Inverted Passion
How to be a messy thinker
I love thinking about thinking. Give me a research paper on rationality, cognitive biases or mental...
7 months ago
I love thinking about thinking. Give me a research paper on rationality, cognitive biases or mental models, and I’ll gobble it up. Given the amount of knowledge I’ve ingested on these topics, I had always assumed that I’m a clear thinker. Recently, though, it hit me like a...
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
Eukaryote Writes...
Internet Harvest (2020, 3)
Repairs, number stations, the only good Twitters, a low-key infohazard about pictures of...
over a year ago
Repairs, number stations, the only good Twitters, a low-key infohazard about pictures of butterflies, and more.
Probably...
We Have a Book!
My copy of Probably Overthinking It has arrived! If you want a copy for yourself, you can get a 30%...
a year ago
My copy of Probably Overthinking It has arrived! If you want a copy for yourself, you can get a 30% discount if you order from the publisher and use the code UCPNEW. You can also order from Amazon or, if you want to support independent bookstores, from Bookshop.org. The official...
nanoscale views
What is a spin glass?
As mentioned previously, structural glasses are materials in which there is no periodic lattice (no...
a year ago
As mentioned previously, structural glasses are materials in which there is no periodic lattice (no long-range spatial order) and the building blocks get "stuck" in some configuration, kinetically unable to get to the true energetic minimum state which would almost certainly be a...
Math Is Still...
Behold Modular Forms, the ‘Fifth Fundamental Operation’ of Math
Modular forms are one of the most beautiful and mysterious objects in mathematics. What are they? ...
a year ago
Modular forms are one of the most beautiful and mysterious objects in mathematics. What are they?
The post Behold Modular Forms, the ‘Fifth Fundamental Operation’ of Math first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
New Theory Suggests Chatbots Can Understand Text
Far from being “stochastic parrots,” the biggest large language models seem to learn enough skills...
11 months ago
Far from being “stochastic parrots,” the biggest large language models seem to learn enough skills to understand the words they’re processing.
The post New Theory Suggests Chatbots Can Understand Text first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wanderingspace
Eclipse 2024 from Space
https://twitter.com/ThePlanetaryGuy
8 months ago
https://twitter.com/ThePlanetaryGuy
NeuroLogica Blog
Ghosts Are Not Real
It’s Halloween, so there are a lot of fluff pieces about ghosts and similar phenomena circulating in...
a year ago
It’s Halloween, so there are a lot of fluff pieces about ghosts and similar phenomena circulating in the media. There are some good skeptical pieces as well, which is always nice to see. For this piece I did not want to frame the headline as a question, which I think is...
nanoscale views
Desirable properties for a superconductor
Given the present interest, let's talk about what kind of properties one wants in a superconductor,...
a year ago
Given the present interest, let's talk about what kind of properties one wants in a superconductor, as some people on social media seem ready to jump straight on the "what does superconductivity mean for bitcoin?" train.
First, the preliminaries. Superconductivity is a state of...
IEEE Spectrum
This Clock Made Power Grids Possible
On 23 October 1916, an engineer named Henry E. Warren quietly revolutionized power transmission by...
9 months ago
On 23 October 1916, an engineer named Henry E. Warren quietly revolutionized power transmission by installing an electric clock in the L Street generating station of Boston’s Edison Electric Illuminating Co. This master station clock kept a very particular type of time: It used a...
Uncharted...
🪐 How Will We Ride to Mars?
Do we need a station on the Moon? How hard is it to get to Mars? What are the main challenges?
2 months ago
Do we need a station on the Moon? How hard is it to get to Mars? What are the main challenges?
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
Math Is Still...
Maze Proof Establishes a ‘Backbone’ for Statistical Mechanics
Four mathematicians have estimated the chances that there’s a clear path through a random maze. ...
10 months ago
Four mathematicians have estimated the chances that there’s a clear path through a random maze.
The post Maze Proof Establishes a ‘Backbone’ for Statistical Mechanics first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Roots of...
The American Information Revolution in Global Perspective
In “What if they gave an Industrial Revolution and nobody came?” I reviewed The British Industrial...
a year ago
In “What if they gave an Industrial Revolution and nobody came?” I reviewed The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective, by Robert Allen. In brief, Allen’s explanation for the Industrial Revolution is that Britain had high wages and cheap energy, which meant it was...
IEEE Spectrum
How Tech Automated the January 6 Investigations
Josh Coker’s Facebook page doesn’t show any MAGA memes or Trump quotes. He wasn’t live-streaming on...
11 months ago
Josh Coker’s Facebook page doesn’t show any MAGA memes or Trump quotes. He wasn’t live-streaming on 6 January 2021, and no one has ever stepped forward to identify him as one of the mob that stormed the US Capitol that day.
Oregon, Ohio, with five counts connected to the failed...
The Works in...
ARIA: Betting on science
An inside look at Britain's new DARPA
a year ago
An inside look at Britain's new DARPA
Math Is Still...
AI Needs Enormous Computing Power. Could Light-Based Chips Help?
Optical neural networks, which use photons instead of electrons, have advantages over traditional...
7 months ago
Optical neural networks, which use photons instead of electrons, have advantages over traditional systems. They also face major obstacles.
The post AI Needs Enormous Computing Power. Could Light-Based Chips Help? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
APS March Meeting 2024, Day 1
There is no question that the meeting venue in Minneapolis is superior in multiple ways to last...
9 months ago
There is no question that the meeting venue in Minneapolis is superior in multiple ways to last year's meeting in Las Vegas. The convention center doesn't feel scarily confining, and it also doesn't smell like a combination of cigarettes and desperation.
Here are a few...
nanoscale views
A couple of links + a thought experiment about spin
A couple of interesting things to read:
As someone interested in lost ancient literature and also...
10 months ago
A couple of interesting things to read:
As someone interested in lost ancient literature and also science, I really liked this news article from Nature about progress in reading scrolls excavated from Herculaneum. The area around the Bay of Naples was a quite the spot for posh...
The Works in...
Heat waves
Why a hotter world might be a more dangerous, violent, and less productive one
5 months ago
Why a hotter world might be a more dangerous, violent, and less productive one
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Canvas: A Bet On New EMRs | Out-Of-Pocket
what if EMRs didn't totally suck?
a year ago
what if EMRs didn't totally suck?
Asterisk
The Myth of the Loneliness Epidemic
Are we really living through a uniquely lonely moment in American history? When it comes to...
a month ago
Are we really living through a uniquely lonely moment in American history? When it comes to friendship, this isn’t the first time that authorities have cried wolf.
Math Is Still...
The New Math of How Large-Scale Order Emerges
The puzzle of emergence asks how regularities emerge on macro scales out of uncountable constituent...
6 months ago
The puzzle of emergence asks how regularities emerge on macro scales out of uncountable constituent parts. A new framework has researchers hopeful that a solution is near.
The post The New Math of How Large-Scale Order Emerges first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Understanding Jumbo Phage Viruses
Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, are the most abundant form of life on Earth. And yet...
7 months ago
Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, are the most abundant form of life on Earth. And yet we know comparatively little about them. But in recent years phage research has taken off with renewed interest. This is partly driven by the availability of CRISPR-based tools for...
Blog - Practical...
The Hidden Engineering of Landfills
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Puente Hills...
3 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Puente Hills Landfill outside of Los Angeles, California. The first truckload of trash was dumped here in 1957, and the trucks just kept coming. For more than five decades, if you threw something...
Math Is Still...
Math That Goes On Forever but Never Repeats
Simple math can help explain the complexities of the newly discovered aperiodic monotile. ...
a year ago
Simple math can help explain the complexities of the newly discovered aperiodic monotile.
The post Math That Goes On Forever but Never Repeats first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: Selective breeding and chicken welfare
We've bred larger and larger chickens. Now can we breed happier ones?
over a year ago
We've bred larger and larger chickens. Now can we breed happier ones?
NeuroLogica Blog
For Movies – Animals Don’t Sound Real Enough
What does a majestic eagle sound like, or the hoot of a spider monkey, or the roar of a bear? Unless...
a year ago
What does a majestic eagle sound like, or the hoot of a spider monkey, or the roar of a bear? Unless you have an interest in movie tropes, or listen regularly to the SGU, you may have a complete misconception about the sounds these and many other animals make. Eagles, for...
Math Is Still...
With Fifth Busy Beaver, Researchers Approach Computation’s Limits
After decades of uncertainty, a motley team of programmers has proved precisely how complicated...
5 months ago
After decades of uncertainty, a motley team of programmers has proved precisely how complicated simple computer programs can get.
The post With Fifth Busy Beaver, Researchers Approach Computation’s Limits 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...
3 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...
Explorations of an...
The Quest For The Rufous-throated Dipper
The east slope of the Andes is one of my favourite places in the world to explore. As I've mentioned...
a year ago
The east slope of the Andes is one of my favourite places in the world to explore. As I've mentioned before on this blog, this is due to several factors, but prime among them is that this slope receives a high level of rainfall. Turn on the taps, and you turn on the biodiversity....
Quantum Frontiers
Let the great world spin
I first heard the song “Fireflies,” by Owl City, shortly after my junior year of college. During the...
a year ago
I first heard the song “Fireflies,” by Owl City, shortly after my junior year of college. During the refrain, singer Adam Young almost whispers, “I’d like to make myself believe / that planet Earth turns slowly.” Goosebumps prickled along my … Continue reading →
NeuroLogica Blog
Superconducting Kagome Metals
Superconductivity is an extremely interesting, and potentially extremely useful, physical...
3 months ago
Superconductivity is an extremely interesting, and potentially extremely useful, physical phenomenon. It refers to a state in which current flows through a material without resistance, and therefore without any loss of energy or waste heat. As our civilization is increasingly run...
Math Is Still...
The New Quest to Control Evolution
Modern scientists aren’t content with predicting how life evolves. They want to shape it. ...
a year ago
Modern scientists aren’t content with predicting how life evolves. They want to shape it.
The post The New Quest to Control Evolution first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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???
nanoscale views
Tour de force work: Bragg, diffraction, and diamond
There are some examples of scientific progress that just seem so far above and beyond the norm, it's...
a year ago
There are some examples of scientific progress that just seem so far above and beyond the norm, it's almost jaw dropping in terms of the mental leap needed for the insight. One example that I always liked to point out to first-year undergrads learning about gravity is Johannes...
The Works in...
The value of family
Traditional values don't deliver babies
a year ago
Traditional values don't deliver babies
Math Is Still...
The ‘Accidental Activist’ Who Changed the Face of Mathematics
Throughout her 60-year career, Lenore Blum has developed new perspectives on logic and computation...
11 months ago
Throughout her 60-year career, Lenore Blum has developed new perspectives on logic and computation while championing women in mathematics and computer science. Now consciousness is on her mind.
The post The ‘Accidental Activist’ Who Changed the Face of Mathematics...
Melting Asphalt
A Nihilist's Guide to Meaning
I've never been plagued by the big existential questions. You know, like What's my purpose? or What...
over a year ago
I've never been plagued by the big existential questions. You know, like What's my purpose? or What does it all mean? Growing up I was a very science-minded kid — still am — and from an early age I learned…
Read more ›
Math Is Still...
A Close-Up View Reveals the ‘Melting’ Point of an Infinite Graph
Just as ice melts to water, graphs undergo phase transitions. Two mathematicians showed that they...
a year ago
Just as ice melts to water, graphs undergo phase transitions. Two mathematicians showed that they can pinpoint such transitions by examining only local structure.
The post A Close-Up View Reveals the ‘Melting’ Point of an Infinite Graph first appeared on Quanta...
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...
Asterisk
America Doesn’t Know Tofu
China has spent millennia exploring the culinary possibilities of soybean curds. The West has barely...
a year ago
China has spent millennia exploring the culinary possibilities of soybean curds. The West has barely scratched the surface.
wadertales
Learning lessons from Slender-billed Curlews
The 2024 Ibis paper, recommending that the Slender-billed Curlew should be classified as Extinct,...
a week ago
The 2024 Ibis paper, recommending that the Slender-billed Curlew should be classified as Extinct, tells a sad tale. We now know that, by the time that the Slender-billed Curlew Action Plan was published in 1996, it was already too late to save the species. Resources expended...
Asterisk
What We Get Wrong About AI & China
Everyone’s afraid of what China can and will do with AI. On the ground, the picture looks a lot more...
a year ago
Everyone’s afraid of what China can and will do with AI. On the ground, the picture looks a lot more complicated.
Quantum Frontiers
To thermalize, or not to thermalize, that is the question.
If Hamlet had been a system of noncommuting charges, his famous soliloquy may have gone like this…...
8 months ago
If Hamlet had been a system of noncommuting charges, his famous soliloquy may have gone like this… To thermalize, or not to thermalize, that is the question:Whether ’tis more natural for the system to sufferThe large entanglement of thermalizing dynamics,Or … Continue reading →
NeuroLogica Blog
Living a Hybrid Life
The cultural effects of the COVID pandemic can still be felt reverberating through society. One of...
4 months ago
The cultural effects of the COVID pandemic can still be felt reverberating through society. One of the positive effects, in my opinion, was the sudden boost to remote technology – connecting remotely for meetings and other uses through Zoom or a similar application. This...
IEEE Spectrum
Sci-fi and Hi-fi
Many a technologist has been inspired by science fiction. Some have even built, or rebuilt, entire...
9 months ago
Many a technologist has been inspired by science fiction. Some have even built, or rebuilt, entire companies around an idea introduced in a story they read, as the founders of Second Life and Meta did, working from the metaverse as imagined by Neal Stephenson in his seminal 1992...
NeuroLogica Blog
Reading The Mind with fMRI and AI
This is pretty exciting neuroscience news – Semantic reconstruction of continuous language from...
a year ago
This is pretty exciting neuroscience news – Semantic reconstruction of continuous language from non-invasive brain recordings. What this means is that researchers have been able to, sort of, decode the words that subjects were thinking of simply by reading their fMRI scan. They...
Marine Madness
Fear factor: How sensationalised shark documentaries undermine conservation efforts
Experts explain why misleading documentaries about sharks can be problematic. When Brendon Sing...
over a year ago
Experts explain why misleading documentaries about sharks can be problematic. When Brendon Sing first encountered sharks he was as a young boy behind the safety of aquarium glass in his native South Africa. Like many children of his generation, Brendon’s limited knowledge about...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New (Experimental) Ways To Tackle The Mental Health Crisis | Out-Of-Pocket
let's try some new stuff to scale mental health care
a year ago
let's try some new stuff to scale mental health care
NeuroLogica Blog
What Happened to the Atmosphere on Mars
Of every world known to humans outside the Earth, Mars is likely the most habitable. We have not...
2 months ago
Of every world known to humans outside the Earth, Mars is likely the most habitable. We have not found any genuinely Earth-like exoplanets. They are almost sure to exist, but we just haven’t found any yet. The closest so far is Kepler 452-b, which is a super Earth, specifically...
Apoorva Srinivasan
an experiment in navigating the knowledge frontier beyond search
Lately, I've been experimenting with interfaces for large language models (LLMs) in my free time....
a year ago
Lately, I've been experimenting with interfaces for large language models (LLMs) in my free time. The fruit of this labor is something I'm calling "curie," an exploratory and sense-making tool designed to navigate complex topics.
0:00
...
Many Worlds
The Makeup of Red Dwarf Solar Systems May Seriously Limit the Formation of Habitable Planets
Jupiter is often described as the “big brother” planet of our solar system that made the formation...
a year ago
Jupiter is often described as the “big brother” planet of our solar system that made the formation and evolution of Earth possible. In the early days of the solar system, massive Jupiter helped the planet grow rapidly while serving as a gravity well that shielded the planet from...
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: Agglomeration benefits are here to stay
Building more homes in the most productive cities could massively boost productivity
over a year ago
Building more homes in the most productive cities could massively boost productivity
Math Is Still...
How Do Merging Supermassive Black Holes Pass the Final Parsec?
The giant holes in galaxies’ centers shouldn’t be able to merge, yet merge they do. Scientists...
a month ago
The giant holes in galaxies’ centers shouldn’t be able to merge, yet merge they do. Scientists suggest that an unusual form of dark matter may be the solution.
The post How Do Merging Supermassive Black Holes Pass the Final Parsec? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
In a Monster Star’s Light, a Hint of Darkness
Astronomers are scouring the cosmos for fingerprints of the invisible — tiny clumps of pure dark...
a year ago
Astronomers are scouring the cosmos for fingerprints of the invisible — tiny clumps of pure dark matter that might solve a long-standing cosmic mystery.
The post In a Monster Star’s Light, a Hint of Darkness first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wanderingspace
Europa Seen by Juno
Citizen scientist Björn Jónsson processed the image to enhance the color and contrast.
over a year ago
Citizen scientist Björn Jónsson processed the image to enhance the color and contrast.
Asterisk
The Great Inflection? A Debate About AI and Explosive Growth
A conversation about what happens to the economy when intelligence becomes too cheap to meter.
a year ago
A conversation about what happens to the economy when intelligence becomes too cheap to meter.
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...
How ‘Idle’ Egg Cells Defend Their DNA From Damage
How do immature egg cells maintain genetic quality for decades before they mature? Scientists find...
7 months ago
How do immature egg cells maintain genetic quality for decades before they mature? Scientists find unusual safeguards in this quiescent cell that may inform research into fertility.
The post How ‘Idle’ Egg Cells Defend Their DNA From Damage first appeared on Quanta...
Math Is Still...
Physicists Discover ‘Unobservable’ Phase Transition in Quantum Entanglement
Measurement and entanglement both have a “spooky” nonlocal flavor to them. Now physicists are...
a year ago
Measurement and entanglement both have a “spooky” nonlocal flavor to them. Now physicists are harnessing that nonlocality to probe the spread of quantum information and control it.
The post Physicists Discover ‘Unobservable’ Phase Transition in Quantum Entanglement...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Obstacles To Value-Based Care | Out-Of-Pocket
taking on risk is easier said than done
a year ago
taking on risk is easier said than done
NeuroLogica Blog
AI Humor
It’s been less than two years (November 2022) since ChatGPT launched. In some ways the new large...
4 months ago
It’s been less than two years (November 2022) since ChatGPT launched. In some ways the new large language model (LLM) type of artificial intelligence (AI) applications have been on the steep part of the improvement curve. And yet, they are still LLMs with the same limitations. In...
Math Is Still...
How Quickly Do Large Language Models Learn Unexpected Skills?
A new study suggests that so-called emergent abilities actually develop gradually and predictably,...
10 months ago
A new study suggests that so-called emergent abilities actually develop gradually and predictably, depending on how you measure them.
The post How Quickly Do Large Language Models Learn Unexpected Skills? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
But actually good 2024 predictions | Out-Of-Pocket
I know, enough predictions. But these are good!
a year ago
I know, enough predictions. But these are good!
Math Is Still...
The Colorful Problem That Has Long Frustrated Mathematicians
The four-color problem is simple to explain, but its complex proof continues to be both celebrated...
a year ago
The four-color problem is simple to explain, but its complex proof continues to be both celebrated and despised.
The post The Colorful Problem That Has Long Frustrated Mathematicians first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Explorations of an...
Marsh Birding In Ceibas And Otamendi
February 18, 2023
Laura and I left Parque Nacional El Palmar and continued south towards Buenos...
a year ago
February 18, 2023
Laura and I left Parque Nacional El Palmar and continued south towards Buenos Aires and beyond. We had just five days remaining in our Argentina trip, with ferry tickets purchased that would take us to Uruguay on February 23. At this point in the trip, potential...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Can patients be good healthcare shoppers? | Out-Of-Pocket
Should their be limits to patient agency?
4 months ago
Should their be limits to patient agency?
Asterisk
Animal Welfare in the Anthropocene
Wild animals outnumber farmed animals by orders of magnitude. Are we obligated to help them? And...
a year ago
Wild animals outnumber farmed animals by orders of magnitude. Are we obligated to help them? And even if we wanted to, do we know how?
ToughSF
Riding Sunbeams with Solar Sails
Reset your expectations of solar sails. They are a fast and free way to travel to any point in the...
a year ago
Reset your expectations of solar sails. They are a fast and free way to travel to any point in the Solar System, as many times as you want, any time of the year.
Solar sails can carry passengers and they have a nearly unlimited number of uses. You just have to... think...
Math Is Still...
Deep Beneath Earth’s Surface, Clues to Life’s Origins
Last spring, scientists retrieved a trove of mantle rocks from underneath the Atlantic seafloor — a...
11 months ago
Last spring, scientists retrieved a trove of mantle rocks from underneath the Atlantic seafloor — a bounty that could help write the first chapter of life's story on Earth.
The post Deep Beneath Earth’s Surface, Clues to Life’s Origins first appeared on Quanta...
Math Is Still...
How Public Key Cryptography Really Works, Using Only Simple Math
The security system that underlies the internet makes use of a curious fact: You can broadcast part...
a month ago
The security system that underlies the internet makes use of a curious fact: You can broadcast part of your encryption to make your information much more secure.
The post How Public Key Cryptography Really Works, Using Only Simple Math first appeared on Quanta...
Sean Carroll
Johns Hopkins
As far as I remember, the first time I stepped onto a university campus was in junior high school,...
over a year ago
As far as I remember, the first time I stepped onto a university campus was in junior high school, when I visited Johns Hopkins for an awards ceremony for the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth. (I grew up in an environment that didn’t involve spending a lot of time on...
The Works in...
The Maintenance Race was just the beginning
A new book from Stewart Brand, serialized on Works in Progress
a year ago
A new book from Stewart Brand, serialized on Works in Progress
nanoscale views
Generative AI and scientific images/diagrams
Generative AI for image generation is a controversial topic for many reasons. Still, as someone who...
11 months ago
Generative AI for image generation is a controversial topic for many reasons. Still, as someone who doesn't have a staff of graphic artists on hand to help make scientific illustrations, it has certainly been tempting to see whether it might be a useful tool. My brief...
Damn Interesting
The Mount St. Helens Trespasser
The Washington state deputy sheriff looked suspiciously at the motorcycle strapped to the back of...
over a year ago
The Washington state deputy sheriff looked suspiciously at the motorcycle strapped to the back of the odd little French car. The motorcycle was a recently repaired Honda 90, sporting a fresh coat of grey spray paint. The driver, Robert Rogers, kept a neutral expression as the...
Eukaryote Writes...
Defending against hypothetical moon life during Apollo 11
This is how a completely abstract argument about alien germs was taken seriously and mitigated at...
11 months ago
This is how a completely abstract argument about alien germs was taken seriously and mitigated at great effort and expense during the 1969 Apollo landing.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Reality of Real-World Evidence | Out-Of-Pocket
Real recognize real...sort of
a year ago
Real recognize real...sort of
Probably...
Combining Risks
Here’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
7 months ago
Here’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous installments are available from the Data Q&A landing page. combine_risk Combining Risks¶ Here’s a question from the Reddit statistics forum. Bit of a weird one but I’m hoping you’re the...
Blog - Practical...
Why Are Texas Interchanges Texas So Tall?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Dallas High Five,...
4 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Dallas High Five, one of the tallest highway interchanges in the world. It gets its name from the fact that there are five different levels of roadways crossing each other in this one spot. In some...
IEEE Spectrum
The Tremendous VR and CG Systems—of the 1960s
Ivan Sutherland has blazed a truly unique trail through computing over the past six decades. One of...
a year ago
Ivan Sutherland has blazed a truly unique trail through computing over the past six decades. One of the most influential figures in the story of computing, he helped to open new pathways for others to explore and dramatically extend: interactive computer graphics, virtual...
Explorations of an...
Final Argentina Post - Hudson's Canasteros, Shorebirds and Jaegers at Punta Rasa
February 20, 2023
As we traveled south from Buenos Aires, the landscape opened up. The small towns...
a year ago
February 20, 2023
As we traveled south from Buenos Aires, the landscape opened up. The small towns and communities became less frequent, giving way to vast expanses of pasture and agriculture with nary a tree in sight, other than the occasional hedgerow. Several hours later, and...
The Works in...
Whatever happened to the industrial R&D lab?
From the Works in Progress archives.
a year ago
From the Works in Progress archives.
Probably...
Density and Likelihood
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
5 months ago
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous installments are available from the Data Q&A landing page. If you get this post by email, the formatting might be broken — if so, you might want to read it on the site. likelihood Density and...
Quantum Frontiers
The power of awe
Mid-afternoon, one Saturday late in September, I forgot where I was. I forgot that I was visiting...
a year ago
Mid-afternoon, one Saturday late in September, I forgot where I was. I forgot that I was visiting Seattle for the second time; I forgot that I’d just finished co-organizing a workshop partially about nuclear physics for the first time. I’d … Continue reading →
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Ice Formation
In today's bigger is better world, you don't order a large coffee, you order a 20 fluid ounce Venti...
4 months ago
In today's bigger is better world, you don't order a large coffee, you order a 20 fluid ounce Venti coffee. From 1987 through 2004, McDonald's restaurants had a supersize option for larger than large portions of its French fries and soft drinks. The prefix, super, has been used...
Blog - Practical...
These Metals Destroy Themselves to Prevent Rust
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the old Howard...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the old Howard Frankland Bridge that carries roughly 180,000 vehicles per day across Old Tampa Bay between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida. A replacement for the bridge is currently under...
Math Is Still...
In the Quantum World, Even Points of View Are Uncertain
The reference frames from which observers view quantum events can themselves have multiple possible...
4 weeks ago
The reference frames from which observers view quantum events can themselves have multiple possible locations at once — an insight with potentially major ramifications.
The post In the Quantum World, Even Points of View Are Uncertain first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wanderingspace
Phobos over mount Sharp
Taken by the Curiosity rover. This is one of Mars tiny moons as seen from the ground. Impressive as...
over a year ago
Taken by the Curiosity rover. This is one of Mars tiny moons as seen from the ground. Impressive as it is only 14 long and you can actually see its shape from the surface. See Phobos below for reference.
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
England Allows Gene-Edited Crops
This has been somewhat of a quiet revolution, but a new law in England may bring it to the...
a year ago
This has been somewhat of a quiet revolution, but a new law in England may bring it to the foreground. The Precision Breeding Act will now allow gene-edited plants to be developed and marketed in England (not Northern Ireland, Wales, or Scotland). The innovation is that the law...
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
Blog - Practical...
Which Is Easier To Pull? (Railcars vs. Road Cars)
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Imagine the room you’re in...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Imagine the room you’re in right now was filled to the top with gravel. (I promise I’m headed somewhere with this.) I don’t know the size of the room you’re in, but if it’s anywhere near an average-sized...
NeuroLogica Blog
Factory Farming is Better Than Organic Farming
Some narratives are simply ubiquitous in our culture (every culture has its universal narratives)....
5 days ago
Some narratives are simply ubiquitous in our culture (every culture has its universal narratives). Sometimes these narratives emerge out of shared values, like liberty and freedom. Sometimes they emerge out of foundational beliefs (the US still has a puritanical bent). And...
Asterisk
Michael Lewis’s Blind Side
In Going Infinite, the famed chronicler of American finance proves he’s more interested in myths...
10 months ago
In Going Infinite, the famed chronicler of American finance proves he’s more interested in myths than morals — or even math.
NeuroLogica Blog
Anxiety Biomarkers
Psychiatry, psychology, and all aspects of mental health are a challenging area because the clinical...
a year ago
Psychiatry, psychology, and all aspects of mental health are a challenging area because the clinical entities we are dealing with are complex and mostly subjective. Diagnoses are perhaps best understood as clinical constructs – a way of identifying and understanding a mental...
Eukaryote Writes...
Internet Harvest (2020, 1)
Internet Harvest is a selection of the most succulent links on the internet that I’ve recently...
over a year ago
Internet Harvest is a selection of the most succulent links on the internet that I’ve recently plucked from its fruitful boughs.
Math Is Still...
An Easy-Sounding Problem Yields Numbers Too Big for Our Universe
Researchers prove that navigating certain systems of vectors is among the most complex computational...
a year ago
Researchers prove that navigating certain systems of vectors is among the most complex computational problems.
The post An Easy-Sounding Problem Yields Numbers Too Big for Our Universe first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Uncharted...
GeoHistory News | Q3 2024
Longshoremen strike, Mexico – Spain conflict, how Islam propelled Europe more than Protestantism,...
2 months ago
Longshoremen strike, Mexico – Spain conflict, how Islam propelled Europe more than Protestantism, and more
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Plant Sounds
My early adulthood coincided with the New Age movement and its belief in many discredited past...
4 months ago
My early adulthood coincided with the New Age movement and its belief in many discredited past ideas, such as astrology. One New Age idea that seemed strange at the time was that talking to plants helped them to grow. What could be more New Age than a hippie chick talking to a...
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....
Wanderingspace
URANUS FROM THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE
This is not natural light, nothing is from Webb. The infrared image combines data from two filters...
a year ago
This is not natural light, nothing is from Webb. The infrared image combines data from two filters which are shown in blue and orange,. The planet displays a blue hue in the resulting representative-color image which is similar to the planet’s actual color. But in reality Uranus...
Bartosz Ciechanowski
Moon
In the vastness of empty space surrounding Earth, the Moon is our closest celestial...
5 days ago
In the vastness of empty space surrounding Earth, the Moon is our closest celestial neighbor.
Its face, periodically filled with light and devoured by darkness, has an ever-changing, but dependable presence in our skies.
In this article, we’ll learn about the Moon and its path...
Confessions of a...
Shark Bay: a pristine template for marine ecosystems worldwide
Here in Western Australia, we are lucky to be in the global centre of seagrass diversity. As such,...
over a year ago
Here in Western Australia, we are lucky to be in the global centre of seagrass diversity. As such, we have a coastline dominated by many different species of seagrasses – from large, temperate seagrasses like Posidonia australis to small, tropical species like Halodule...
wadertales
UK waders: “Into the Red”
If you ask British birdwatchers to name the eleven wader species that are causing the most...
over a year ago
If you ask British birdwatchers to name the eleven wader species that are causing the most conservation concern in the UK, they would probably not include Dunlin. Curlew may well be top of their lists, even though the most recent population estimate is 58,500 breeding pairs, but...
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...
NeuroLogica Blog
It’s Not Possible – Until Suddenly It Is
There are a couple of recent stories that remind me that perhaps the most powerful thing in the...
a year ago
There are a couple of recent stories that remind me that perhaps the most powerful thing in the world is political will. Often politicians and motivational speakers will say something along the lines of, “We can do anything, if we put our minds to it.” While this sounds like...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Common healthcare questions I get | Out-Of-Pocket
Some of your FAQs finally answered
2 weeks ago
Some of your FAQs finally answered
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
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?
NeuroLogica Blog
Titan Disaster and Risk vs Benefit
There has been a lot of discussion regarding the recent disaster of the Titan submersible. Was the...
a year ago
There has been a lot of discussion regarding the recent disaster of the Titan submersible. Was the risk justified? Who should be responsible for the safety issues? Who should be on the hook for the millions of dollars the rescue effort took? And why did this tragedy garner more...
Math Is Still...
Bats Use the Same Brain Cells to Map Physical and Social Worlds
New research in social bats raises the intriguing possibility that evolution can reprogram the...
a year ago
New research in social bats raises the intriguing possibility that evolution can reprogram the brain’s “place cells,” which are typically associated with location, to encode all kinds of environmental information.
The post Bats Use the Same Brain Cells to Map Physical...
Light from Space
Bubble Nebula and Neighborhood
The constellation of Cassiopeia is full of rich gas clouds and a myriad of different Nebulas and...
over a year ago
The constellation of Cassiopeia is full of rich gas clouds and a myriad of different Nebulas and Star Clusters.
Click or tap to enlarge/double-tap to zoom
Total exposure time: 37h 20m (134,400s)
Image resolution: 4,784 × 6,840px (1.919″/px)
Shot from my driveway near
Inverted Passion
Why time seems to pass faster as we age
1/ I’ve been mega-obsessed with this feeling. A year as a 36-year-old seems so much shorter as...
9 months ago
1/ I’ve been mega-obsessed with this feeling. A year as a 36-year-old seems so much shorter as compared to when I was a kid or even as a teen. It seems cosmically unfair – we have fewer years to live, and each year flies by faster. 2/ But, why is that happening? My tentative...
The Works in...
The entrepreneurial state
How state competition – through war – can drive institutional progress
11 months ago
How state competition – through war – can drive institutional progress
ToughSF
Nuclear Photon Rockets: Flashlights to the Stars
In this post, we will have a look at the concept of using a nuclear photon rocket for interstellar...
over a year ago
In this post, we will have a look at the concept of using a nuclear photon rocket for interstellar travel. They are an old concept that should theoretically be the ultimate form of relativistic propulsion.
However, today they are unknown or unpopular. Why might that be the...
Inverted Passion
What bootstraps intelligence?
A musing on how intelligence comes to be. The bedrock of intelligence is abstractions – the thing we...
3 months ago
A musing on how intelligence comes to be. The bedrock of intelligence is abstractions – the thing we do when we throw away a lot of information and just emphasise on a subset of it (e.g. calling that thing an apple instead of describing all its atoms and their x, y, z positions)....
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
Blog - Practical...
HEAVY CONSTRUCTION of a Sewage Pump Station - Ep 2
This is the second episode of a five-part pilot series to gauge your interest in "How It's...
a year ago
This is the second episode of a five-part pilot series to gauge your interest in "How It's Made"-esque heavy construction videos. Drop a comment or send me an email to let me know what you think! Watch on YouTube above or ad-free on Nebula here.
wadertales
Flexible nesting behaviour
In April and May, tens of thousands of Black-tailed Godwits return to Iceland, having spent the...
2 months ago
In April and May, tens of thousands of Black-tailed Godwits return to Iceland, having spent the summer in Western Europe, particularly Britain & Ireland but also France, Portugal and Spain. For early arrivals, the conditions they encounter vary markedly between years. In a cold...
Math Is Still...
New Proof Threads the Needle on a Sticky Geometry Problem
A new proof marks major progress toward solving the Kakeya conjecture, a deceptively simple question...
a year ago
A new proof marks major progress toward solving the Kakeya conjecture, a deceptively simple question that underpins a tower of conjectures.
The post New Proof Threads the Needle on a Sticky Geometry Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Blog - Practical...
4 Myths About Construction Debunked
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Construction is something you...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Construction is something you probably either love or hate, depending on your commute or profession. Obviously, as a civil engineer, it’s something I think a lot about, and over the past 6 years of reading...
Math Is Still...
Will Better Superconductors Transform the World?
Scientists are pursuing materials that can conduct electricity with perfect efficiency under ambient...
7 months ago
Scientists are pursuing materials that can conduct electricity with perfect efficiency under ambient conditions. In this episode, the physicist Siddharth Shanker Saxena tells co-host Janna Levin about what makes this hunt so difficult and consequential.
The post Will...
Blog - Practical...
How Engineers Straightened the Leaning Tower of Pisa
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Long ago, maybe upwards of 1-2...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Long ago, maybe upwards of 1-2 million years ago, a river in the central part of what’s now Italy, emptied into what’s now the Ligurian Sea. It still does, by the way, but it did back then too. As the sea rose...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Clipper Europa Mission
I wrote earlier this week about the latest successful test of Starship and the capture of the Super...
2 months ago
I wrote earlier this week about the latest successful test of Starship and the capture of the Super Heavy booster by grabbing arms of the landing tower. This was quite a feat, but it should not eclipse what was perhaps even bigger space news this week – the launch of NASAs...
Math Is Still...
The ‘Beautiful Confusion’ of the First Billion Years Comes Into View
Astronomers are reveling in the James Webb Space Telescope’s discoveries about the formative epoch...
2 months ago
Astronomers are reveling in the James Webb Space Telescope’s discoveries about the formative epoch of cosmic history.
The post The ‘Beautiful Confusion’ of the First Billion Years Comes Into View first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Interaction Magic -...
Podcast: Designed for life
A deep dive into my career and the future of experience prototyping with Tony Ryan, CEO of Design &...
over a year ago
A deep dive into my career and the future of experience prototyping with Tony Ryan, CEO of Design & Technology Association.
Math Is Still...
How Randomness Improves Algorithms
Unpredictability can help computer scientists solve otherwise intractable problems.
The...
a year ago
Unpredictability can help computer scientists solve otherwise intractable problems.
The post How Randomness Improves Algorithms first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Evidence and the Nanny State
One side benefit of our federalist system is that the US essentially has 50 experiments in...
a year ago
One side benefit of our federalist system is that the US essentially has 50 experiments in democracy. States hold a lot of power, which provides an opportunity to compare the effects of different public policies. There are lots of other variables at play, such as economics, rural...
Probably...
The Political Gender Gap is Not Growing
In a previous article, I used data from the General Social Survey (GSS) to see if there is a growing...
10 months ago
In a previous article, I used data from the General Social Survey (GSS) to see if there is a growing gender gap among young people in political alignment, party affiliation, or political attitudes. So far, the answer is no. Ryan Burge has done a similar analysis with data from...
Inverted Passion
Notes from the book “Hooked”
I re-read the book Hooked by Nir Eyal and these are my notes. 1/ The key question that the book...
11 months ago
I re-read the book Hooked by Nir Eyal and these are my notes. 1/ The key question that the book answers is: how to make habit-forming products. And its answer is a model that involves four stages: a) trigger; b) action; c) variable reward; d) investment 2/ Why should products be...
Math Is Still...
Celebrated Cryptography Algorithm Gets an Upgrade
Two researchers have improved a well-known technique for lattice basis reduction, opening up new...
a year ago
Two researchers have improved a well-known technique for lattice basis reduction, opening up new avenues for practical experiments in cryptography and mathematics.
The post Celebrated Cryptography Algorithm Gets an Upgrade first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Willem Pennings
ClockSquared Mini, a word clock wristwatch
About a year ago, I had some time to spare over the summer and decided to challenge myself with a...
over a year ago
About a year ago, I had some time to spare over the summer and decided to challenge myself with a project that I call “Clocksquared Mini”. It is Clocksquared, but in a tiny wristwatch package. This gives rise to a major challenge, as everything has to be shrunk down approximately...
Math Is Still...
He’s Gleaning the Design Rules of Life to Re-Create It
Yizhi “Patrick” Cai is coordinating a global effort to write a complete synthetic yeast genome. If...
a month ago
Yizhi “Patrick” Cai is coordinating a global effort to write a complete synthetic yeast genome. If he succeeds, the resulting cell will be the artificial life most closely related to humans to date.
The post He’s Gleaning the Design Rules of Life to Re-Create It first...
NeuroLogica Blog
Virtual Reality for Mice
Scientists have developed virtual reality goggles for mice. Why would they do this? For research....
a year ago
Scientists have developed virtual reality goggles for mice. Why would they do this? For research. The fact that it’s also adorable is just a side effect. One type of neuroscience research is to expose mice in a laboratory setting to specific tasks or stimuli while recording their...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Healthcare Ideas That Look Good But Are Bad | Out-Of-Pocket
clinical trial matching, "find a specialist", and more
8 months ago
clinical trial matching, "find a specialist", and more
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...
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....
NeuroLogica Blog
What to Make of Havana Syndrome
I have not written before about Havana Syndrome, mostly because I have not been able to come to any...
8 months ago
I have not written before about Havana Syndrome, mostly because I have not been able to come to any strong conclusions about it. In 2016 there was a cluster of strange neurological symptoms among people working at the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba. They would suddenly experience...
Melting Asphalt
Crony Beliefs
[Note: if you prefer audio, you can listen to this essay narrated by Grognor on his excellent...
over a year ago
[Note: if you prefer audio, you can listen to this essay narrated by Grognor on his excellent podcast Second Enumerations. —Ed.] Credits up front: This essay draws heavily from Overcoming Bias, Less Wrong, Slate Star Codex, Robert Kurzban, Robert…
Read more ›
Math Is Still...
Why the Brain’s Connections to the Body Are Crisscrossed
In all bilaterally symmetrical animals, from humans down to simple worms, nerves cross from one side...
a year ago
In all bilaterally symmetrical animals, from humans down to simple worms, nerves cross from one side of the body to the opposite side of the brain. Geometry may explain why.
The post Why the Brain’s Connections to the Body Are Crisscrossed first appeared on Quanta...
NeuroLogica Blog
Controlling the Narrative with AI
There is an ongoing battle in our society to control the narrative, to influence the flow of...
10 months ago
There is an ongoing battle in our society to control the narrative, to influence the flow of information, and thereby move the needle on what people think and how they behave. This is nothing new, but the mechanisms for controlling the narrative are evolving as our communication...
nanoscale views
Annual Nobel speculation thread
Not that prizes are the be-all and end-all, but this has become an annual tradition. Who are your...
2 months ago
Not that prizes are the be-all and end-all, but this has become an annual tradition. Who are your speculative laureates this year for physics and chemistry? As I did last year and for several years before, I will put forward my usual thought that the physics prize could...
IEEE Spectrum
The Lisa Was Apple’s Best Failure
Happy 40th Birthday to Lisa! The Apple Lisa computer, that is. In celebration of this milestone, the...
a year ago
Happy 40th Birthday to Lisa! The Apple Lisa computer, that is. In celebration of this milestone, the Computer History Museum has received permission from Apple to release the source code to the Lisa, including its system and applications software.
You can access the Lisa source...
Beautiful Public...
Highway Photologs
Highway departments all around the country had "photolog" programs, some dating back as early as...
over a year ago
Highway departments all around the country had "photolog" programs, some dating back as early as 1961. Each year, specially tricked out vans would drive each mile of state road snapping photos to document the status of roadways.
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,...
NeuroLogica Blog
Hunger Circuitry
One of the organizing principles that govern living organisms is homeostasis. This is a key feature...
a year ago
One of the organizing principles that govern living organisms is homeostasis. This is a key feature of being alive – maintaining homeostatic equilibrium both internally and externally. Homeostatic systems usually involve multiple feedback loops that maintain some physiological...
NeuroLogica Blog
Weaponized Pedantry and Reverse Gish Gallop
Have you ever been in a discussion where the person with whom you disagree dismisses your position...
10 months ago
Have you ever been in a discussion where the person with whom you disagree dismisses your position because you got some tiny detail wrong or didn’t know the tiny detail? This is a common debating technique. For example, opponents of gun safety regulations will often use the...
Math Is Still...
Cryptographers Solve Decades-Old Privacy Problem
Three researchers have found a long-sought way to pull information from large databases secretly,...
a year ago
Three researchers have found a long-sought way to pull information from large databases secretly, moving us closer to fully private internet searches.
The post Cryptographers Solve Decades-Old Privacy Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Starship Explodes in Successful Launch
A common joke in the medical world is, “The operation was a success, but the patient died.” The...
a year ago
A common joke in the medical world is, “The operation was a success, but the patient died.” The irony comes from how we might define “success”. On April 20th SpaceX conducted the maiden launch of the fully assembled Starship, including a Starship rocket on top of a super heavy...
Math Is Still...
Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of Shock Therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy is highly effective in treating major depressive disorder, but no one...
9 months ago
Electroconvulsive therapy is highly effective in treating major depressive disorder, but no one knows why it works. New research suggests it may restore balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain.
The post Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of...
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.
IEEE Spectrum
False Starts: The Story of Vehicle-to-Grid Power
In 2001, a team of engineers at a then-obscure R&D company called AC Propulsion quietly began a...
a year ago
In 2001, a team of engineers at a then-obscure R&D company called AC Propulsion quietly began a groundbreaking experiment. They wanted to see whether an electric vehicle could feed electricity back to the grid. The experiment seemed to prove the feasibility of the technology. The...
Math Is Still...
Mathematicians Marvel at ‘Crazy’ Cuts Through Four Dimensions
Topologists prove two new results that bring some order to the confoundingly difficult study of...
8 months ago
Topologists prove two new results that bring some order to the confoundingly difficult study of four-dimensional shapes.
The post Mathematicians Marvel at ‘Crazy’ Cuts Through Four Dimensions first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Andrew Fraknoi –...
My Free Introductory Astronomy Textbook Hits a Milestone
This time I am posting something a bit personal. I am the lead author of a free book that is part of...
7 months ago
This time I am posting something a bit personal. I am the lead author of a free book that is part of a nonprofit experiment to help students with the costs of college. Here is the news from our publisher: OpenStax, the open textbook publisher based at Rice University, is pleased...
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?
Sean Carroll
Thanksgiving
This year we give thanks for a feature of nature that is frequently misunderstood: quanta. (We’ve...
a year ago
This year we give thanks for a feature of nature that is frequently misunderstood: quanta. (We’ve previously given thanks for the Standard Model Lagrangian, Hubble’s Law, the Spin-Statistics Theorem, conservation of momentum, effective field theory, the error bar, gauge...
Math Is Still...
Primitive Asgard Cells Show Life on the Brink of Complexity
As researchers race to cultivate more of the intriguing cells from the deep seafloor, the few cells...
a year ago
As researchers race to cultivate more of the intriguing cells from the deep seafloor, the few cells now growing in labs are giving us our best glimpses of the forerunners of all complex life.
The post Primitive Asgard Cells Show Life on the Brink of Complexity first...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Random Uncontrolled Trials/Tweets | Out-Of-Pocket
I need to deactivate my Twitter smh
a year ago
I need to deactivate my Twitter smh
NeuroLogica Blog
Finding Common Ground on Democracy
How is American democracy doing, and what can we do to improve it, if necessary? This is clearly a...
a year ago
How is American democracy doing, and what can we do to improve it, if necessary? This is clearly a question of political science, and I am not a political scientist, and this is not a political blog. But there are some basic principles of critical thinking that might apply, and...
Asterisk
Pew Problems
A conversation about religion, fertility, and the American family.
a year ago
A conversation about religion, fertility, and the American family.
Math Is Still...
A Tower of Conjectures That Rests Upon a Needle
On its surface, the Kakeya conjecture is a simple statement about rotating needles. But it underlies...
a year ago
On its surface, the Kakeya conjecture is a simple statement about rotating needles. But it underlies a wealth of mathematics.
The post A Tower of Conjectures That Rests Upon a Needle first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Roots of...
If you wish to make an apple pie, you must first become dictator of the universe
The word “robot” is derived from the Czech robota, which means “serfdom.” It was introduced over a...
a year ago
The word “robot” is derived from the Czech robota, which means “serfdom.” It was introduced over a century ago by the Czech play R.U.R., for “Rossum’s Universal Robots.” In the play, the smartest and best-educated of the robots leads a slave revolt that wipes out most of...
Wanderingspace
Ganymede from Juno
Some incredibly sharp images from the Juno mission of Ganymede. The first new views of this...
over a year ago
Some incredibly sharp images from the Juno mission of Ganymede. The first new views of this beautiful moon since Galileo. See more from kevinmgill on flickr. Also see the thread building up to these full composites in unmannedspaceflight.com.
Explorations of an...
The Terror Bird's Relative
January 21, 2023
Laura and I left Salta before dawn so that we could be at our first birding...
a year ago
January 21, 2023
Laura and I left Salta before dawn so that we could be at our first birding location nice and early. The forecasted weather would be few degrees warmer than normal summer temperatures, and we wanted to make the most of our morning.
Our goal for the day was to...
Chris Grossack's...
Talk -- 2-Categorical Descent and (Essentially) Algebraic Theories
A few weeks ago I gave a talk at the CT Octoberfest 2023 about some
work I did over the summer that...
a year ago
A few weeks ago I gave a talk at the CT Octoberfest 2023 about some
work I did over the summer that I’m really proud of. Unfortunately, while
writing up the result I found a 1999 paper by Pedicchio and Wood that
proves the same theorem (with roughly the same proof), so I...
NeuroLogica Blog
Solution Aversion Fallacy
I like to think deeply about informal logical fallacies. I write about them a lot, and even have an...
a year ago
I like to think deeply about informal logical fallacies. I write about them a lot, and even have an occasional segment of the SGU dedicated to them. They are a great way to crystalize our thinking about the many ways in which logic can go wrong. Formal logic deals with arguments...
IEEE Spectrum
Xerox Donates Legendary PARC Research Center
Xerox is donating its legendary research lab PARC to the nonprofit research institute SRI...
a year ago
Xerox is donating its legendary research lab PARC to the nonprofit research institute SRI International. The subsidiary’s pioneering research in the 1970s helped give birth to the era of personal computing. Xerox says the move will allow it to focus on its core business.
The...
symmetry magazine
A call to cite Black women and gender minorities
Theoretical astrophysicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein recently unveiled the Cite Black Women+ in...
a year ago
Theoretical astrophysicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein recently unveiled the Cite Black Women+ in Physics and Astronomy Bibliography.
Asterisk
PEPFAR and the Costs of Cost-Benefit Analysis
In the early aughts, economists said it was a bad use of money to send antiretroviral drugs to treat...
10 months ago
In the early aughts, economists said it was a bad use of money to send antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV in low-income countries. Twenty years later, we can ask why they got it wrong.
NeuroLogica Blog
Science Communication About Controversial Issues
The world of science communication has changed dramatically over the last two decades, and it’s...
3 weeks ago
The world of science communication has changed dramatically over the last two decades, and it’s useful to think about those changes, both for people who generate and consume science communication. The big change, of course, is social media, which has disrupted journalism and...
Explorations of an...
Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 5: Portal Back To Phoenix
September 4, 2024
Our day began with coffee and breakfast on the deck, watching the bird feeders hum...
2 months ago
September 4, 2024
Our day began with coffee and breakfast on the deck, watching the bird feeders hum with activity. It was, sadly, our final morning in this region and we packed up and headed out. It would have been nice to have an extra night or two here, though you could say...
Blog - Practical...
The Wild Story of the Taum Sauk Dam Failure
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Early in the morning of...
2 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Early in the morning of December 14, 2005, pumps were nearly finished filling the upper reservoir at the Taum Sauk power station, marking the end of the daily cycle. Water rose to the top of the rockfill...
Blog - Practical...
Why Is Desalination So Difficult?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Carlsbad...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Carlsbad Desalination Plant outside of San Diego, California. It produces roughly ten percent of the area’s fresh water, around 50 million gallons or 23,000 cubic meters per day. Unlike most...
The Works in...
Special Issue 01: Lost in Stagnation
Dude, where is my flying car?
over a year ago
Dude, where is my flying car?
nanoscale views
APS March Meeting 2024 - coming soon
This week I'm going to be at the APS March Meeting in Minneapolis. As I've done in past years, I...
9 months ago
This week I'm going to be at the APS March Meeting in Minneapolis. As I've done in past years, I will try to write up some highlights of talks that I am able to see, though it may be hit-or-miss. If readers have suggestions for sessions or talks that they think will be...
nanoscale views
Molecular electronics in 2023
This past week I was fortunate to attend this meeting, the most recent in an every-few-years series...
a year ago
This past week I was fortunate to attend this meeting, the most recent in an every-few-years series that brings together a group of researchers interested in electronic transport in molecular systems. This brings together physicists and chemists, and this was the first one I've...
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...
Math Is Still...
Will AI Ever Have Common Sense?
Common sense has been viewed as one of the hardest challenges in AI. That said, ChatGPT4 has...
5 months ago
Common sense has been viewed as one of the hardest challenges in AI. That said, ChatGPT4 has acquired what some believe is an impressive sense of humanity. How is this possible? Listen to this week’s “The Joy of Why” with co-host Steven Strogatz.
The post Will AI Ever...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Should Social Determinants Come From Payers and Providers? | Out-Of-Pocket
I've got some questions
a year ago
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
Beautiful Public...
Special Database 18: 3,248 Mugshots Used for Training Image Recognition Systems
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has maintained a dataset of mugshot photos...
a year ago
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has maintained a dataset of mugshot photos of 1,573 people for decades, including 175 minors, until we asked about them.
nanoscale views
Brief items
A few tidbits that I encountered recently:
The saga of Ranga Dias at Rochester draws to a close,...
4 weeks ago
A few tidbits that I encountered recently:
The saga of Ranga Dias at Rochester draws to a close, as described by the Wall Street Journal. It took quite some time for this to propagate through their system. This is after multiple internal investigations that somehow were...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Start your healthcare company outside of the US | Out-Of-Pocket
Gotta start somewhere...else?
10 months ago
Gotta start somewhere...else?
symmetry magazine
Physics fashion and collider couture
Symmetry is back with more physics-themed Halloween costumes.
a year ago
Symmetry is back with more physics-themed Halloween costumes.
The Roots of...
Video: Intro to progress studies at Learning Night Boston
I got invited to speak at Learning Night Boston and give an intro to progress studies: why study...
a year ago
I got invited to speak at Learning Night Boston and give an intro to progress studies: why study progress, and why do we need a new philosophy of progress? There are then a few minutes of Q&A. (It was in a bar and the audio quality is poor, sorry.)
Asterisk
A Chinese Internet Phrasebook
The latest slang on Weibo reveals a world of cynicism, ennui — and concrete pasta.
a month ago
The latest slang on Weibo reveals a world of cynicism, ennui — and concrete pasta.
Math Is Still...
A New Experiment Casts Doubt on the Leading Theory of the Nucleus
By measuring inflated helium nuclei, physicists have challenged our best understanding of the force...
a year ago
By measuring inflated helium nuclei, physicists have challenged our best understanding of the force that binds protons and neutrons.
The post A New Experiment Casts Doubt on the Leading Theory of the Nucleus first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wanderingspace
Colorized View of Perseverance Landing
An artificially colorized view of Jezero Crater, showing the bird’s eye view of Perseverance...
over a year ago
An artificially colorized view of Jezero Crater, showing the bird’s eye view of Perseverance screaming towards Mars’s surface. The above image was enhanced by Kevin Gill into full color, taking images captured by Perseverance’s Lander Vision System Camera just after the heat...
Eukaryote Writes...
Carl Sagan, nuking the moon, and not nuking the moon
Most of us go about our lives comforted by the thought “I would never drop a nuclear weapon on the...
8 months ago
Most of us go about our lives comforted by the thought “I would never drop a nuclear weapon on the moon.” The truth is that given a lot of power, a nuclear weapon, and a lot of extremely specific circumstances, we too might find ourselves thinking “I should nuke the moon.”
Probably...
Extremes, outliers, and GOATS
The video from my PyData Global 2023 talk, Extremes, outliers, and GOATS, is available now: The...
10 months ago
The video from my PyData Global 2023 talk, Extremes, outliers, and GOATS, is available now: The slides are here. There are two Jupyter notebooks that contain the analysis I presented: Here’s the abstract: The fastest runners are much faster than we expect from a Gaussian...
Math Is Still...
Do We Need a New Theory of Gravity?
Since Newton had his initial revelation about gravity, our understanding of this fundamental concept...
3 months ago
Since Newton had his initial revelation about gravity, our understanding of this fundamental concept has evolved in unexpected ways. In this week’s episode, theoretical physicist Claudia de Rham and co-host Janna Levin discuss the ways our current understanding of gravity needs...
Damn Interesting
Lofty Ambitions
One summer day in 1933, in a brief pocket of time between the two World Wars, a British man named...
over a year ago
One summer day in 1933, in a brief pocket of time between the two World Wars, a British man named Maurice Wilson clutched the stick of his tiny, open air biplane and watched his fuel gauge dwindle. He had only learned to fly two months earlier, but inexperience was not his...
Wanderingspace
Webb’s Jupiter
So this is “false color” becuase it is infrared (like all Webb images) and made from only two...
over a year ago
So this is “false color” becuase it is infrared (like all Webb images) and made from only two filters orange and cyan. However, the detail is incredible. That dot is tiny Amalthea at the left and— yes… that is Jupiter’s elusive ring. According to researcher Thierry Fouchet, “This...
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
Problems with the Institute Of Noetic Sciences
I was interviewed recently for a Daily Beast article on recent research involving the Institute of...
a year ago
I was interviewed recently for a Daily Beast article on recent research involving the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). Overall the article is very good, and author Maddie Bender was fair and reasonable in how I was quoted. I can’t always take that as a given. No matter how...
NeuroLogica Blog
Collapsars and Gravitational Waves
The state of modern science and technology is truly amazing, much more so than the fake stuff that...
4 months ago
The state of modern science and technology is truly amazing, much more so than the fake stuff that people like to spread around. Gravitational waves have opened up an entirely new type of astronomy, a way to explore the universe through very subtle ripples in spacetime produce by...
Probably...
The Center Moves Faster Than You
In May 2022, Elon Musk tweeted this cartoon: The creator of the cartoon, Colin Wright, explained it...
11 months ago
In May 2022, Elon Musk tweeted this cartoon: The creator of the cartoon, Colin Wright, explained it like this: At the outset, I stand happily beside ‘my fellow liberal,’ who is slightly to my left. In 2012 he sprints to the left, dragging out the left end of the political...
The Works in...
The duplication crisis: the other replication crisis
How bad publishing incentives hinder long-term thinking in computational biology research
3 months ago
How bad publishing incentives hinder long-term thinking in computational biology research
Interaction Magic -...
3 tips for co-designing with kids
Designing future sports products with a group of 11 year olds.
a year ago
Designing future sports products with a group of 11 year olds.
IEEE Spectrum
100 Years Ago, IBM Was Born
Happy birthday, IBM! You’re 100 years old! Or are you?
It’s true that the businesses that formed IBM...
10 months ago
Happy birthday, IBM! You’re 100 years old! Or are you?
It’s true that the businesses that formed IBM began in the late 1800s. But it’s also true that a birth occurred in February 1924, with the renaming of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. as the International Business...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
SWORD Health And Virtual Musculoskeletal Care | Out-Of-Pocket
A first person account
a year ago
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...
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...
Blog - Practical...
HEAVY CONSTRUCTION of a Sewage Pump Station - Ep 5
This is the fifth and final episode of a five-part pilot series to gauge your interest in "How It's...
a year ago
This is the fifth and final episode of a five-part pilot series to gauge your interest in "How It's Made"-esque heavy construction videos. Drop a comment or send me an email to let me know what you think! Watch on YouTube above or ad-free on Nebula here.
IEEE Spectrum
The Man Who Coined The Word "Robot" Defends Himself
You’re familiar with Karel Čapek, right? If not, you should be—he’s the guy who (along with his...
11 months ago
You’re familiar with Karel Čapek, right? If not, you should be—he’s the guy who (along with his brother Josef) invented the word “robot.” Čapek introduced robots to the world in 1921, when his play “R.U.R.” (subtitled “Rossum’s Universal Robots”) was first performed in Prague. It...
Math Is Still...
Hyperjumps Math Game
Play Quanta Magazine’s daily interactive math game, Hyperjumps!
The post Hyperjumps Math...
10 months ago
Play Quanta Magazine’s daily interactive math game, Hyperjumps!
The post Hyperjumps Math Game first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Probably...
Comparing Distributions
This is the second is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from...
a month ago
This is the second is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. It’s from Chapter 8, which is about representing distribution using PMFs and CDFs. This section explains why I think CDFs are often better for plotting...
Cremieux Recueil
Food Deserts Are Not Real
They're more like bad habit neighborhoods
3 months ago
They're more like bad habit neighborhoods
nanoscale views
Experimental techniques: bridge measurements
When we teach undergraduates about materials and measuring electrical resistance, we tend to gloss...
4 months ago
When we teach undergraduates about materials and measuring electrical resistance, we tend to gloss over the fact that there are specialized techniques for this - it's more than just hooking up a battery and an ammeter. If you want to get high precision results, such as measuring...
Math Is Still...
The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes
Making ice requires more than subzero temperatures. The unpredictable process takes microscopic...
6 months ago
Making ice requires more than subzero temperatures. The unpredictable process takes microscopic scaffolding, random jiggling and often a little bit of bacteria.
The post The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Cells Across the Tree of Life Exchange ‘Text Messages’ Using RNA
Cells across the tree of life can swap short-lived messages encoded by RNA — missives that resemble...
3 months ago
Cells across the tree of life can swap short-lived messages encoded by RNA — missives that resemble a quick text rather than a formal memo on letterhead.
The post Cells Across the Tree of Life Exchange ‘Text Messages’ Using RNA 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...
Beautiful Public...
The GOES-16 Weather Satellite
Satellites used to observe weather are so ubiquitous it is easy to take them for granted. GOES-16 is...
over a year ago
Satellites used to observe weather are so ubiquitous it is easy to take them for granted. GOES-16 is worthy of your attention.
NeuroLogica Blog
UFOs and SGU on John Oliver
The most recent episode of John Oliver, Last Week Tonight, featured a discussion of the UFO...
8 months ago
The most recent episode of John Oliver, Last Week Tonight, featured a discussion of the UFO phenomenon. I’m always interested, and often disappointed, in how the mainstream media portrays skeptical topics. One interesting addition here is that Oliver actually referenced an SGU...
Math Is Still...
What Makes for ‘Good’ Mathematics?
Terence Tao, who has been called the “Mozart of Mathematics,” wrote an essay in 2007 about the...
10 months ago
Terence Tao, who has been called the “Mozart of Mathematics,” wrote an essay in 2007 about the common ingredients in “good” mathematical research. In this episode, the Fields Medalist joins Steven Strogatz to revisit the topic.
The post What Makes for ‘Good’...
NeuroLogica Blog
Flooding is Increasing
Last month my flight home from Chicago was canceled because of an intense rainstorm. In CT the storm...
3 months ago
Last month my flight home from Chicago was canceled because of an intense rainstorm. In CT the storm was intense enough to cause flash flooding, which washed out roads and bridges and shut down traffic in many areas. The epicenter of the rainfall was in Oxford, CT (where my...
NeuroLogica Blog
Evidence of Ancient Solar Flares
From time to time the Earth gets hit by a wave of energetic particles from the sun – solar flares or...
a year ago
From time to time the Earth gets hit by a wave of energetic particles from the sun – solar flares or even coronal mass ejections (CMEs). In 1859 a large CME hit Earth (known as the Carrington Event), shorting out telegraphs, brightening the sky, and causing aurora deep into...
Math Is Still...
What Happens in the Brain to Cause Depression?
Drugs that target the neurotransmitter serotonin have long been prescribed to treat depression. Now...
7 months ago
Drugs that target the neurotransmitter serotonin have long been prescribed to treat depression. Now the spotlight is turning to other aspects of brain chemistry. In this episode, the neuropharmacologist John Krystal shares findings that are overturning our understanding of...
Math Is Still...
How This Marine Worm Can Tell Moonglow From Sunbeams
For the first time, scientists have decoded the molecular structure of a protein that helps to sync...
a year ago
For the first time, scientists have decoded the molecular structure of a protein that helps to sync a biological clock to the phases of the moon.
The post How This Marine Worm Can Tell Moonglow From Sunbeams first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
A.I., Wine, and Beer
There have been many studies using scientific instrumentation, mostly gas chromatography, in...
6 months ago
There have been many studies using scientific instrumentation, mostly gas chromatography, in attempts to find what distinguishes a superb wine from an inexpensive house wine. A typical wine can contain more than 800 different aroma compounds. One study examined two Australian...
Asterisk
Fracking Eyeballs
How an alliance between psychologists and advertisers at the turn of the 20th century taught us how...
a year ago
How an alliance between psychologists and advertisers at the turn of the 20th century taught us how to measure (and monetize) human attention.
Math Is Still...
Tiny Tweaks to Neurons Can Rewire Animal Motion
Altering a protein in the neurons that coordinate a rattlesnake’s movement made a slow slither...
9 months ago
Altering a protein in the neurons that coordinate a rattlesnake’s movement made a slow slither neuron more like a speedy rattle neuron, showing one way evolution can generate new ways of moving.
The post Tiny Tweaks to Neurons Can Rewire Animal Motion first appeared...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Some Thoughts On Startups Overpromising | Out-Of-Pocket
the role RFPs play, how it's difficult to define patient harm, and more
9 months ago
the role RFPs play, how it's difficult to define patient harm, and more
IEEE Spectrum
When IBM Built a War Room for Executives
Computer History Museum’s collection has a biography of sorts—a life before CHM, a tale about how it...
a week ago
Computer History Museum’s collection has a biography of sorts—a life before CHM, a tale about how it came to us, and a life within the museum. The chapters of that biography include the uses made of it, and the historical and interpretive stories it can be made to tell. This then...
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...
Explorations of an...
Potrero de Yala - Dippers, Red-faced Guans And More
Laura and I were up early to make the most of our morning at Potrero de Yala. As dawn broke, we...
a year ago
Laura and I were up early to make the most of our morning at Potrero de Yala. As dawn broke, we slowly drove in along the entrance road, keeping an eye out for guans.
We found quite a few guans on and around the road but none were our hoped-for Red-faced Guans; they were all...
nanoscale views
Michio Kaku and science popularization in the Age of Shamelessness
In some ways, we live in a golden age of science popularization. There are fantastic publications...
a year ago
In some ways, we live in a golden age of science popularization. There are fantastic publications like Quanta doing tremendous work; platforms like YouTube and podcasts have made it possible for both practicing scientists and science communicators to reach enormous audiences;...
NeuroLogica Blog
A Discussion about Biological Sex
At CSICON this year I gave talk about topics over which skeptics have and continue to disagree with...
a month ago
At CSICON this year I gave talk about topics over which skeptics have and continue to disagree with each other. My core theme was that these are the topics we absolutely should be discussing with each other, especially at skeptical conferences. Nothing should be taboo or too...
NeuroLogica Blog
Hunger Circuitry
One of the organizing principles that govern living organisms is homeostasis. This is a key feature...
a year ago
One of the organizing principles that govern living organisms is homeostasis. This is a key feature of being alive – maintaining homeostatic equilibrium both internally and externally. Homeostatic systems usually involve multiple feedback loops that maintain some physiological...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 7: The Marvelous Spatuletail (February 9, 2024)
There are several bird species that are near the top of the wish-list for any birdwatcher visiting...
7 months ago
There are several bird species that are near the top of the wish-list for any birdwatcher visiting Peru for the first time. The enigmatic Long-whiskered Owlet is one, as it is a recently described species of owl that is only known from the stunted cloud forests in a very small...
Drew Ex Machina
First Pictures: Views of Mars from NASA’s Mars Observer – July 27, 1993
Having enthusiastically followed NASA’s Viking mission to Mars as a teenager during the late-1970s,...
a year ago
Having enthusiastically followed NASA’s Viking mission to Mars as a teenager during the late-1970s, the lack of any new NASA missions to Mars during the 1980s […]
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,...
Drew Ex Machina
Pioneer 3: JPL’s First Moonshot Attempt
With the new push by the United States and other space faring powers to renew the exploration of the...
over a year ago
With the new push by the United States and other space faring powers to renew the exploration of the Moon, miniaturized spacecraft have been made part […]
Math Is Still...
Evolution: Fast or Slow? Lizards Help Resolve a Paradox.
Why does natural selection appear to happen slowly on long timescales and quickly on short ones? A...
11 months ago
Why does natural selection appear to happen slowly on long timescales and quickly on short ones? A multigenerational study of four lizard species addresses biology’s “paradox of stasis.”
The post Evolution: Fast or Slow? Lizards Help Resolve a Paradox. first appeared...
Math Is Still...
Big Advance on Simple-Sounding Math Problem Was a Century in the Making
A new proof about prime numbers illuminates the subtle relationship between addition and...
2 months ago
A new proof about prime numbers illuminates the subtle relationship between addition and multiplication — and raises hopes for progress on the famous abc conjecture.
The post Big Advance on Simple-Sounding Math Problem Was a Century in the Making first appeared on...
Math Is Still...
How a Human Smell Receptor Works Is Finally Revealed
After decades of frustration, researchers have finally determined how an airborne scent molecule...
a year ago
After decades of frustration, researchers have finally determined how an airborne scent molecule links to a human smell receptor.
The post How a Human Smell Receptor Works Is Finally Revealed first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
‘The Rest of the World Disappears’: Claire Voisin on Mathematical Creativity
The recipient of the 2024 Crafoord Prize in Mathematics discusses math as art, math as language, and...
9 months ago
The recipient of the 2024 Crafoord Prize in Mathematics discusses math as art, math as language, and math as abstract thought.
The post ‘The Rest of the World Disappears’: Claire Voisin on Mathematical Creativity first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
The Usefulness of a Memory Guides Where the Brain Saves It
New research finds that the memories useful for future generalizations are held in the brain...
a year ago
New research finds that the memories useful for future generalizations are held in the brain separately from those recording unusual events.
The post The Usefulness of a Memory Guides Where the Brain Saves It first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Links in Progress: All the single people
And how China will lose 51 million people in 10 years
5 days ago
And how China will lose 51 million people in 10 years
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...
Asterisk
Culture Studies
Montessori classrooms don’t have much in common with the Jesuit colleges of early modern Europe. But...
5 months ago
Montessori classrooms don’t have much in common with the Jesuit colleges of early modern Europe. But students in both settings learn more than a core curriculum — instead they’re taught a distinctive culture. And then they pass it on.
wadertales
Will head-starting work for Curlew?
83 captive-reared Curlew were released successfully in 2019, over 130 in 2021 and a similar number...
over a year ago
83 captive-reared Curlew were released successfully in 2019, over 130 in 2021 and a similar number in 2022 but this does not mean that head-starting is a solution to England’s Curlew problems. We don’t yet know the proportion of youngsters that survive the difficult ‘teenage...
Math Is Still...
Physicists Create Elusive Particles That Remember Their Pasts
In two landmark experiments, researchers used quantum processors to engineer exotic particles that...
a year ago
In two landmark experiments, researchers used quantum processors to engineer exotic particles that have captivated physicists for decades. The work is a step toward crash-proof quantum computers.
The post Physicists Create Elusive Particles That Remember Their Pasts...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Yet Another Teladongo Take | Out-Of-Pocket
You haven't read enough of them
a year ago
You haven't read enough of them
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
NeuroLogica Blog
Everything Will Evaporate
What will be the ultimate fate of our universe? There are a number of theories and possibilities,...
a year ago
What will be the ultimate fate of our universe? There are a number of theories and possibilities, but at present the most likely scenario seems to be that the universe will continue to expand, most mass will eventually find its way into a black hole, and those black holes will...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Euclid Space Telescope Delivers Great Images
The first images are coming in from the new Euclid Space Telescope and they are spectacular.
The...
a year ago
The first images are coming in from the new Euclid Space Telescope and they are spectacular.
The post Euclid Space Telescope Delivers Great Images appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
Bartosz Ciechanowski
Airfoil
The dream of soaring in the sky like a bird has captivated the human mind for ages. Although many...
9 months ago
The dream of soaring in the sky like a bird has captivated the human mind for ages. Although many failed, some eventually succeeded in achieving that goal. These days we take air transportation for granted, but the physics of flight can still be puzzling.
In this article we’ll...
NeuroLogica Blog
Energy Demand Increasing
For the last two decades electricity demand in the US has been fairly flat. While it has been...
9 months ago
For the last two decades electricity demand in the US has been fairly flat. While it has been increasing overall, the increase has been very low. This has been largely attributed to the fact that as the use of electrical devices has increased, the efficiency of those devices has...
Math Is Still...
‘A-Team’ of Math Proves a Critical Link Between Addition and Sets
A team of four prominent mathematicians, including two Fields medalists, proved a conjecture...
a year ago
A team of four prominent mathematicians, including two Fields medalists, proved a conjecture described as a “holy grail of additive combinatorics.”
The post ‘A-Team’ of Math Proves a Critical Link Between Addition and Sets first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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?
nanoscale views
Neutrality and experimental detective work
One of the remarkable aspects of condensed matter physics is the idea of emergent quasiparticles,...
a year ago
One of the remarkable aspects of condensed matter physics is the idea of emergent quasiparticles, where through the interactions of many underlying degrees of freedom, new excitations emerge that are long-lived and often can propagate around in ways very different than their...
The Works in...
Issue 16: I dream of genes
Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and...
3 months ago
Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and how America's favourite type of coffee got really, really good.
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.
Probably...
Which Standard Deviation?
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
6 months ago
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous installments are available from the Data Q&A landing page. standard_dev Which Standard Deviation¶ Here’s a question from the Reddit statistics forum. When do we use N and when N-1 for...
brr
South Pole Water Infrastructure
Fresh water from snow, at 70 below!
6 months ago
Fresh water from snow, at 70 below!
Math Is Still...
Overexposure Distorted the Science of Mirror Neurons
After a decade out of the spotlight, the brain cells once alleged to explain empathy, autism and...
8 months ago
After a decade out of the spotlight, the brain cells once alleged to explain empathy, autism and theory of mind are being refined and redefined.
The post Overexposure Distorted the Science of Mirror Neurons first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Should Tech Companies Be Liable for Content
The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is hearing a case that will have profound effects on social media – is...
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...
Blog - Practical...
What Is A Black Start Of The Power Grid?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
November 1965 saw one of the...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
November 1965 saw one of the most widespread power outages in North American history. On the freezing cold evening of the 9th, the grid was operating at maximum capacity as people tried to stay warm when a...
Confessions of a...
Impacts of climate change on marine communities, seagrass dieback, and a trip to the Abrolhos...
You may have noticed a lack of posts over the last few weeks. No holiday for me though, here’s a...
over a year ago
You may have noticed a lack of posts over the last few weeks. No holiday for me though, here’s a quick taste of some of the other stuff I’ve been up to! Impact of climate change on marine coastal ecosystems – A masterclass with Nuria Marbá I was lucky enough to be invited along...
Uncharted...
The Players of the Syrian Chessboard
What will Israel, Russia, Turkey, the Kurds, Europe, and Lebanon do?
a week ago
What will Israel, Russia, Turkey, the Kurds, Europe, and Lebanon do?
Quantum Frontiers
Mo’ heights mo’ challenges – Climbing mount grad school
My wife’s love of mountain hiking and my interest in quantum thermodynamics collided in Telluride,...
over a year ago
My wife’s love of mountain hiking and my interest in quantum thermodynamics collided in Telluride, Colorado. We spent ten days in Telluride, where I spoke at the Information Engines at the Frontiers of Nanoscale Thermodynamics workshop. Telluride is a gorgeous … Continue reading...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
“There Are Too Many Entrenched Interests” | Out-Of-Pocket
The Six Stages Of Health Tech Grief Part 3
a year ago
The Six Stages Of Health Tech Grief Part 3
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...
Math Is Still...
The Cosmos Teems with Complex Organic Molecules
Wherever astronomers look, they see life’s raw materials.
The post The Cosmos Teems with...
a month ago
Wherever astronomers look, they see life’s raw materials.
The post The Cosmos Teems with Complex Organic Molecules first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Betavoltaic Batteries
In 1964 Isaac Asimov, asked to imagine the world 50 years in the future, wrote: “The appliances of...
11 months ago
In 1964 Isaac Asimov, asked to imagine the world 50 years in the future, wrote: “The appliances of 2014 will have no electric cords, of course, for they will be powered by long- lived batteries running on radioisotopes. The isotopes will not be expensive for they will be by-...
Confessions of a...
A first step into the unknown world of academia…….
At the beginning of this blog I did promise to include some writings that would at least be...
over a year ago
At the beginning of this blog I did promise to include some writings that would at least be semi-useful (hopefully!) to future students hoping to move into a career in marine science; so here it goes! From today I am beginning a year long Postgraduate Teaching Internship at UWA....
NeuroLogica Blog
Evidence and the Nanny State Part II
In Part I of this post I outlined some basic considerations in deciding how much the state should...
a year ago
In Part I of this post I outlined some basic considerations in deciding how much the state should impose regulations on people and institutions in order to engineer positive outcomes. In the end the best approach, it seems to me, is a balanced one, where we consider the burden of...
Confessions of a...
My Teaching Philosophy
As mentioned previously, I need to complete a teaching portfolio over my year as a lecturing intern...
over a year ago
As mentioned previously, I need to complete a teaching portfolio over my year as a lecturing intern as part of the PTIS scheme. Central to this portfolio is a personal teaching philosophy, detailing why teaching is important to me, what my objectives are as a teacher, what...
Eukaryote Writes...
Recommendation: reports on the search for missing hiker Bill Ewasko
How to find someone who has died in the wilderness.
4 months ago
How to find someone who has died in the wilderness.
IEEE Spectrum
Smellovision Gets a Refresh
This article is part of our exclusive IEEE Journal Watch series in partnership with IEEE...
a year ago
This article is part of our exclusive IEEE Journal Watch series in partnership with IEEE Xplore.
Modern virtual reality is a feast for the eyes and ears—but coming in a distant fourth (behind haptic touch technologies), smell has been nearly completely ignored.
Earlier this...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 10: The Owlet Lodge (February 11 and 12, 2024)
February 11, 2024
Laura and I were looking forward to our one-night visit to the Owlet Lodge. Up to...
5 months ago
February 11, 2024
Laura and I were looking forward to our one-night visit to the Owlet Lodge. Up to this point we had only stayed at cheap hotels, while we had also eaten simply, with at least two meals each day consisting of sandwiches/snacks that we prepared. For once, someone...
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...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Cool Ideas For Dentistry + Medicine With Nisarg Patel | Out-Of-Pocket
plus what actually happens in the operating room?
a year ago
plus what actually happens in the operating room?
Math Is Still...
In the Gut’s ‘Second Brain,’ Key Agents of Health Emerge
Sitting alongside the neurons in your enteric nervous system are underappreciated glial cells, which...
a year ago
Sitting alongside the neurons in your enteric nervous system are underappreciated glial cells, which play key roles in digestion and disease that scientists are only just starting to understand.
The post In the Gut’s ‘Second Brain,’ Key Agents of Health Emerge first...
NeuroLogica Blog
Categorization and What’s In a Name
Categorization is critical in science, but it is also very tricky, often deceptively so. We need to...
11 months ago
Categorization is critical in science, but it is also very tricky, often deceptively so. We need to categorize things to help us organize our knowledge, to understand how things work and relate to each other, and to communicate efficiently and precisely. But categorization can...
Math Is Still...
The Surprisingly Simple Math Behind Puzzling Matchups
If Anna beats Benji in a game and Benji beats Carl, will Anna beat Carl?
The post The...
11 months ago
If Anna beats Benji in a game and Benji beats Carl, will Anna beat Carl?
The post The Surprisingly Simple Math Behind Puzzling Matchups first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
Fakes: Not an Internet Thing, a Human Thing
Every day, as the Internet becomes more indispensable to modern life, the drawbacks of deep...
a year ago
Every day, as the Internet becomes more indispensable to modern life, the drawbacks of deep engagement with the virtual realm capture as much attention as the wide-ranging benefits. On the Internet, of course, anyone can in all too many forums pretty much say anything—regardless...
Chris Grossack's...
A truly incredible fact about the number 37
So I was on math stackexchange the other day, and I saw a cute post
looking for a book which lists,...
a year ago
So I was on math stackexchange the other day, and I saw a cute post
looking for a book which lists, for many many integers, facts that Ramanujan
could have told Hardy if he’d taken a cab other than 1729. A few days ago
OP answered their own question, saying that the book in...
ToughSF
NTER: Nuclear Thermal-Electric Rocket
There
is a type of nuclear propulsion that can have most of the acceleration of a nuclear thermal...
over a year ago
There
is a type of nuclear propulsion that can have most of the acceleration of a nuclear thermal rocket but also the high Isp of an electric thruster.
Let’s have a look at nuclear ‘thermal-electric’ engines and
their advantages.
The title image is from 'dV: Rings of...
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
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...
How Pools of Genetic Diversity Affect a Species’ Fate
A new, deeper understanding of how the breeding structure of species affects their genetic diversity...
a year ago
A new, deeper understanding of how the breeding structure of species affects their genetic diversity is giving conservationists better tools for saving animals.
The post How Pools of Genetic Diversity Affect a Species’ Fate first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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...
symmetry magazine
Applications of quantum mechanics at the beach
How does sunscreen work on the atomic level?
a year ago
How does sunscreen work on the atomic level?
Beautiful Public...
Mapping Volcano Eruptions With Drones
Drones have become an essential tool to map, measure and observe the extremely dangerous...
a year ago
Drones have become an essential tool to map, measure and observe the extremely dangerous environments surrounding volcanic eruptions.
symmetry magazine
SAGE Journey program ignites interest in STEM
Three SAGE alumni talk about their experiences with a program meant to broaden gender diversity in...
a year ago
Three SAGE alumni talk about their experiences with a program meant to broaden gender diversity in STEM.
Drew Ex Machina
Star Way of Humanity: American Space Art
During the COVID-19 shutdown three years ago, I spent a lot of my time at home digging through my...
a year ago
During the COVID-19 shutdown three years ago, I spent a lot of my time at home digging through my archives discovering all sorts of items I […]
Blog - Practical...
What Really Happened at the New Harbor Bridge Project?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In July of 2022, the Texas...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In July of 2022, the Texas Department of Transportation issued an emergency suspension of work on the half-finished Harbor Bridge project in Corpus Christi, citing serious design flaws that could cause the main...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Secret Research Techniques | Out-Of-Pocket
A magician always reveals his tricks for the purposes of engagement
a year ago
A magician always reveals his tricks for the purposes of engagement
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Diophantine Equations
Piebald is an unusual word that appears in the Archimedes' cattle problem, a Diophantine problem...
4 months ago
Piebald is an unusual word that appears in the Archimedes' cattle problem, a Diophantine problem supposedly communicated by Archimedes to his friend, Eratosthenes. It's a Diophantine equation system of seven equations in eight unknowns, but it can be solved with the requirement...
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...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
What does longevity medicine actually mean? | Out-Of-Pocket
An interview with a practicing longevity medicine doctor
a month ago
An interview with a practicing longevity medicine doctor
NeuroLogica Blog
Is AI Sentient Revisited
On the SGU this week we interviewed Blake Lemoine, the ex-Google employee who believes that Google’s...
a year ago
On the SGU this week we interviewed Blake Lemoine, the ex-Google employee who believes that Google’s LaMDA may be sentient, based on his interactions with it. This was a fascinating discussion, and even though I think we did a pretty deep dive in the time we had, it also felt...
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