’. In...
Math Is Still...
Math’s ‘Game of Life’ Reveals Long-Sought Repeating Patterns
John Conway’s Game of Life, a famous cellular automaton, has been found to have periodic patterns of...
11 months ago
John Conway’s Game of Life, a famous cellular automaton, has been found to have periodic patterns of every possible length.
The post Math’s ‘Game of Life’ Reveals Long-Sought Repeating Patterns first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Chris Grossack's...
Building Objects with Category Theory
Typically category theory is useful for showing the uniqueness
of certain objects by checking that...
a year ago
Typically category theory is useful for showing the uniqueness
of certain objects by checking that they satisfy some
universal property. This makes them unique up to unique isomorphism.
However, category theory can also be used in order to show that objects
exist at all, usually...
NeuroLogica Blog
New Asteroid Probably Won’t Hit Earth
NASA recently discovered a 50 meter wide asteroid whose orbit will come close to Earth. They...
a year ago
NASA recently discovered a 50 meter wide asteroid whose orbit will come close to Earth. They estimate a close approach in 2046, which will likely bring the asteroid within 1.1 million miles of the Earth, about four times the distance of the moon. However, there is always...
Explorations of an...
Río Bigal Biological Reserve - Pristine Foothill Forest In Eastern Ecuador
"What has been your favourite country that you have visited?"
People often ask me various...
a year ago
"What has been your favourite country that you have visited?"
People often ask me various iterations of this question when they hear about the traveling that Laura and I have been fortunate to have done. Sometimes I say Colombia, sometimes I say Peru, but usually I don't name a...
Asterisk
Read This, Not That: The Hidden Cost of Nutrition Misinformation
Our daily lives are inundated with misleading claims about nutrition. That’s not just distracting —...
a year ago
Our daily lives are inundated with misleading claims about nutrition. That’s not just distracting — it’s also harming our health.
Math Is Still...
What Could Explain the Gallium Anomaly?
Physicists have ruled out a mundane explanation for the strange findings of an old Soviet...
5 months ago
Physicists have ruled out a mundane explanation for the strange findings of an old Soviet experiment, leaving open the possibility that the results point to a new fundamental particle.
The post What Could Explain the Gallium Anomaly? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
The fusion story of the day
There is a press conference going on right now announcing a breakthrough at the National Ignition...
over a year ago
There is a press conference going on right now announcing a breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility at Livermore. The NIF is an inertial confinement fusion facility that uses 192 laser beams to compress a fuel pellet containing deuterium and tritium. The pellet is...
Willem Pennings
Fixing my heating system
The heating system in my apartment building consists of a group of heat pumps that deliver warm...
7 months ago
The heating system in my apartment building consists of a group of heat pumps that deliver warm water to the underfloor heating system of about a dozen apartments, including mine. During the warm summer months, the system supplies cool water instead. The heat pumps figure out...
Math Is Still...
Hobbyist Finds Math’s Elusive ‘Einstein’ Tile
The surprisingly simple tile is the first single, connected tile that can fill the entire plane in a...
a year ago
The surprisingly simple tile is the first single, connected tile that can fill the entire plane in a pattern that never repeats — and can’t be made to fill it in a repeating way.
The post Hobbyist Finds Math’s Elusive ‘Einstein’ Tile first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
The Quest to Decode the Mandelbrot Set, Math’s Famed Fractal
For decades, a small group of mathematicians has patiently unraveled the mystery of what was once...
11 months ago
For decades, a small group of mathematicians has patiently unraveled the mystery of what was once math’s most popular picture. Their story shows how technology transforms even the most abstract mathematical landscapes.
The post The Quest to Decode the Mandelbrot Set,...
Math Is Still...
Avi Wigderson, Complexity Theory Pioneer, Wins Turing Award
The prolific researcher found deep connections between randomness and computation and spent a career...
8 months ago
The prolific researcher found deep connections between randomness and computation and spent a career influencing cryptographers, complexity researchers and more.
The post Avi Wigderson, Complexity Theory Pioneer, Wins Turing Award first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
Getting light out of plasmonic tunnel junctions - the sequel
A couple of years ago I wrote about our work on "above threshold" light emission in planar metal...
over a year ago
A couple of years ago I wrote about our work on "above threshold" light emission in planar metal tunnel junctions. In that work, we showed that in a planar tunnel junction, you can apply a bias voltage \(V\) and get lots of photons out at energies quite a bit greater than...
Math Is Still...
The Year in Math
Landmark results in geometry and number theory marked an exciting year for mathematics, at a time...
6 days ago
Landmark results in geometry and number theory marked an exciting year for mathematics, at a time when advances in artificial intelligence are starting to transform the subject’s future.
The post The Year in Math first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Sean Carroll
New Course: The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics
In past years I’ve done several courses for The Great Courses/Wondrium (formerly The Teaching...
a year ago
In past years I’ve done several courses for The Great Courses/Wondrium (formerly The Teaching Company): Dark Matter and Dark Energy, Mysteries of Modern Physics:Time, and The Higgs Boson and Beyond. Now I’m happy to announce a new one, The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics....
NeuroLogica Blog
Are Electric Vehicles Worth It
One of the key components of the plan to get our civilization to net zero by 2050 is to transform...
a year ago
One of the key components of the plan to get our civilization to net zero by 2050 is to transform the motor vehicle fleet into all electric vehicles (EVs). This is a worthy goal, as it would eliminate burning gasoline for transportation. In fact it’s necessary if we want to get...
Chris Grossack's...
Talk -- What is Algebraic Geometry and Why Should You Care?
So an embarrassing amount of time ago (Feburary 17?) I gave a talk for the
undergraduate math club...
a year ago
So an embarrassing amount of time ago (Feburary 17?) I gave a talk for the
undergraduate math club titled
“What is Algebraic Geometry, and Why Should You Care?”. I think it went quite
well, and the audience seemed like they had a good time. I really wanted to
have the talk...
Math Is Still...
A Multitalented Scientist Seeks the Origins of Multicellularity
The pathbreaking geneticist Cassandra Extavour pursues the secrets of multicellular life while...
10 months ago
The pathbreaking geneticist Cassandra Extavour pursues the secrets of multicellular life while balancing careers in both science and singing.
The post A Multitalented Scientist Seeks the Origins of Multicellularity first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
The Unraveling of Space-Time
This special issue of Quanta Magazine explores the ultimate scientific quest: the search for the...
2 months ago
This special issue of Quanta Magazine explores the ultimate scientific quest: the search for the fundamental nature of reality.
The post The Unraveling of Space-Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Meet Strange Metals: Where Electricity May Flow Without Electrons
For 50 years, physicists have understood current as a flow of charged particles. But a new...
a year ago
For 50 years, physicists have understood current as a flow of charged particles. But a new experiment has found that in at least one strange material, this understanding falls apart.
The post Meet Strange Metals: Where Electricity May Flow Without Electrons first...
NeuroLogica Blog
GMOs – Ask a Farmer
The topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a great target for science communication...
4 months ago
The topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a great target for science communication because public attitudes have largely been shaped by deliberate misinformation, and the research suggests that those attitudes can change in response to more accurate information. It is...
nanoscale views
Brief items - LOC, GPT, etc.
This year was a busy one and my overall posting rate is down. Hopefully the coming year will be a...
over a year ago
This year was a busy one and my overall posting rate is down. Hopefully the coming year will be a bit less frenetic, but who knows. A few brief items:
First, in the odd self-promotion department, this blog is officially going to be indexed by the Library of Congress as part...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
What's The Deal With Telemedicine? | Out-Of-Pocket
we're in the weird in-between stage of adoption
a year ago
we're in the weird in-between stage of adoption
symmetry magazine
Will AI make MC the MVP of particle physics?
Particle physicists are building innovative machine-learning algorithms to enhance Monte Carlo...
a year ago
Particle physicists are building innovative machine-learning algorithms to enhance Monte Carlo simulations with the power of AI.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How Much Info Should A Patient Get? | Out-Of-Pocket
A discussion question
a year ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Six (More) Healthcare Startup Ideas | Out-Of-Pocket
In collaboration with The Generalist, one of the few newsletters I read end-to-end every time
a year ago
In collaboration with The Generalist, one of the few newsletters I read end-to-end every time
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Special Edition - WoW | Out-Of-Pocket
World Of Warcraft vs. COVID-19
a year ago
World Of Warcraft vs. COVID-19
Math Is Still...
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?...
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...
symmetry magazine
LHC experiments see four top quarks
The ATLAS and CMS experiments have observed a process 4,000 times rarer than the production of Higgs...
a year ago
The ATLAS and CMS experiments have observed a process 4,000 times rarer than the production of Higgs bosons.
The ATLAS and CMS experiments have successfully detected the production of a quartet of top quarks during high-energy proton collisions inside the Large...
Asterisk
How We Can Regulate AI
The chips used to train the most advanced AIs are scarce, expensive, and trackable — giving...
a year ago
The chips used to train the most advanced AIs are scarce, expensive, and trackable — giving regulators a path forward.
Math Is Still...
The Symmetry That Makes Solving Math Equations Easy
Learn why the quadratic formula works and why quadratics are easier to solve than cubics. ...
a year ago
Learn why the quadratic formula works and why quadratics are easier to solve than cubics.
The post The Symmetry That Makes Solving Math Equations Easy first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Damn Interesting
The Ancient Order of Bali
In the 1970s, the Indonesian island of Bali went through a period of rapid change. Along the...
a year ago
In the 1970s, the Indonesian island of Bali went through a period of rapid change. Along the stunning beaches on the southern side of the island, tourism boomed. Parking lots were put up, together with swinging hot spots and hotels of various colours. Hip young travellers from...
Probably...
What’s a Chartist?
Recently I heard the word “chartist” for the first time in my life (that I recall). And then later...
a month ago
Recently I heard the word “chartist” for the first time in my life (that I recall). And then later the same day, I heard it again. So that raises two questions: To answer the second question first, it’s someone who supported chartism, which was “a working-class movement for...
Stephen Wolfram...
On the Nature of Time
The Computational View of Time Time is a central feature of human experience. But what actually is...
2 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...
Math Is Still...
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
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
Math Is Still...
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....
a month 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
nanoscale views
Materials characterization techniques – a brief glossary
Suppose someone has synthesized or found what they think is a new material. How do people studying...
11 months ago
Suppose someone has synthesized or found what they think is a new material. How do people studying materials (condensed matter physicists, materials scientists, materials chemists) figure out what they have and understand its properties? That's the puzzle-solving aspect of...
Math Is Still...
How Chain-of-Thought Reasoning Helps Neural Networks Compute
Large language models do better at solving problems when they show their work. Researchers are...
9 months ago
Large language models do better at solving problems when they show their work. Researchers are beginning to understand why.
The post How Chain-of-Thought Reasoning Helps Neural Networks Compute first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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...
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....
Math Is Still...
Researchers Approach New Speed Limit for Seminal Problem
Integer linear programming can help find the answer to a variety of real-world problems. Now...
10 months ago
Integer linear programming can help find the answer to a variety of real-world problems. Now researchers have found a much faster way to do it.
The post Researchers Approach New Speed Limit for Seminal Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Beautiful Public...
Vehicle Crash Test Films from the 1970's and 1980s
Deep in the public archives of the NHTSA, there are thousands of films of some classic (and some...
over a year ago
Deep in the public archives of the NHTSA, there are thousands of films of some classic (and some ugly) 70’s and 80’s cars being smashed into smithereens.
Quantum Frontiers
What is the logical gate speed of a photonic quantum computer?
Terry Rudolph, PsiQuantum & Imperial College London During a recent visit to the wild western town...
a year ago
Terry Rudolph, PsiQuantum & Imperial College London During a recent visit to the wild western town of Pasadena I got into a shootout at high-noon trying to explain the nuances of this question to a colleague. Here is a more … Continue reading →
NeuroLogica Blog
Some Battery News
I have been following battery technology pretty closely, as this is a key technology for the...
a year ago
I have been following battery technology pretty closely, as this is a key technology for the transition to green energy. The most obvious application is in battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The second most obvious application is in grid storage. But also there are all the...
Explorations of an...
Parque Nacional Calilegua
Parque Nacional Calilegua protects around 76,000 hectares of east-slope yungas forest, making it the...
a year ago
Parque Nacional Calilegua protects around 76,000 hectares of east-slope yungas forest, making it the largest national park in northwestern Argentina. It would, therefore, feature prominently on our trip. Laura and I arrived in the general area during the afternoon of January 25,...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Time Toxicity - A Real-World Example | Out-Of-Pocket
Being sick is already annoying, now I gotta spend time on the phone???
11 months ago
Being sick is already annoying, now I gotta spend time on the phone???
NeuroLogica Blog
Ripples in Spacetime
It’s always exciting when a scientific institution announces that they are going to make an...
a year ago
It’s always exciting when a scientific institution announces that they are going to make an announcement. Earlier this week we were told that there was going to be a major announcement today (June 29th) regarding a gravitational wave discovery. The goal of the pre-announcement is...
Probably...
Data Q&A
Today I’m starting a new project with the working title Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with...
8 months ago
Today I’m starting a new project with the working title Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. In each installment, I’ll take a question from Reddit’s statistics forum and answer it, using Python code to demonstrate. The first installment is a question about the...
Eukaryote Writes...
COVID-19 FAQ
A lot of people have been asking me questions about the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak, in my...
over a year ago
A lot of people have been asking me questions about the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak, in my informal capacity as “local biodefense person”.
Wanderingspace
Saturn Vortex
“This is a view of a ~2,000-km-wide vortex of swirling clouds above Saturn's north pole, imaged in...
3 weeks ago
“This is a view of a ~2,000-km-wide vortex of swirling clouds above Saturn's north pole, imaged in polarized light with Cassini's narrow-angle camera on November 27, 2012. I've processed the original monochrome image to approximate the color of the area at the time.” — Jason...
Quantum Frontiers
Always appropriate
I met boatloads of physicists as a master’s student at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical...
4 months ago
I met boatloads of physicists as a master’s student at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada. Researchers pass through Perimeter like diplomats through my current neighborhood—the Washington, DC area—except that Perimeter’s visitors speak math...
Cremieux Recueil
2024 SAT Data Drop
The College Board has just released the latest SAT data. Here's a review.
2 months ago
The College Board has just released the latest SAT data. Here's a review.
NeuroLogica Blog
Coaching with Empathy
The show Ted Lasso is about to wrap up its final season. I am one of the many people who really...
a year ago
The show Ted Lasso is about to wrap up its final season. I am one of the many people who really enjoy the show, which turns on a group of likable people helping each other through various life challenges with care and empathy. Lasso is an American college football coach who was...
Explorations of an...
Borneo 2024: Introduction And Pre-Tour Birding
About a month ago, I returned to Sabah in east Malaysia for my fourth tour of duty as a guide for...
a month ago
About a month ago, I returned to Sabah in east Malaysia for my fourth tour of duty as a guide for Quest Nature Tours. I've always said that Borneo is one of my favourite tours that I run and even after three previous trips I was looking forward to returning. One of the main...
Chris Grossack's...
Talk - Where Are The Open Sets?
I was invited to give a talk at HoTTEST 2022, and was more than
happy to accept! Ever since I was...
over a year ago
I was invited to give a talk at HoTTEST 2022, and was more than
happy to accept! Ever since I was first learning HoTT I was curious how
we could be sure that theorems in HoTT give us corresponding theorems in
“classical” homotopy theory. Earlier this summer I spent a lot of...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
23andMe, a healthcare fund idea, and the NHS | Out-Of-Pocket
Some random musings coming from London
2 months ago
Some random musings coming from London
Quantum Frontiers
Now published: Building Quantum Computers
Building Quantum Computers: A Practical Introduction by Shayan Majidy, Christopher Wilson, and...
2 months ago
Building Quantum Computers: A Practical Introduction by Shayan Majidy, Christopher Wilson, and Raymond Laflamme has been published by Cambridge University Press and will be released in the US on September 30. The authors invited me to write a Foreword for … Continue reading →
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: Thinking like a dog
How dog brains could save us from dementia
over a year ago
How dog brains could save us from dementia
Blog - Practical...
Why Bridges Need Sensors (and other structures too)
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Almost immediately after I...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Almost immediately after I started making videos about engineering, people started asking me to play video games on the channel. Apparently there’s roughly a billion people who watch online gaming these days,...
Light from Space
The Path to the Pillars of Creation
Famously photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope, here's my first look at the Pillars of Creation...
over a year ago
Famously photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope, here's my first look at the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16).
Total exposure time: 16h 5m
Shot from my driveway near Tucson, AZ in April & May 2022
Telescope: William Optics RedCat 51 (250mm focal length ƒ
NeuroLogica Blog
JET Fusion Experiment Sets New Record
Don’t get excited. It’s always nice to see incremental progress being made with the various fusion...
10 months ago
Don’t get excited. It’s always nice to see incremental progress being made with the various fusion experiments happening around the world, but we are still a long way off from commercial fusion power, and this experiment doesn’t really bring us any close, despite the headlines....
Damn Interesting
From Where the Sun Now Stands
An American Indian man on horseback stood outlined against a steely sky past midday on 05 October...
a year ago
An American Indian man on horseback stood outlined against a steely sky past midday on 05 October 1877. Winter was already settling into the prairies of what would soon become the state of Montana.
Five white men stood in the swaying grass on the other side of the field,...
Interaction Magic -...
Life beyond the screen
Since early 2020, I've been teaching courses in Interaction Technologies and Prototyping. Switches,...
over a year ago
Since early 2020, I've been teaching courses in Interaction Technologies and Prototyping. Switches, light, gesture, motion, sound, haptics: this is all about exploring life beyond the screen.
Chris Grossack's...
Monoidal Monoidoidoids
So I was on the nlab the other day, and I saw a fantastic joke:
A 2-category is “just” a monoidal...
over a year ago
So I was on the nlab the other day, and I saw a fantastic joke:
A 2-category is “just” a monoidal monoidoidoid! Here’s a screenshot
in case the nlab page for 2-categories changes someday:
There’s a thing called the Category Theorist’s “Just”, which describes
the joy that many...
Explorations of an...
A Quest Nature Tour To Borneo: Kota Kinabalu, Mount Kinabalu, Sepilok And The Kinabatangan River
Our Quest Nature Tours group assembled in Kota Kinabalu on the evening of October 3 and the...
a month ago
Our Quest Nature Tours group assembled in Kota Kinabalu on the evening of October 3 and the following morning we were off. Kota Kinabalu is situated on the coast, but is only a two hour drive from the mountains that form the spine of Borneo and its highest peak, Mount Kinabalu....
Explorations of an...
Borneo: Ridiculous Mothing At Trus Madi Entomology Camp
When doing research on the few possible "lifer" birds that I could find on this trip to Sabah, and...
a week ago
When doing research on the few possible "lifer" birds that I could find on this trip to Sabah, and in particular, looking for sites to find the Bornean Frogmouth, I read about the Trus Madi Entomology Camp. This piqued my interest, as there is almost nothing I like more than...
Math Is Still...
The AI Pioneer With Provocative Plans for Humanity
While some fret about technology’s social impacts, Raj Reddy still believes in the power of...
2 weeks ago
While some fret about technology’s social impacts, Raj Reddy still believes in the power of artificial intelligence to improve lives.
The post The AI Pioneer With Provocative Plans for Humanity first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Damn Interesting
A Taste of Italy
In the mid-1800s, Italy was consumed by two parallel fights: one to rid itself of Austrian...
over a year ago
In the mid-1800s, Italy was consumed by two parallel fights: one to rid itself of Austrian domination (a holdover from the Holy Roman Empire) and the other for unification. At the time, Europe’s boot was a curious conglomeration of separate states, not all of which got along....
Math Is Still...
Across a Continent, Trees Sync Their Fruiting to the Sun
European beech trees more than 1,500 kilometers apart all drop their fruit at the same time in a...
6 months ago
European beech trees more than 1,500 kilometers apart all drop their fruit at the same time in a grand synchronization event now linked to the summer solstice.
The post Across a Continent, Trees Sync Their Fruiting to the Sun first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
The Physicist Who Glues Together Universes
Renate Loll has helped pioneer a radically new approach to quantum gravity. She assumes that the...
a year ago
Renate Loll has helped pioneer a radically new approach to quantum gravity. She assumes that the fabric of space-time is a blend of all possible fabrics, and she has developed the computational tools needed to calculate the far-reaching implications of that assumption. ...
The Works in...
History is in the making
It's technology and ideas, not politics, that change our lives the most. History should reflect...
3 weeks ago
It's technology and ideas, not politics, that change our lives the most. History should reflect that.
Math Is Still...
Exoplanets Could Help Us Learn How Planets Make Magnetism
New observations of a faraway rocky world that might have its own magnetic field could help...
a year ago
New observations of a faraway rocky world that might have its own magnetic field could help astronomers understand the seemingly haphazard magnetic fields swaddling our solar system’s planets.
The post Exoplanets Could Help Us Learn How Planets Make Magnetism first...
Explorations of an...
Chasing Endemics in Córdoba
Córdoba is the second most populated city in Argentina, located in the Punilla Valley around 600 km...
a year ago
Córdoba is the second most populated city in Argentina, located in the Punilla Valley around 600 km northwest of Buenos Aires. Laura and I spent one night in the city before our morning's birding. Our destination: the beautiful Sierras de Córdoba to the west of the city and...
Math Is Still...
Physicists Pinpoint the Quantum Origin of the Greenhouse Effect
Carbon dioxide’s powerful heat-trapping effect has been traced to a quirk of its quantum structure....
4 months ago
Carbon dioxide’s powerful heat-trapping effect has been traced to a quirk of its quantum structure. The finding may explain climate change better than any computer model.
The post Physicists Pinpoint the Quantum Origin of the Greenhouse Effect first appeared on Quanta...
NeuroLogica Blog
Apologizing for Uri Geller
A recent New York Times article tries to rehabilitate the reputation of Uri Geller, famed...
a year ago
A recent New York Times article tries to rehabilitate the reputation of Uri Geller, famed spoon-bending magician, by simply telling a one-sided narrative. From my perspective as a skeptic, this was a terrible article that missed the real issue, glossed over glaring defects in...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How To Self-Publish A Children's Book and How Much You Can Expect To Make | Out-Of-Pocket
spoiler: you will make very little lol
a year ago
spoiler: you will make very little lol
nanoscale views
Faculty positions at Rice - follow-up
I had mentioned about 6 weeks ago that my department at Rice is searching in the quantum/AMO space...
a year ago
I had mentioned about 6 weeks ago that my department at Rice is searching in the quantum/AMO space for experiment and theory. Now I want to put the larger context of this out there - Rice has four quantum-related searches going on right now:
Quantum theory (PHYA):...
NeuroLogica Blog
Possible Sign of Life on Exoplanet
The James Webb Space Telescope spectroscopic analysis of K2-18b, an exoplanet 124 light years from...
a year ago
The James Webb Space Telescope spectroscopic analysis of K2-18b, an exoplanet 124 light years from Earth, shows signs that the atmosphere may contain dimethyl sulphide (DMS). This finding is more impressive when you know that DMS on Earth is only produced by living organisms, not...
NeuroLogica Blog
AI-Fueled Scams
Digital life is getting more dangerous. Literally every day I have to fend off attempts at scamming...
7 months ago
Digital life is getting more dangerous. Literally every day I have to fend off attempts at scamming me in one way or another. I get texts trying to lure me into responding. I get e-mails hoping I will click a malicious link on a reflex. I get phone calls from people warning me...
Math Is Still...
In New Paradox, Black Holes Appear to Evade Heat Death
The puzzling behavior of black hole interiors has led researchers to propose a new physical law: the...
a year ago
The puzzling behavior of black hole interiors has led researchers to propose a new physical law: the second law of quantum complexity.
The post In New Paradox, Black Holes Appear to Evade Heat Death first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
How the Brain Protects Itself From Blood-Borne Threats
To buffer the brain against menaces in the blood, a dynamic, multi-tiered system of protection is...
a year ago
To buffer the brain against menaces in the blood, a dynamic, multi-tiered system of protection is built into the brain’s blood vessels.
The post How the Brain Protects Itself From Blood-Borne Threats first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
The Number 15 Describes the Secret Limit of an Infinite Grid
The “packing coloring” problem asks how many numbers are needed to fill an infinite grid so that...
a year ago
The “packing coloring” problem asks how many numbers are needed to fill an infinite grid so that identical numbers never get too close to one another. A new computer-assisted proof finds a surprisingly straightforward answer.
The post The Number 15 Describes the...
NeuroLogica Blog
Hunter-Gatherers and Childcare
What is “natural” for humans? It’s often hard to say, and in my opinion this is a highly overused...
a year ago
What is “natural” for humans? It’s often hard to say, and in my opinion this is a highly overused concept. Primarily this is because humans are adaptable – we adapt to our environment, our situation, and our culture. So it is “natural” for us not to have a natural state. But this...
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, July–August 2023
A quasi-monthly feature (I skipped it last month, so this is a double portion).
This is a longish...
a year ago
A quasi-monthly feature (I skipped it last month, so this is a double portion).
This is a longish post covering many topics; feel free to skim and skip around. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests.
These updates are less...
Asterisk
Better Living Through Group Chemistry
Inside the San Francisco group house scene.
5 months ago
Inside the San Francisco group house scene.
Blog - Practical...
How French Drains Work
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In February of 2017, one of...
4 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In February of 2017, one of the largest spillways in the world, the one at Oroville Dam in northern California, was severely damaged during releases from heavy rain. You might remember this. I made a video...
Math Is Still...
Tiny Language Models Come of Age
To better understand how neural networks learn to simulate writing, researchers trained simpler...
a year ago
To better understand how neural networks learn to simulate writing, researchers trained simpler versions on synthetic children’s stories.
The post Tiny Language Models Come of Age first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
Power and computing
The Wall Street Journal last week had an article (sorry about the paywall) titled "There’s Not...
7 months ago
The Wall Street Journal last week had an article (sorry about the paywall) titled "There’s Not Enough Power for America’s High-Tech Ambitions", about how there is enormous demand for more data centers (think Amazon Web Services and the like), and electricity production can't...
Sean Carroll
Proposed Closure of the Dianoia Institute at Australian Catholic University
Just a few years ago, Australian Catholic University (ACU) established a new Dianoia Institute of...
a year ago
Just a few years ago, Australian Catholic University (ACU) established a new Dianoia Institute of Philosophy. They recruited a number of researchers and made something of a splash, leading to a noticeable leap in ACU’s rankings in philosophy — all the way to second among Catholic...
Drew Ex Machina
Webb’s First Glimpse of Jupiter, Its Moons & Rings
A long time ago when I was a budding amateur astronomer, one of the first targets I would observe...
over a year ago
A long time ago when I was a budding amateur astronomer, one of the first targets I would observe each evening with my new telescope was […]
NeuroLogica Blog
Luminescent Solar Concentrators for Solar Power
Solar power is on the upswing. In 2023, 407–446 GW of solar power was installed globally, bringing...
4 months ago
Solar power is on the upswing. In 2023, 407–446 GW of solar power was installed globally, bringing the total to 1.6 TWdc. To put this into perspective, this was 55% of new power capacity added to energy production. For the first time, a renewable energy source contributed the...
Interaction Magic -...
Engineering beneath the ice sheet
Living in Greenland, deploying electronic beacons deep beneath the ice.
3 weeks ago
Living in Greenland, deploying electronic beacons deep beneath the ice.
Math Is Still...
The S-Matrix Is the Oracle Physicists Turn To in Times of Crisis
Particle physicists in search of the next theory of reality are consulting a mathematical structure...
7 months ago
Particle physicists in search of the next theory of reality are consulting a mathematical structure that they know will never fail: a table of possibilities known as the S-matrix.
The post The S-Matrix Is the Oracle Physicists Turn To in Times of Crisis first appeared...
symmetry magazine
Kétévi Assamagan pays it forward
Kétévi Assamagan's contributions to physics go beyond his research at the Large Hadron...
a year ago
Kétévi Assamagan's contributions to physics go beyond his research at the Large Hadron Collider.
Kétévi Assamagan first became interested in physics in high school—because he had to be. His school in Togo, in West Africa, required students to declare a major....
NeuroLogica Blog
Rats!
What killed off the dodo? Humans first arrived at Mauritius island in the late 1500s. They found on...
6 months ago
What killed off the dodo? Humans first arrived at Mauritius island in the late 1500s. They found on this island fat flightless birds who nested on the ground and were a convenient way to restock their ship’s food supply. Within 80 years the dodo went extinct. But hunting was not...
pcloadletter
Surely dark UX doesn't work in the long run
I was just feeling pretty good—I published my article about RSS and it's being pretty...
10 months ago
I was just feeling pretty good—I published my article about RSS and it's being pretty well-received.
I decided a fitting way to celebrate was to head on over to Feedly and catch up on some reading! I clicked on an engineers blog feed to check out here latest couple posts. I...
Casey Handmer's blog
Anti-aging tech fixes demographic collapse
With the latest studies on GLP-1 drugs showing not just a drop in all-cause mortality but also an...
3 months ago
With the latest studies on GLP-1 drugs showing not just a drop in all-cause mortality but also an apparent slowing of aging, I thought I’d write a quick note on how I think this technology, if it replicates, can drastically improve our lives. It’s hard to believe I’m writing...
Asterisk
The “TESCREAL” Bungle
The TESCREAL “bundle of ideologies” is purportedly essential to understand the race to build...
6 months ago
The TESCREAL “bundle of ideologies” is purportedly essential to understand the race to build artificial intelligence, the ethical milieu of those building it, and the philosophical underpinnings behind Silicon Valley as a whole. But does the label actually tell us anything?
Uncharted...
Interesting News & Game Theory of Sex | Q3 2024
Trans & bathrooms, the end of nation states, woke pendulum, trigger warnings, is breastfeeding...
2 months ago
Trans & bathrooms, the end of nation states, woke pendulum, trigger warnings, is breastfeeding actually good for IQ, are differences in household work justified, and more
NeuroLogica Blog
New Generation of Electric Robots
Boston Dynamics (now owned by Hyundai) has revealed its electric version of its Atlas robot. These...
8 months ago
Boston Dynamics (now owned by Hyundai) has revealed its electric version of its Atlas robot. These robot videos always look impressive, but at the very least we know that we are seeing the best take. We don’t know how many times the robot failed to get the one great video. There...
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...
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...
Math Is Still...
The Astonishing Behavior of Recursive Sequences
Some strange mathematical sequences are always whole numbers — until they’re not. The puzzling...
a year ago
Some strange mathematical sequences are always whole numbers — until they’re not. The puzzling patterns have revealed ties to graph theory and prime numbers, awing mathematicians.
The post The Astonishing Behavior of Recursive Sequences first appeared on Quanta...
Blog - Practical...
Which Power Plant Does My Electricity Come From?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In June of 2000, the power...
a month ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In June of 2000, the power shut off across much of the San Francisco Bay area. There simply wasn’t enough electricity to meet demands, so more than a million customers were disconnected in California's largest...
Blog - Practical...
Every Type of Railcar Explained in 15 Minutes
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
A train is a simple thing at...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
A train is a simple thing at first glance: a locomotive (or several) pull a string of cars along a railroad. But not all those railcars are equal, and there are some fascinating details if you take minute to...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
"Non"-Profit Hospitals | Out-Of-Pocket
"We're investing in ourselves"
a year ago
"We're investing in ourselves"
Bartosz Ciechanowski
Sound
Invisible and relentless, sound is seemingly just there, traveling through our surroundings to carry...
over a year ago
Invisible and relentless, sound is seemingly just there, traveling through our surroundings to carry beautiful music or annoying noises. In this article I’ll explain what sound is, how it’s created and propagated.
Throughout this presentation you will be hearing different sounds,...
Chris Grossack's...
A Quick Application of Model Categories
Almost exactly a year ago (time flies!) I was thinking really hard about
model categories in...
a year ago
Almost exactly a year ago (time flies!) I was thinking really hard about
model categories in preparation for the HoTTEST summer school. I learned
a TON doing this, but I’ve just today seen a really nice (and somewhat concrete)
reason to care about the whole endeavor! I’d love...
Math Is Still...
How a DNA ‘Parasite’ May Have Fragmented Our Genes
A novel type of “jumping gene” may explain why the genomes of complex cells aren’t all equally...
a year ago
A novel type of “jumping gene” may explain why the genomes of complex cells aren’t all equally stuffed with noncoding sequences.
The post How a DNA ‘Parasite’ May Have Fragmented Our Genes first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quantum Frontiers
The Noncommuting-Charges World Tour (Part 1 of 4)
Introduction: “Once Upon a Time”…with a twist Thermodynamics problems have surprisingly many...
10 months ago
Introduction: “Once Upon a Time”…with a twist Thermodynamics problems have surprisingly many similarities with fairy tales. For example, most of them begin with a familiar opening. In thermodynamics, the phrase “Consider an isolated box of particles” serves a similar purpose …...
Blog - Practical...
The Only State Capital Where You Can’t Drink the Water
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
As a blast of bitter Arctic...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
As a blast of bitter Arctic air poured into North America around Christmas Time in December 2022, weather conditions impacted nearly every aspect of life, from travel to electricity to just trying to get out...
Math Is Still...
The Question of What’s Fair Illuminates the Question of What’s Hard
Computational complexity theorists have discovered a surprising new way to understand what makes...
6 months ago
Computational complexity theorists have discovered a surprising new way to understand what makes certain problems hard.
The post The Question of What’s Fair Illuminates the Question of What’s Hard first appeared on Quanta Magazine
symmetry magazine
Spacetime: All the universe’s a stage
In the 1900s, Albert Einstein unified the concepts of space and time, giving us a useful new way to...
a year ago
In the 1900s, Albert Einstein unified the concepts of space and time, giving us a useful new way to picture the universe.
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
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,...
nanoscale views
Items of interest
The time since the APS meeting has been very busy, hence the lack of posting. A few items of...
9 months ago
The time since the APS meeting has been very busy, hence the lack of posting. A few items of interest:
The present issue of Nature Physics has several articles about physics education that I really want to read.
This past week we hosted N. Peter Armitage for a really fun...
NeuroLogica Blog
Tesla Demonstrated its Optimus Robot
At a recent event Tesla showcased the capabilities of its humanoid autonomous robot, Optimus. The...
2 months ago
At a recent event Tesla showcased the capabilities of its humanoid autonomous robot, Optimus. The demonstration has come under some criticism, however, for not being fully transparent about the nature of the demonstration. We interviewed robotics expert, Christian Hubicki, on the...
Math Is Still...
Unfolding the Mysteries of Polygonal Billiards
The surprisingly subtle geometry of a familiar game shows how quickly math gets complicated. ...
10 months ago
The surprisingly subtle geometry of a familiar game shows how quickly math gets complicated.
The post Unfolding the Mysteries of Polygonal Billiards first appeared on Quanta Magazine
wadertales
Counting breeding shorebirds using listening devices
With more demands upon the space that is currently occupied by breeding waders, from developments...
2 weeks ago
With more demands upon the space that is currently occupied by breeding waders, from developments such as wind turbines and monoculture forestry, conservationists are often asked to assess the potential effects of landscape change. Do passive acoustic devices have a role to play...
Chris Grossack's...
Life in Johnstone's Topological Topos 3 -- Bonus Axioms
In the first post of the series, we talked about what the topological
topos is, and how we can...
5 months ago
In the first post of the series, we talked about what the topological
topos is, and how we can think about its objects (and, importantly,
how we can relate computations in the topos $\mathcal{T}$ to
computations with topological spaces in “the real world”). In part two,
we...
NeuroLogica Blog
Latest Starship Launch
SpaceX has conducted their most successful test launch of a Starship system to date. The system they...
2 months ago
SpaceX has conducted their most successful test launch of a Starship system to date. The system they tested has three basic components – the Super Heavy first stage rocket booster, the Starship second stage (which is the actual space ship that will go places), and the...
IEEE Spectrum
What Is an Electronic Sackbut?
If you, like me, think of musical synthesizers as an artifact of 1970s rock and disco, then you,...
10 months ago
If you, like me, think of musical synthesizers as an artifact of 1970s rock and disco, then you, like me, will be surprised to learn that the first electronic synthesizer predates those genres by several decades
In 1945, Hugh Le Caine, a physicist at Canada’s National Research...
nanoscale views
Faculty positions at Rice, + annual Nobel speculation
Trying to spread the word:
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University in Houston,...
a year ago
Trying to spread the word:
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University in Houston, Texas invites applications for two tenure-track faculty positions, one experimental and one theoretical, in the area of quantum science using atomic, molecular, or optical methods....
Blog - Practical...
The Hidden Engineering of Wildlife Crossings
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Wallis Annenberg...
5 days ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing under construction over the 101 just outside Los Angeles, California. When it’s finished in a few years, it will be the largest wildlife crossing (*of its kind) on...
The Roots of...
Highlights from The Industrial Revolution, by T. S. Ashton
The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830, by Thomas S. Ashton, is classic in the field, published in...
a year ago
The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830, by Thomas S. Ashton, is classic in the field, published in 1948. Here are some of my highlights from it. (Emphasis in bold added by me.)
The role of chance
What was the role of chance in the inventions of the Industrial Revolution?
It is true...
The Works in...
Issue 13: Deep heat
Plus: the cocktail revolution, how war improved European states, and the mathematical basis of the...
a year ago
Plus: the cocktail revolution, how war improved European states, and the mathematical basis of the Industrial Revolution
nanoscale views
Very brief end of the year round-up
It's hard to believe that it's already the end of 2023. It's been a busy year for condensed matter;...
11 months ago
It's hard to believe that it's already the end of 2023. It's been a busy year for condensed matter; it's unfortunate that two of the biggest stories (problems with high pressure superconductivity papers; the brief excitement about LK99, the not-actually-a-superconductor) were...
Eukaryote Writes...
Who invented knitting? The plot thickens
Last time on Eukaryote Writes Blog: You learned about knitting history. You thought you were done...
a year ago
Last time on Eukaryote Writes Blog: You learned about knitting history. You thought you were done learning about knitting history? You fool. You buffoon. I wanted to double check some things in the last post and found out that the origins of knitting are even weirder than I...
brr
Sunset
Hunkering down for the winter!
a year ago
Hunkering down for the winter!
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Prescription Drug Commercials: Why are you the way you are? | Out-Of-Pocket
And is direct-to-consumer pharma marketing bad? Maybe not
a year ago
And is direct-to-consumer pharma marketing bad? Maybe not
Blog - Practical...
How Fish Survive Hydro Turbines
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Most of the largest dams in...
9 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Most of the largest dams in the US were built before we really understood the impacts they would have on river ecosystems. Or at least they were built before we were conscientious enough to weigh those impacts...
The Works in...
From MANUALS to YOUTUBE
A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
Asterisk
Rat Traps
Does the rationalist blogosphere need to update?
a month ago
Does the rationalist blogosphere need to update?
brr
McMurdo Postal Mail
How to mail things to and from Antarctica!
over a year ago
How to mail things to and from Antarctica!
NeuroLogica Blog
Multipurpose Superconducting Highway
When it comes to technology (and also probably many things) there is a pyramid of ideas. At the very...
a year ago
When it comes to technology (and also probably many things) there is a pyramid of ideas. At the very bottom of the pyramid is pure speculation, just throwing out “what if” ideas to feed the conceptual pipeline. A subset of these ideas will pass the sniff test enough to justify...
Wanderingspace
China's Zhurong Mars Rover
How adorable is this. The Zhurong rover placed a camera on the ground, backed up and took a selfie...
over a year ago
How adorable is this. The Zhurong rover placed a camera on the ground, backed up and took a selfie next to the landing platform it emerged from last month.
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 5: The Marañón Valley (February 7, 2024)
February 7, 2024
The Marañón Valley is one of the most important biogeographical boundaries in the...
8 months ago
February 7, 2024
The Marañón Valley is one of the most important biogeographical boundaries in the Andes. Situated in northwestern Peru, the valley follows the Marañón River which flows northward across plateaus in the Andes. After cutting through a very deep, heavily eroded...
Quantum Frontiers
It from Qubit: The Last Hurrah
Editor’s note: Since 2015, the Simons Foundation has supported the “It from Qubit” collaboration, a...
a year ago
Editor’s note: Since 2015, the Simons Foundation has supported the “It from Qubit” collaboration, a group of scientists drawing on ideas from quantum information theory to address deep issues in fundamental physics. The collaboration held its “Last Hurrah” event at … Continue...
IEEE Spectrum
RCA’s Lucite Phantom Teleceiver Introduced the Idea of TV
addressed a small crowd outside the RCA pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. “Today we are on the...
a year ago
addressed a small crowd outside the RCA pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. “Today we are on the eve of launching a new industry, based on imagination, on scientific research and accomplishment,” he proclaimed. That industry was television.
RCA president David Sarnoff’s...
Blog - Practical...
Why Engineers Can't Control Rivers
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Old River Control...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Old River Control Structure, a relatively innocuous complex of floodgates and levees off the Mississippi River in central Louisiana. It was built in the 1950s to solve a serious problem. Typically...
The Works in...
Unending World
A foretaste of Ch. 11 of Stewart Brand’s Maintenance on Books in Progress
2 months ago
A foretaste of Ch. 11 of Stewart Brand’s Maintenance on Books in Progress
Cremieux Recueil
Preregistration Is No Panacea
Stopping scientific cheaters requires setting up systems that can't be gamed
a month ago
Stopping scientific cheaters requires setting up systems that can't be gamed
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Part 2: How To Build Patient Communities | Out-Of-Pocket
And my investments in Most Days + Little Otter
a year ago
And my investments in Most Days + Little Otter
ToughSF
Piracy in Space is Possible Part I: Dastardly DeltaV and Stealth Steamers
Space Piracy is a common science fiction trope. It has been continuously derided in Hard Science...
over a year ago
Space Piracy is a common science fiction trope. It has been continuously derided in Hard Science Fiction as silly and a holdover of the 'Space is an Ocean' analogy.
But is it really that unrealistic to have space pirates? Let's find out.
What is piracy?
A chinese Junk, by...
Blog - Practical...
Philadelphia I-95 Bridge Collapse Explained
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
On Jun 11, 2023, a fuel tanker...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
On Jun 11, 2023, a fuel tanker truck caught fire on an exit underneath Interstate 95 in Northeast Philadelphia. The fire severely damaged the northbound bridge, eventually causing it to collapse. Sadly, the...
Asterisk
Artificial Wombs When?
What to expect when you’re expecting in 2050.
5 months ago
What to expect when you’re expecting in 2050.
nanoscale views
Interesting reading - resonators, quantum geometry w/ phonons, and fractional quantum anomalous Hall
Real life continues to be busy, but I wanted to point out three recent articles that I found...
6 months ago
Real life continues to be busy, but I wanted to point out three recent articles that I found interesting:
Mechanical resonators are a topic with a long history, going back to the first bells and the tuning fork. I've written about micromachined resonators before, and the quest...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
New Health Plans Need New Operating Systems with Flume Health | Out-Of-Pocket
this claim is automatic, programmatic, hypnotic, funky fresh
a year ago
this claim is automatic, programmatic, hypnotic, funky fresh
Inverted Passion
Not everything is physics
The first book I ever read was The Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I liked it so much that...
3 months ago
The first book I ever read was The Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I liked it so much that I re-read it 8 times. As a young boy, the book had made a lasting impression on me, making me fall in love with ideas such as the arrow of time, black holes, entropy,…
Read...
Beautiful Public...
Mapping the Sea Floor
USGS research vessels equipped with cameras, sonar and scanners created a map of 125 square miles of...
a year ago
USGS research vessels equipped with cameras, sonar and scanners created a map of 125 square miles of the sea floor off Cape Ann, MA.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Transforming Healthcare Data with Tuva Health | Out-Of-Pocket
The nitty, gritty, and shitty of working with health data
a year ago
The nitty, gritty, and shitty of working with health data
Explorations of an...
Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 1: Introduction, Phoenix to Miller Canyon
Earlier this summer, Laura and I were trying to determine where we would visit for a couple of mini...
3 months ago
Earlier this summer, Laura and I were trying to determine where we would visit for a couple of mini vacations. Due to the variations in her work schedule, Laura had two blocks of time - a five-day chunk in early August, and six days in early September - and we wanted to make the...
NeuroLogica Blog
Artificial Robotic Muscles
By now we have all seen the impressive robot videos, such as the ones from Boston Dynamics, in which...
3 months ago
By now we have all seen the impressive robot videos, such as the ones from Boston Dynamics, in which robots show incredible flexibility and agility. These are amazing, but I understand they are a bit like trick-shot videos – we are being shown the ones that worked, which may not...
The Works in...
Anemia and Malaria
In malaria endemic regions, being anemic could be keeping children safe
2 months ago
In malaria endemic regions, being anemic could be keeping children safe
Math Is Still...
The Hidden Connection That Changed Number Theory
Quadratic reciprocity lurks around many corners in mathematics. By proving it, number theorists...
a year ago
Quadratic reciprocity lurks around many corners in mathematics. By proving it, number theorists reimagined their whole field.
The post The Hidden Connection That Changed Number Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
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
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
Math Is Still...
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...
8 months 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...
ToughSF
Lasers, Mirrors and Star Pyramids
Lasers can hit targets at extreme ranges, at the fastest speed possible. They are ideal weapons for...
over a year ago
Lasers can hit targets at extreme ranges, at the fastest speed possible. They are ideal weapons for space warfare.
However, everyone knows that lasers bounce off mirrors... does this make lasers useless?
The post is inspired by the discussion that arose from the conclusions...
ToughSF
Fusion Highways in Space
A transport system that can get spacecraft to Jupiter in 10 days, but without a massive onboard...
over a year ago
A transport system that can get spacecraft to Jupiter in 10 days, but without a massive onboard reactor, using antimatter fuel or riding a gigantic laser beam?
What we need instead is a Fusion Highway to connect the Solar System in unprecedented ways.
The art above is by...
NeuroLogica Blog
Serial Dependence Bias
As I have discussed numerous times on this blog, our brains did not evolve to be optimal precise...
a year ago
As I have discussed numerous times on this blog, our brains did not evolve to be optimal precise perceivers and processors of information. Here is an infographic showing 188 documents cognitive biases. These biases are not all bad – they are tradeoffs. Evolutionary forces care...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Caves on Mars
Recently, in social media posts, Dr. Pascal Lee of the SETI Institute discussed the intriguing caves...
4 weeks ago
Recently, in social media posts, Dr. Pascal Lee of the SETI Institute discussed the intriguing caves on the side of the giant martian volcano called Arsia Mons as interesting places for future exploration and even human residences. As it happens, my very first published...
Math Is Still...
What Is Machine Learning?
Neural networks and other forms of machine learning ultimately learn by trial and error, one...
5 months ago
Neural networks and other forms of machine learning ultimately learn by trial and error, one improvement at a time.
The post What Is Machine Learning? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New Price Transparency Laws And Turquoise Health | Out-Of-Pocket
Are we actually moving to a healthcare shopping experience?
9 months ago
Are we actually moving to a healthcare shopping experience?
Math Is Still...
‘Sensational’ Proof Delivers New Insights Into Prime Numbers
The proof creates stricter limits on potential exceptions to the famous Riemann hypothesis. ...
5 months ago
The proof creates stricter limits on potential exceptions to the famous Riemann hypothesis.
The post ‘Sensational’ Proof Delivers New Insights Into Prime Numbers first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Trust in New Technology
In an optimally rational person, what should govern their perception of risk? Of course, people are...
5 months ago
In an optimally rational person, what should govern their perception of risk? Of course, people are generally not “optimally rational”. It’s therefore an interesting thought experiment – what would be optimal, and how does that differ from how people actually assess risk? Risk is...
Math Is Still...
The (Often) Overlooked Experiment That Revealed the Quantum World
A century ago, the Stern-Gerlach experiment established the truth of quantum mechanics. Now it’s...
a year ago
A century ago, the Stern-Gerlach experiment established the truth of quantum mechanics. Now it’s being used to probe the clash of quantum theory and gravity.
The post The (Often) Overlooked Experiment That Revealed the Quantum World first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Physicists Puzzle Over Emergence of Strange Electron Aggregates
Electrons have been seen uniting into entities with fractions of electric charge, this time without...
6 months ago
Electrons have been seen uniting into entities with fractions of electric charge, this time without a magnetic field coaxing them into it.
The post Physicists Puzzle Over Emergence of Strange Electron Aggregates first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Patient Communities Should Change | Out-Of-Pocket
Evolving from ads to outcomes
a year ago
Evolving from ads to outcomes
nanoscale views
Favorite science fiction invention?
In the forward-looking spirit of the New Year, it might be fun to get readers’ opinions of their...
a year ago
In the forward-looking spirit of the New Year, it might be fun to get readers’ opinions of their favorite science fiction inventions. I wrote about favorite sci-fi materials back in 2015, but let’s broaden the field. Personally, I’m a fan of the farcaster (spoiler warning!) from...
Asterisk
Behind Closed Doors
In 2020, we worried that COVID lockdowns might lead to an increase in domestic violence. Instead,...
a year ago
In 2020, we worried that COVID lockdowns might lead to an increase in domestic violence. Instead, the opposite occurred. Why did this happen — and why was it so hard to figure out?
Uncharted...
Is Desalination Everywhere Realistic?
Which countries are doing it already? Are they happy? Is desalinated water safe to drink? Does it...
a month ago
Which countries are doing it already? Are they happy? Is desalinated water safe to drink? Does it taste good? Does it pollute too much? Can we shrink its cost?
Math Is Still...
Math That Lets You Think Locally but Act Globally
Knowing a little about the local connections on flight maps and other networks can reveal a lot...
a year ago
Knowing a little about the local connections on flight maps and other networks can reveal a lot about a system’s global structure.
The post Math That Lets You Think Locally but Act Globally first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Apply to come to Invisible College
Our new residential seminar for 18 to 22-year-olds, during August 2024
8 months ago
Our new residential seminar for 18 to 22-year-olds, during August 2024
Asterisk
Prediction Markets Have an Elections Problem
Weeks after it was clear that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, you could still make pennies on...
10 months ago
Weeks after it was clear that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, you could still make pennies on the dollar betting Joe Biden would win. Why doesn’t smart money drive out dumb money in election markets?
nanoscale views
The difficult need for creativity on demand
Thoughts at the end of another busy year…. Good science is a creative enterprise. Some stereotypes...
a year ago
Thoughts at the end of another busy year…. Good science is a creative enterprise. Some stereotypes paint most scientists as toiling away, so deeply constrained by logic that they function more like automatons grinding out the next incremental advance in a steady if slow march of...
nanoscale views
Food and (broadly speaking) fluid mechanics - great paper!
This paper (author's website pdf here, arxiv version here) is just a spectacularly good review...
a year ago
This paper (author's website pdf here, arxiv version here) is just a spectacularly good review article about fluid mechanics (broadly defined to include a bit about foams and viscoelastic systems) and food/drink. The article is broadly structured like a menu (drinks & cocktails...
NeuroLogica Blog
Using Cement for Energy Storage
Imagine if every house, every building, came with 1-2 days (or possibly more) of energy storage....
a year ago
Imagine if every house, every building, came with 1-2 days (or possibly more) of energy storage. What if every wind turbine could store a day’s worth of the energy it produces on average? How beneficial would it be if the most common building material the world could be used to...
NeuroLogica Blog
How Much Carbon do Living Things Store?
Since we are in a “all hands on deck” situation when it comes to climate change, we need to take a...
a year ago
Since we are in a “all hands on deck” situation when it comes to climate change, we need to take a look at all potential strategies for delaying and blunting global warming. The game at this point is all about peak warming – how much will the Earth warm before temperatures peak...
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...
6 months 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...
NeuroLogica Blog
How Humans Can Adapt to Space
My recent article on settling Mars has generated a lot of discussion, some of it around the basic...
11 months ago
My recent article on settling Mars has generated a lot of discussion, some of it around the basic concept of how difficult it is for humans to live anywhere but a thin envelope of air hugging the surface of the Earth. This is undoubtedly true, as I have discussed before – we...
NeuroLogica Blog
Eclipse 2024
I am currently in Dallas Texas waiting to see, hopefully, the 2024 total solar eclipse. This would...
8 months 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...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Licensing and Credentialing Nonsense with Assured | Out-Of-Pocket
a month ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How to integrate into an EMR and why Epic won with Brendan Keeler | Out-Of-Pocket
everything you need to know about EMRs, healthcare data standards, and integrations
a year ago
everything you need to know about EMRs, healthcare data standards, and integrations
Blog - Practical...
How Different Spillway Gates Work
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In the heart of Minneapolis,...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In the heart of Minneapolis, Minnesota on the Mississippi River is the picturesque Upper Saint Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, which originally made it possible to travel upstream on the river past the falls...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
A Movie about a Galaxy Far, Far Away & Long, Long Ago (from Webb Telescope)
Explains a new movie of distant galaxies and remote time from the Webb Telescope.
The post A Movie...
a year ago
Explains a new movie of distant galaxies and remote time from the Webb Telescope.
The post A Movie about a Galaxy Far, Far Away & Long, Long Ago (from Webb Telescope) appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
nanoscale views
CHIP and Science, NSF support, and hypocrisy
Note: this post is a semi-rant about US funding for science education; if this isn't your cup of...
4 months ago
Note: this post is a semi-rant about US funding for science education; if this isn't your cup of tea, read no further.
Two years ago, the CHIPS and Science Act (link goes to the full text of the bill, via the excellent congress.gov service of the Library of Congress) was signed...
Math Is Still...
Extra-Long Blasts Challenge Our Theories of Cosmic Cataclysms
Astronomers thought they had solved the mystery of gamma-ray bursts. A few recent events suggest...
a year ago
Astronomers thought they had solved the mystery of gamma-ray bursts. A few recent events suggest otherwise.
The post Extra-Long Blasts Challenge Our Theories of Cosmic Cataclysms first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Sean Carroll
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe | 23. Criticality and Complexity
Spherical cows are important because they let us abstract away all the complications of the real...
over a year ago
Spherical cows are important because they let us abstract away all the complications of the real world and think about underlying principles. But what about when the complications are the point? Then we enter the realm of complex systems — which, interestingly, has its own...
The Works in...
Issue 12: Houston, we have a solution
Plus: How Mexico built its state, the causes of the Baby Boom, and the 141-year quest for a malaria...
a year ago
Plus: How Mexico built its state, the causes of the Baby Boom, and the 141-year quest for a malaria vaccine.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Ins-and-Outs of Cancer Care Navigators With Laura Stratte | Out-Of-Pocket
What are cancer care navigators and what issues do they face?
a year ago
What are cancer care navigators and what issues do they face?
Light from Space
Sharpless 119
Sharpless 119 (Sh2-119), sometimes referred to as “The Clamshell Nebula” is an emission nebula in...
over a year ago
Sharpless 119 (Sh2-119), sometimes referred to as “The Clamshell Nebula” is an emission nebula in Cygnus. It's rarely photographed as there's other, brighter nebulæ nearby, such as the North America Nebula.
Click or tap to enlarge/double-tap to zoom
Total exposure time: 23h
Blog - Practical...
Engineering The Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is my friend Jade,...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is my friend Jade, creator of the Up and Atom channel. She makes these incredible math and physics explainers that I absolutely love, and she recently got the opportunity to visit ITER (eater) in France....
Quantum Frontiers
Crossing the quantum chasm: From NISQ to fault tolerance
On December 6, I gave a keynote address at the Q2B 2023 Conference in Silicon Valley. Here is a...
a year ago
On December 6, I gave a keynote address at the Q2B 2023 Conference in Silicon Valley. Here is a transcript of my remarks. Toward quantum value The theme of this year’s Q2B meeting is “The Roadmap to Quantum Value.” I … Continue reading →
ToughSF
Fusion without Fissiles: Superbombs and Wilderness Orion
Fusion technology today relies on expensive, building-sized equipment for ignition, or the help of...
over a year ago
Fusion technology today relies on expensive, building-sized equipment for ignition, or the help of an already powerful fission detonation. What if we could do away with both?
Fusion power without the need for fissiles, but also small enough to be launched into space. It is...
nanoscale views
Recent papers to distract....
Time for blogging has continued to be scarce, but here are a few papers to distract (and for readers...
a month ago
Time for blogging has continued to be scarce, but here are a few papers to distract (and for readers who are US citizens: vote if you have not already done so!).
Reaching back, this preprint by Aharonov, Collins, Popescu talks about a thought experiment in which angular...
Explorations of an...
2023 Part 3: Spring And Summer In Ontario
April (continued)
Laura and I returned to Ontario in late April and I immediately jumped back into...
11 months ago
April (continued)
Laura and I returned to Ontario in late April and I immediately jumped back into the local birding/naturalist scene. Spring is such a dynamic time of year and I tried to maximize every opportunity. In late April I spent a couple of days on Manitoulin Island,...
Drew Ex Machina
Habitable Planet Reality Check: TOI-700e Discovered by NASA’s TESS Mission
During a press conference held on January 6, 2020 at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical...
a year ago
During a press conference held on January 6, 2020 at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Honolulu, Emily Gilbert (then a graduate […]
Math Is Still...
Some Neural Networks Learn Language Like Humans
Researchers uncover striking parallels in the ways that humans and machine learning models acquire...
a year ago
Researchers uncover striking parallels in the ways that humans and machine learning models acquire language skills.
The post Some Neural Networks Learn Language Like Humans first appeared on Quanta Magazine
symmetry magazine
What the Higgs boson tells us about the universe
The Higgs boson is the only fundamental particle known to be scalar, meaning it has no quantum spin....
a year ago
The Higgs boson is the only fundamental particle known to be scalar, meaning it has no quantum spin. This fact answers questions about our universe, but it also raises new ones.
When it was first discovered in 2012, the Higgs boson captured the popular...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 8: Pale-billed Antpittas In The Elfin Forest (February 10, 2024)
February 10, 2024
The Pale-billed Antpitta is a large, fancy-looking Grallaria antpitta only found...
6 months ago
February 10, 2024
The Pale-billed Antpitta is a large, fancy-looking Grallaria antpitta only found in the high Andes of northern Peru. Because of its proclivity towards dense forest with an abundance of bamboo, there are few places where this species can be easily found. These...
Full Width 
Shortcuts 
Sign Up 
Log In 
Articles 
Reading List 