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The Works in...
Why we stopped building subways cheaply We used to dig up roads to put trains underneath
a month ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Running Tests on Generative AI with Autoblocks | Out-Of-Pocket How can we keep these bots in check??
3 months ago
Asterisk
Debugging Tech Journalism A huge proportion of tech journalism is characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy...
a year ago
16
a year ago
A huge proportion of tech journalism is characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy research. Can we fix it?
Quantum Frontiers
A (quantum) complex legacy: Part deux I didn’t fancy the research suggestion emailed by my PhD advisor. A 2016 email from John Preskill...
over a year ago
50
over a year ago
I didn’t fancy the research suggestion emailed by my PhD advisor. A 2016 email from John Preskill led to my publishing a paper about quantum complexity in 2022, as I explained in last month’s blog post. But I didn’t explain … Continue reading →
Cremieux Recueil
"You Couldn't Replicate Our Study Because You're Ugly" Attractiveness rating studies shouldn't be taken too seriously
7 months ago
The Works in...
The ultra-selfish gene Genetically modifying malaria-carrying mosquitoes could allow us to wipe out humanity’s most deadly...
8 months ago
Yale E360
Warming Brings Heavy Snowfall to Greenland, Replenishing Some Lost Ice A single storm in 2022 dumped enough snow on Greenland to replace 8 percent of ice lost that year....
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
A single storm in 2022 dumped enough snow on Greenland to replace 8 percent of ice lost that year. With warming, the Arctic is seeing stronger atmospheric rivers, which could deliver enough snow to slow the loss of ice, according to a new study. Read more on E360 →
NeuroLogica Blog
AI Copilots Are Coming I’m going to do something I rarely do and make a straight-up prediction – I think we are close to...
9 months ago
73
9 months ago
I’m going to do something I rarely do and make a straight-up prediction – I think we are close to having AI apps that will function as our all-purpose digital assistants. That’s not really a tough call, we already have digital assistants and they are progressing rapidly. So I am...
NeuroLogica Blog
Floating Solar Farms My last post was about floating nuclear power plants. By coincidence I then ran across a news item...
2 months ago
25
2 months ago
My last post was about floating nuclear power plants. By coincidence I then ran across a news item about floating solar installations. This is also a potentially useful idea, and is already being implemented and increasing. It is estimated that in 2022 total installed floating...
Quantum Frontiers
Noncommuting charges are much like Batman Understanding a character’s origins enriches their narrative and motivates their actions. Take...
a year ago
52
a year ago
Understanding a character’s origins enriches their narrative and motivates their actions. Take Batman as an example: without knowing his backstory, he appears merely as a billionaire who might achieve more by donating his wealth rather than masquerading as a bat … Continue...
Quantum Frontiers
Happy 200th birthday, Carnot’s theorem! In Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, a Mole meets a Water Rat who lives on a...
7 months ago
86
7 months ago
In Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, a Mole meets a Water Rat who lives on a River. The Rat explains how the River permeates his life: “It’s brother and sister to me, and aunts, and company, … Continue reading →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Canvas: A Bet On New EMRs | Out-Of-Pocket what if EMRs didn't totally suck?
a year ago
Yale E360
U.S. Aid Cuts Are Hitting Global Conservation Projects Hard The Trump Administration’s dismantling of USAID has done more than cut off life-saving humanitarian...
2 months ago
8
2 months ago
The Trump Administration’s dismantling of USAID has done more than cut off life-saving humanitarian assistance. It has also eliminated funding for environmental protection and conservation work in dozens of countries, with many programs now being forced to shut down. Read more on...
Uncharted...
Where Geniuses Hide Today Where are today’s Michelangelos?
7 months ago
Yale E360
Reciprocity: Rethinking Our Relationship with the Natural World Robin Wall Kimmerer, the bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, recently published The...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
Robin Wall Kimmerer, the bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, recently published The Serviceberry, which explores the economies of nature. In an e360 interview, the Native American ecologist discusses reciprocity, gratitude, and aligning human law with ecological law. Read...
Drew Ex Machina
NASA’s Explorer 18: The First Interplanetary Monitoring Platform Among the greatest scientific achievements of the opening years of the Space Age was the...
a year ago
40
a year ago
Among the greatest scientific achievements of the opening years of the Space Age was the characterization of Earth’s magnetic field and the discovery of what became […]
Yale E360
Deconstructing Buildings: The Quest for New Life for Old Wood A growing number of cities have launched initiatives to reuse the wood waste from construction and...
a month ago
2
a month ago
A growing number of cities have launched initiatives to reuse the wood waste from construction and demolition that now ends up in landfills. The challenge, proponents say, is to deploy new techniques for disassembling old buildings and markets for repurposing the salvaged...
Yale E360
In This Storied Egyptian City, Rising Seas are Causing Buildings to Crumble As waters rise along the Egyptian coast, hundreds of buildings in the historic port city of...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
As waters rise along the Egyptian coast, hundreds of buildings in the historic port city of Alexandria have collapsed. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
A Mutation Turned Ants Into Parasites in One Generation A new genetics study of ant “social parasites” shows how complex sets of features can emerge rapidly...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
A new genetics study of ant “social parasites” shows how complex sets of features can emerge rapidly and potentially split species. The post A Mutation Turned Ants Into Parasites in One Generation first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
Secret Messages Can Hide in AI-Generated Media In steganography, an ordinary message masks the presence of a secret communication. Humans can never...
over a year ago
137
over a year ago
In steganography, an ordinary message masks the presence of a secret communication. Humans can never do it perfectly, but a new study shows it’s possible for machines. The post Secret Messages Can Hide in AI-Generated Media first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Breck's Blog
The Internal Comparison Trap
2 months ago
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Two of My Science-Fiction Stories Published in May View this email in your browser A Change of Pace from Astronomy News  As you may know, I have been...
a month ago
17
a month ago
View this email in your browser A Change of Pace from Astronomy News  As you may know, I have been writing science-fiction stories based on good astronomy as my retirement project.  After a good number of rejections from the finest sci-fi magazines the world over, I am now...
Damn Interesting
A Blight on Soviet Science On a hazy afternoon in March 1927, a Russian scientist was walking through the dense forests of...
over a year ago
21
over a year ago
On a hazy afternoon in March 1927, a Russian scientist was walking through the dense forests of Abyssinia, ducking under low-hanging branches and stopping to inspect the wild coffee trees lining his path. Accompanied by a group of local guides, the young traveller had been hiking...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How Much Info Should A Patient Get? | Out-Of-Pocket A discussion question
a year ago
Asterisk
Silicon Valley’s Gold Rush Roots Silicon Valley, purveyor of disruptive technologies, likes to think of itself as sui generis. But...
a year ago
16
a year ago
Silicon Valley, purveyor of disruptive technologies, likes to think of itself as sui generis. But there’s a clear line from tech’s knowledge economy to the Bay Area’s first economy: gold mining.
NeuroLogica Blog
Eclipse 2024 I am currently in Dallas Texas waiting to see, hopefully, the 2024 total solar eclipse. This would...
a year ago
93
a year ago
I am currently in Dallas Texas waiting to see, hopefully, the 2024 total solar eclipse. This would be my first total eclipse, and everything I have heard indicates that it is an incredible experience. Unfortunately, the weather calls for some clouds, although forecasts have been...
Cremieux Recueil
The End of Credentialism? Cognitive testing might be making a comeback. That could be very important.
4 months ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Ciitizen And The Patient Data Marketplace | Out-Of-Pocket The path to our personal health record
a year ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
"Non"-Profit Hospitals | Out-Of-Pocket "We're investing in ourselves"
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
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. ...
over a year ago
54
over 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
ToughSF
Piracy in Space is Possible Part II: Armed Merchants and Pirate Patrols There's more to piracy than just attacking a target and running away afterwards.  Put yourself in...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
There's more to piracy than just attacking a target and running away afterwards.  Put yourself in the shoes of a pirate, a merchant or the authorities. What would you do? Fighting back Pirates intercepting, attacking and ransoming a merchant crew should be...
The Works in...
The eye of the tiger What makes tigers different from one another?
over a year ago
Drew Ex Machina
Accurate Characterization of 3D Winds Using Stereographic Observations from the Hurricane Hunter... The teams at Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA) and Canada Weather Analytics (CWA), where this author...
a year ago
85
a year ago
The teams at Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA) and Canada Weather Analytics (CWA), where this author is the Chief Scientist, had the honor of having our abstract […]
NeuroLogica Blog
Virtual Walking When I use my virtual reality gear I do practical zero virtual walking – meaning that I don’t have...
a year ago
55
a year ago
When I use my virtual reality gear I do practical zero virtual walking – meaning that I don’t have my avatar walk while I am not walking. I general play standing up which means I can move around the space in my office mapped by my VR software – so I am physically walking to...
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: Breakfast with g IQ, lived experience, and my boyfriend’s underpants
over a year ago
NeuroLogica Blog
UFOs and the Pandemic Did UFO reporting increase during the pandemic? A group of researchers set out to answer that...
over a year ago
37
over a year ago
Did UFO reporting increase during the pandemic? A group of researchers set out to answer that question, and recently published their results. Their hypothesis was two-fold, including the notion that people had more free time during the shutdown and perhaps spent more time out...
NeuroLogica Blog
Coaching with Empathy The show Ted Lasso is about to wrap up its final season. I am one of the many people who really...
over a year ago
58
over a year ago
The show Ted Lasso is about to wrap up its final season. I am one of the many people who really enjoy the show, which turns on a group of likable people helping each other through various life challenges with care and empathy. Lasso is an American college football coach who was...
Casey Handmer's blog
Part 6 Guns Under The Table Part of the Mars Trilogy Technical Commentary Series. Contains spoilers for this chapter and earlier...
7 months ago
57
7 months ago
Part of the Mars Trilogy Technical Commentary Series. Contains spoilers for this chapter and earlier chapters. Google Mars .kml. Literary commentary podcast. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since the last update of this – in that time I read my children all of Green Mars...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Healthcare in Jail | Out-Of-Pocket How does it work?
a year ago
Yale E360
India Doubled its Tiger Population in a Little More Than a Decade The number of tigers in India roughly doubled in a little more than a decade, a conservation success...
5 months ago
1
5 months ago
The number of tigers in India roughly doubled in a little more than a decade, a conservation success that is due in part to communities learning to live alongside the animals, new research finds. Read more on E360 →
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Cold Brew Coffee While employees are thankful for their employer's largesse in providing free coffee, any cursory...
12 months ago
20
12 months ago
While employees are thankful for their employer's largesse in providing free coffee, any cursory cost-benefit analysis shows that they get back more than they spend. Coffee's caffeine content boosts a person's focus and attention, and it reduces mental fatigue, all of these...
NeuroLogica Blog
What Policies Affect Climate Change? What is the potential for climate change policy to affect climate change? I often discuss, here and...
a year ago
30
a year ago
What is the potential for climate change policy to affect climate change? I often discuss, here and on the SGU, the science of climate change, and specifically focus on what we can do about it, mostly by reducing our CO2 emissions. Often I get push back explicitly promoting the...
Uncharted...
The Moral Case for More People on Earth Today we’re going to cover four points that have emerged from the last few articles on growing our...
7 months ago
40
7 months ago
Today we’re going to cover four points that have emerged from the last few articles on growing our population, but which I haven’t covered yet:
Blog - Practical...
This Bridge’s Bizarre Design Nearly Caused It To Collapse [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] This is the Washington Bridge...
3 months ago
54
3 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] This is the Washington Bridge that carries I-195 over the Seekonk River in Providence, Rhode Island… or at least, it was the Washington Bridge. You can see that the westbound span is just about completely gone....
Quanta Magazine
Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill Black hole and Big Bang singularities break our best theory of gravity. A trilogy of theorems hints...
a month ago
19
a month ago
Black hole and Big Bang singularities break our best theory of gravity. A trilogy of theorems hints that physicists will need to go to the ends of space and time to find a fix. The post Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill first appeared on Quanta Magazine
ToughSF
Starship Lite: from rapid Interplanetary to Interstellar Elon Musk stated that a stripped-down SpaceX Starship could become an interplanetary boost vehicle...
over a year ago
19
over a year ago
Elon Musk stated that a stripped-down SpaceX Starship could become an interplanetary boost vehicle able to push probes towards the farthest objects in our Solar System.  What other missions could the Starship ‘Lite’ do, and how quickly? Near SSTO Rockets performance scales...
Probably...
Reject Math Supremacy The premise of Think Stats, and the other books in the Think series, is that programming is a tool...
7 months ago
14
7 months ago
The premise of Think Stats, and the other books in the Think series, is that programming is a tool for teaching and learning — and many ideas that are commonly presented in math notation can be more clearly presented in code. In the draft third edition of Think Stats there is...
symmetry magazine
Physics fashion and collider couture Symmetry is back with more physics-themed Halloween costumes.
a year ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Decarbonizing Aviation and Agriculture When we talk about reducing carbon release in order to slow down and hopefully stop anthropogenic...
9 months ago
65
9 months ago
When we talk about reducing carbon release in order to slow down and hopefully stop anthropogenic global warming much of the focus is on the energy and transportation sectors. There is a good reason for this – the energy sector is responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas (GHG)...
Yale E360
As Bird Flu Spreads, Vaccine Shows Promise for Protecting Cattle Since bird flu was first discovered in U.S. cattle last year, the virus has spread to more than...
a month ago
14
a month ago
Since bird flu was first discovered in U.S. cattle last year, the virus has spread to more than 1,000 herds across the country. A new vaccine for cattle has performed well in early tests, raising hopes that it could protect livestock and help prevent an outbreak in humans. Read...
Quanta Magazine
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...
a year ago
54
a year 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...
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
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Ways to give power to the patients | Out-Of-Pocket can software give us agency?
a year ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Out-Of-Pocket’s 2025 Predictions | Out-Of-Pocket I’m like 50% right every year, I just never know which 50%
7 months ago
Eukaryote Writes...
Learn to write well BEFORE you have something worth saying Lessons learned from trip reports and journal articles.
6 months ago
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Friday is the Summer Solstice — Caused by Earth’s Ancient Accident Friday is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. We explain why. The post Friday is the...
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
Friday is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. We explain why. The post Friday is the Summer Solstice — Caused by Earth’s Ancient Accident appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
Explorations of an...
Borneo: Quest For The Bulwer's Pheasant The Bulwer's Pheasant was one of the first birds to grab hold of my attention when I first flipped...
7 months ago
18
7 months ago
The Bulwer's Pheasant was one of the first birds to grab hold of my attention when I first flipped through the pages of my Borneo field guide many years ago. This pheasant of Bornean hill forest is nearly unbelievable-looking (the male, that is). He has a deep maroon chest and a...
Asterisk
Salt, Sugar, Water, Zinc: How Scientists Learned to Treat the 20th Century’s Biggest Killer of... Oral rehydration therapy is now the standard treatment for dehydration. It’s saved millions of...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
Oral rehydration therapy is now the standard treatment for dehydration. It’s saved millions of lives, and can be prepared at home in minutes. So why did it take so long to discover?
Yale E360
Retreating Arctic Glaciers Have Exposed 1,500 Miles of Coastline Since 2000, the melting of Arctic glaciers has exposed some 1,500 miles of coastline, a study...
3 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Microbes Gained Photosynthesis Superpowers From a ‘Proton Pump’ New research reveals how marine microbes use an extra membrane that once had digestive functions to...
over a year ago
30
over a year ago
New research reveals how marine microbes use an extra membrane that once had digestive functions to boost their yield from photosynthesis. The post Microbes Gained Photosynthesis Superpowers From a ‘Proton Pump’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Diophantine Equations Piebald is an unusual word that appears in the Archimedes' cattle problem, a Diophantine problem...
11 months ago
20
11 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...
NeuroLogica Blog
Are Small Modular Reactors Finally Coming? Small nuclear reactors have been around since the 1950s. They mostly have been used in military...
4 months ago
35
4 months ago
Small nuclear reactors have been around since the 1950s. They mostly have been used in military ships, like aircraft carriers and submarines. They have the specific advantage that such ships could remain at sea for long periods of time without needing to refuel. But small modular...
Yale E360
In War Zones, a Race to Save Key Seeds Needed to Feed the World In conflict areas from Ukraine to Palestine, storage facilities holding seeds vital for future plant...
3 weeks ago
4
3 weeks ago
In conflict areas from Ukraine to Palestine, storage facilities holding seeds vital for future plant breeding are being lost. Scientists are rushing to send some remaining seeds to a “doomsday” vault in Norway so they can be available to provide food crops in a warming...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Change Healthcare Debacle | Out-Of-Pocket what are clearinghouses and do we still need them?
a year ago
Drew Ex Machina
Memories of Project RAMOS (Russian American Observation Satellites) 1991 – 2004 During the course of my professional career, one of the more important projects I had the pleasure...
a year ago
45
a year ago
During the course of my professional career, one of the more important projects I had the pleasure to work on was the joint US/Russian Federation (RF) […]
IEEE Spectrum
50 Years Later, This Apollo-Era Antenna Still Talks to Voyager 2 For more than 50 years, Deep Space Station 43 has been an invaluable tool for space probes as they...
a year ago
109
a year ago
For more than 50 years, Deep Space Station 43 has been an invaluable tool for space probes as they explore our solar system and push into the beyond. The DSS-43 radio antenna, located at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, near Canberra, Australia, keeps open the line...
Many Worlds
Webb Telescope Finds No Signs of a Thick Atmosphere Around a Second TRAPPIST-1 Planet Among the most eagerly awaited results from the early observations of the James Webb Space Telescope...
over a year ago
27
over a year ago
Among the most eagerly awaited results from the early observations of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is whether or not the seven rocky planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system have atmospheres. The TRAPPIST-1 planets are close to us (40 light-years away), are all solid rather than...
Quanta Magazine
Why Is This Shape So Terrible to Pack? Two mathematicians have proved a long-standing conjecture that is a step on the way toward finding...
a year ago
107
a year ago
Two mathematicians have proved a long-standing conjecture that is a step on the way toward finding the worst shape for packing the plane. The post Why Is This Shape So Terrible to Pack? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Breck's Blog
A funny thing about the original Microsoft Source Code
3 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Have Current AI Reached Their Limit? We are still very much in the hype phase of the latest crop of artificial intelligence applications,...
over a year ago
126
over a year ago
We are still very much in the hype phase of the latest crop of artificial intelligence applications, specifically the large language models and so-called “transformers” like Chat GPT. Transformers are a deep learning model that use self-attention to differentially weight the...
NeuroLogica Blog
Fake Fossils In 1931 a fossil lizard was recovered from the Italian Alps, believed to be a 280 million year old...
a year ago
45
a year ago
In 1931 a fossil lizard was recovered from the Italian Alps, believed to be a 280 million year old specimen. The fossil was also rare in that it appeared to have some preserved soft tissue. It was given the species designation Tridentinosaurus antiquus and was thought to be part...
Quanta Magazine
The Computer Scientist Who Builds Big Pictures From Small Details To better understand machine learning algorithms, Lenka Zdeborová treats them like physical...
9 months ago
70
9 months ago
To better understand machine learning algorithms, Lenka Zdeborová treats them like physical materials. The post The Computer Scientist Who Builds Big Pictures From Small Details first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: In pursuit of decent coffee No great stagnation in home espresso
over a year ago
Beautiful Public...
Utah Highway LiDAR Scans Utah's Department of Transportation uses state-of-the-art 3-D laser scanners to capture the surfaces...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
Utah's Department of Transportation uses state-of-the-art 3-D laser scanners to capture the surfaces and area surrounding 15,000 miles of its roads.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Wet Labs Shouldn’t Be Boring (for young scientists) | Out-Of-Pocket This is the first touchpoint for science, we should make it more enticing
3 weeks ago
Asterisk
China’s Silicon Future China dreams of competing with global superpowers in the semiconductor industry. Whether its efforts...
over a year ago
17
over a year ago
China dreams of competing with global superpowers in the semiconductor industry. Whether its efforts will succeed is far from clear.
Yale E360
Scientists Look to Changing Tree Color to Predict Volcanic Eruptions NASA scientists believe it may be possible to predict when a volcano will erupt by using satellites...
a month ago
2
a month ago
NASA scientists believe it may be possible to predict when a volcano will erupt by using satellites to track changes in the color of surrounding trees. Read more on E360 →
Wanderingspace
Eclipse 2024 from Space https://twitter.com/ThePlanetaryGuy
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
Is It Real or Imagined? How Your Brain Tells the Difference. New experiments show that the brain distinguishes between perceived and imagined mental images by...
over a year ago
327
over a year ago
New experiments show that the brain distinguishes between perceived and imagined mental images by checking whether they cross a “reality threshold.” The post Is It Real or Imagined? How Your Brain Tells the Difference. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
How Humans Can Adapt to Space My recent article on settling Mars has generated a lot of discussion, some of it around the basic...
a year ago
64
a year ago
My recent article on settling Mars has generated a lot of discussion, some of it around the basic concept of how difficult it is for humans to live anywhere but a thin envelope of air hugging the surface of the Earth. This is undoubtedly true, as I have discussed before – we...
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: 1. Guantanamo City Why we should turn Guantanamo Bay into Guantanamo City
6 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Giant Eels, Loch Ness, and Probability At this point it is pretty clear that the Loch Ness Monster (Nessie) does not exist. I know,...
a year ago
22
a year ago
At this point it is pretty clear that the Loch Ness Monster (Nessie) does not exist. I know, logically it is impossible to prove a negative, so if we want to be technical we can say that the probability of a large creature similar to that believed to be Nessie approaches zero....
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
23
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...
Chris Grossack's...
A Proof that there's No Constructive Proof of the Intermediate Value Theorem The other day my friend Lucas Salim was asking me some questions about categorical logic and...
a month ago
15
a month ago
The other day my friend Lucas Salim was asking me some questions about categorical logic and constructive math, and he mentioned he’d never seen a proof that there’s no constructive proof of the intermediate value theorem before. I showed him the usual counterexample, and...
Quanta Magazine
Researchers Refute a Widespread Belief About Online Algorithms Three computer scientists have disproved a long-standing conjecture about a fundamental problem...
a year ago
21
a year ago
Three computer scientists have disproved a long-standing conjecture about a fundamental problem involving imperfect information. The post Researchers Refute a Widespread Belief About Online Algorithms first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Damn Interesting
The Traveler and His Baggage On 19 May 1943, a news report from Berlin deepened the already dreary gloom that clung to the people...
over a year ago
31
over a year ago
On 19 May 1943, a news report from Berlin deepened the already dreary gloom that clung to the people of Nazi-occupied Paris. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels proudly announced to the world that the German capital of Berlin was officially judenfrei–free of all Jews. As this...
Blog - Practical...
How Do Fish Ladders Work? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Building a dam imparts a...
a year ago
150
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Building a dam imparts a stupendous change to the environment, and as with any change, there are winners and losers. The winners are usually us, people, through hydropower generation, protection from flooding,...
Yale E360
Russia’s War Has Destroyed Forest Twice the Size of New York City Ukraine lost roughly 600 square miles of forest in the first two years of its war with Russia, an...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
Ukraine lost roughly 600 square miles of forest in the first two years of its war with Russia, an area of woodland twice the size of New York City. Read more on E360 →
Blog - Practical...
What Happens When a Reservoir Goes Dry? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In June of 2022, the level in...
over a year ago
60
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In June of 2022, the level in Lake Mead, the largest water reservoir in the United States formed by the Hoover Dam, reached yet another all-time low of 175 feet or 53 meters below full, a level that hasn’t been...
Asterisk
Developmental Editing
12 months ago
Yale E360
Exposure to Air Pollution Can Make It Harder to Focus, Study Finds A person’s ability to focus on everyday tasks is affected by short-term exposure to air pollution, a...
5 months ago
6
5 months ago
A person’s ability to focus on everyday tasks is affected by short-term exposure to air pollution, a study has found. Read more on E360 →
The Works in...
To change a norm How the war on drunk driving was won
a year ago
Yale E360
Renewables Supplied Two-Thirds of Germany's Power Last Year Germany, the largest economy in Europe, got nearly two-thirds of its power from renewables last...
6 months ago
1
6 months ago
Germany, the largest economy in Europe, got nearly two-thirds of its power from renewables last year, an analysis shows. Read more on E360 →
NeuroLogica Blog
Making Fuel from Sunshine When it comes to big problems it’s generally a good idea to remember some basic principles. One is...
over a year ago
86
over a year ago
When it comes to big problems it’s generally a good idea to remember some basic principles. One is that there is no free lunch. This is a cliche because it’s true. Another way to put this is – there are no solutions, only trade offs. Sometimes there is a genuine advance that does...
Yale E360
After 17 Years Underground, Massive Cicada Brood to Swarm U.S. After hiding underground for the last 17 years, billions of cicadas will take to the skies this...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
After hiding underground for the last 17 years, billions of cicadas will take to the skies this summer, from Tennessee to Cape Cod.  Read more on E360 →
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...
over a year ago
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over 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 →
Asterisk
How Not To Predict The Future Good forecasting thrives on a delicate balance of math, expertise, and…vibes.
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
New AI Tools Predict How Life’s Building Blocks Assemble Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold3 and other deep learning algorithms can now predict the shapes of...
a year ago
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a year ago
Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold3 and other deep learning algorithms can now predict the shapes of interacting complexes of protein, DNA, RNA and other molecules, better capturing cells’ biological landscapes. The post New AI Tools Predict How Life’s Building Blocks...
Wanderingspace
Dust Storm On Mars A dust storm in Olympia Planum's north polar dune fields was triggered by a late Martian summer cold...
a year ago
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a year ago
A dust storm in Olympia Planum's north polar dune fields was triggered by a late Martian summer cold front. As the northern polar cap shrinks fast, it releases cold air that sometimes moves south, like on Earth. These cold fronts strengthen in late summer and early fall due to...
NeuroLogica Blog
Eating Methane Methane is the forgotten greenhouse gas (sort of). Often, when discussing how best to reduce...
a year ago
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a year ago
Methane is the forgotten greenhouse gas (sort of). Often, when discussing how best to reduce anthropogenic climate change, we talk about decarbonizing our electrical and transport sectors, and carbon removal. But methane is also a greenhouse gas, contributing to global warming,...
Uncharted...
How to Beat Cancer with Viruses: An Interview with Beata Halassy How viruses kill cancers, which viruses to use, how many injections, at what stage of the cancer,...
9 months ago
The Works in...
Another reason housing in Texas is cheap What we’ve been reading: urbanism, science, tech, aesthetics and more …
2 months ago
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 14: River Islands And Explorama Lodge (February 18 - 19, 2024) February 18, 2024 (continued)     Where I last left off, Laura and I had just completed our...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
February 18, 2024 (continued)     Where I last left off, Laura and I had just completed our sixteen-day loop through the mountains and deserts of northern Peru with the rental car. We dropped the vehicle off at the airport with no issues and boarded our flight. We were heading to...
symmetry magazine
Physics on tour A group called the Big Bang Collective sets up physics discovery stations at rather unexpected...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
A group called the Big Bang Collective sets up physics discovery stations at rather unexpected venues: music festivals.
symmetry magazine
A collaboration pairs Fermilab with fashion students Fashion students at the College of DuPage successfully designed gear to protect Fermilab’s SPOT...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Fashion students at the College of DuPage successfully designed gear to protect Fermilab’s SPOT robot from radioactive dust. In a recent demonstration for Engineers Week in Chicago, an engineering physicist took the stage accompanied by an unusual guest: a...
Uncharted...
10 Interesting Facts on Relationships & Sex Q1 2025
3 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Framing and Global Warming When we talk publicly about the effects of human activity on the climate should we refer to “global...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
When we talk publicly about the effects of human activity on the climate should we refer to “global warming”, “climate change”, the “climate crisis” or to “climate justice”? Perhaps we should also be more technical and say specifically, “anthropogenic climate change”. This kind...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Next Step in Space Travel The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced they are developing their own commercial space...
a year ago
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a year ago
The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced they are developing their own commercial space capsule. This will be used initially for cargo, but then eventually for crew as well. They anticipate a maiden voyage in 2028. I think this is a positive development. It seems we are...
NeuroLogica Blog
Living a Hybrid Life The cultural effects of the COVID pandemic can still be felt reverberating through society. One of...
11 months ago
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11 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...
Casey Handmer's blog
Salton Sea statistics I wanted to gain better insights into the Salton Sea level, evaporation, inflows and outflows. Step...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
I wanted to gain better insights into the Salton Sea level, evaporation, inflows and outflows. Step one was to gather publicly available data about its level, and collate it into a single graph. Here we see that despite the continual formation of Salton Sea advisory committees,...
Asterisk
Half A Million Kinksters Can’t Be Wrong The story of how one independent researcher conducted the largest-ever survey on fetishes, and what...
a year ago
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a year ago
The story of how one independent researcher conducted the largest-ever survey on fetishes, and what it has to teach us about sex, pleasure, and social science methodology.
Quanta Magazine
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...
10 months ago
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10 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
Asterisk
The EA-Progress Studies War is Here, and It’s a Constructive Dialogue! We’re hoping Marc Andreessen doesn’t read this and polarize everyone again.
a year ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Artificial Robotic Muscles By now we have all seen the impressive robot videos, such as the ones from Boston Dynamics, in which...
10 months ago
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10 months ago
By now we have all seen the impressive robot videos, such as the ones from Boston Dynamics, in which robots show incredible flexibility and agility. These are amazing, but I understand they are a bit like trick-shot videos – we are being shown the ones that worked, which may not...
Breck's Blog
Movement
3 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Some Neural Networks Learn Language Like Humans Researchers uncover striking parallels in the ways that humans and machine learning models acquire...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Researchers uncover striking parallels in the ways that humans and machine learning models acquire language skills. The post Some Neural Networks Learn Language Like Humans first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Uncharted...
Is Desalination Everywhere Realistic? Which countries are doing it already? Are they happy? Is desalinated water safe to drink? Does it...
8 months ago
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8 months ago
Which countries are doing it already? Are they happy? Is desalinated water safe to drink? Does it taste good? Does it pollute too much? Can we shrink its cost?
SubAnima
Organisms Are Not Made Of Atoms Individuality is a process.
over a year ago
Quanta Magazine
First-Year Graduate Student Finds Paradoxical Set No two pairs have the same sum; add three numbers together, and you can get any whole number. ...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
No two pairs have the same sum; add three numbers together, and you can get any whole number. The post First-Year Graduate Student Finds Paradoxical Set first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Uncharted...
Deserts, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Snow, Paradises, Swamps: Why Do People Live Where They Live in the... Deserts, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Snow, Paradises, Swamps
6 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Will AI Ever Understand Language Like Humans? AI may sound like a human, but that doesn’t mean that AI learns like a human. In this episode, Ellie...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
AI may sound like a human, but that doesn’t mean that AI learns like a human. In this episode, Ellie Pavlick explains why understanding how LLMs can process language could unlock deeper insights into both AI and the human mind. The post Will AI Ever Understand...
Asterisk
Rarely is the Question Asked: Is Our Children Learning? Across the world, more students than ever are in school. But it’s not clear that they're learning...
7 months ago
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7 months ago
Across the world, more students than ever are in school. But it’s not clear that they're learning more while there — or if that’s even the goal.
NeuroLogica Blog
Plan To Build First Commercial Fusion Reactor How close are we to having fusion reactors actually sending electric power to the grid? This is a...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
How close are we to having fusion reactors actually sending electric power to the grid? This is a huge and complicated question, and one with massive implications for our civilization. I think we are still at the point where we cannot count on fusion reactors coming online...
Yale E360
Carbon Dioxide Levels Highest in 800,000 Years Temperatures and carbon dioxide levels hit new highs last year, according to a U.N. report detailing...
3 months ago
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3 months ago
Temperatures and carbon dioxide levels hit new highs last year, according to a U.N. report detailing the dire state of the global climate. Read more on E360 →
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, November 2023 A ~monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in...
a year ago
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a year ago
A ~monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests. All emphasis in bold in the quotes below was added by me. Books Finished Lynn White, Medieval Technology and Social Change (1962). Last time I talked about the...
Quanta Magazine
Animal Mutation Rates Reveal Traits That Speed Evolution The first large-scale comparison of mutation rates gives insights into how quickly species can...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
The first large-scale comparison of mutation rates gives insights into how quickly species can evolve. The post Animal Mutation Rates Reveal Traits That Speed Evolution first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
What Your Brain Is Doing When You’re Not Doing Anything When your mind is wandering, your brain’s “default mode” network is active. Its discovery 20 years...
a year ago
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a year ago
When your mind is wandering, your brain’s “default mode” network is active. Its discovery 20 years ago inspired a raft of research into networks of brain regions and how they interact with each other. The post What Your Brain Is Doing When You’re Not Doing Anything...
Yale E360
Loss of Antarctic Sea Ice Is Giving Rise to More Frequent Storms The decline of sea ice around Antarctica is fueling more frequent storms in the Southern Ocean, a...
6 months ago
3
6 months ago
The decline of sea ice around Antarctica is fueling more frequent storms in the Southern Ocean, a new study finds. Read more on E360 →
Blog - Practical...
How Sewage Recycling Works [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Wichita Falls, Texas, went...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Wichita Falls, Texas, went through the worst drought in its history in 2011 and 2012. For two years in a row, the area saw its average annual rainfall roughly cut in half, decimating the levels in the three...
Yale E360
A Craze for Tiny Plants Is Driving a Poaching Crisis in South Africa South Africa’s Succulent Karoo is the most biodiverse arid region on the planet, with thousands of...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
South Africa’s Succulent Karoo is the most biodiverse arid region on the planet, with thousands of plants found nowhere else. But to meet a demand fueled by social media, criminal networks have been poaching these colorful succulents by the millions and smuggling them...
Quanta Magazine
To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA Under a microscope, cells in a worm embryo deliberately eliminated one-third of their genome — an...
a year ago
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a year ago
Under a microscope, cells in a worm embryo deliberately eliminated one-third of their genome — an uncompromising tactic that may combat harmful genetic parasites. The post To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians Uncover a New Way to Count Prime Numbers To make progress on one of number theory’s most elementary questions, two mathematicians turned to...
7 months ago
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7 months ago
To make progress on one of number theory’s most elementary questions, two mathematicians turned to an unlikely source. The post Mathematicians Uncover a New Way to Count Prime Numbers first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Injecting Caution Into Media Reports of Northern Lights as far South as California Friday, May 10, there was a lot of discussion on the news, on social media, and on different web...
a year ago
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a year ago
Friday, May 10, there was a lot of discussion on the news, on social media, and on different web sites about storms on the Sun that are unleashing great outbursts of radiation and particles, some of them toward Earth. The fact that we are seeing such “space weather” now certainly...
Willem Pennings
Home Assistant-compatible air quality sensor I recently moved and our new home is equipped with a ventilation system that distributes fresh...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
I recently moved and our new home is equipped with a ventilation system that distributes fresh (outside) air through the house and recoups heat from the air that is exhausted. There is a problem with this system, though. Sometimes, for example when a neighbour lights their wood...
Quanta Magazine
Chatbots Don’t Know What Stuff Isn’t Today’s language models are more sophisticated than ever, but they still struggle with the concept...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Today’s language models are more sophisticated than ever, but they still struggle with the concept of negation. That’s unlikely to change anytime soon. The post Chatbots Don’t Know What Stuff Isn’t first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
The Other End of the Autism Spectrum In my previous post I wrote about how we think about and talk about autism spectrum disorder (ASD),...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
In my previous post I wrote about how we think about and talk about autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and how RFK Jr misunderstands and exploits this complexity to weave his anti-vaccine crank narrative. There is also another challenge in the conversation about autism, which exists...
Yale E360
How Wolves Could Help Bring Back Scottish Forests Wolves have been gone from the Scottish Highlands for more than 200 years, and in their absence red...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Wolves have been gone from the Scottish Highlands for more than 200 years, and in their absence red deer have proliferated. Researchers say that returning wolves to the Highlands would keep deer in check, allowing large areas of native woodland to regrow. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
The Key to Species Diversity May Be in Their Similarities New modeling work suggests why nature is more diverse than niche-based ecological theory predicts. ...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
New modeling work suggests why nature is more diverse than niche-based ecological theory predicts. The post The Key to Species Diversity May Be in Their Similarities first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Invisible College: Applications close on 28th April Apply to come to our premier event for students
2 months ago
Quanta Magazine
The Mathematician Who Finds the Poetry in Math and the Math in Poetry The links between math, music and art have been explored for thousands of years. Sarah Hart is now...
a year ago
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a year ago
The links between math, music and art have been explored for thousands of years. Sarah Hart is now turning a mathematical eye to literature. The post The Mathematician Who Finds the Poetry in Math and the Math in Poetry first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
How We Can Regulate AI The chips used to train the most advanced AIs are scarce, expensive, and trackable — giving...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
The chips used to train the most advanced AIs are scarce, expensive, and trackable — giving regulators a path forward.
Yale E360
In Pakistan, a Solar Revolution Is Bringing Power to the People Fed up with pricey electricity from an unreliable grid, Pakistanis have gobbled up cheap solar...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
Fed up with pricey electricity from an unreliable grid, Pakistanis have gobbled up cheap solar panels. In an interview, Muhammad Mustafa Amjad, of Islamabad-based Renewables First, says his country can stand as a model for other nations as they transition away from fossil...
Quanta Magazine
How Randomness Improves Algorithms Unpredictability can help computer scientists solve otherwise intractable problems. The...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Unpredictability can help computer scientists solve otherwise intractable problems. The post How Randomness Improves Algorithms first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale E360
African Solar Installations Headed for Banner Year African solar installations are projected to grow by 42 percent this year, according to an industry...
4 months ago
3
4 months ago
African solar installations are projected to grow by 42 percent this year, according to an industry group. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
The Astonishing Behavior of Recursive Sequences Some strange mathematical sequences are always whole numbers — until they’re not. The puzzling...
a year ago
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a year ago
Some strange mathematical sequences are always whole numbers — until they’re not. The puzzling patterns have revealed ties to graph theory and prime numbers, awing mathematicians. The post The Astonishing Behavior of Recursive Sequences first appeared on Quanta...
Damn Interesting
Hunting For Kobyla On a January day in 1964, something remarkable happened: Simon Wiesenthal took the afternoon off. He...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
On a January day in 1964, something remarkable happened: Simon Wiesenthal took the afternoon off. He parked himself at a table on the terrace of Tel Aviv’s Café Roval, soaking up the sunshine as if he wished to bottle it. The friend he’d come to meet was late, but Wiesenthal had...
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: Reviving Lakes Some lakes died before they could birth cities. Could we revive the lakes, and give them a 2nd...
5 months ago
46
5 months ago
Some lakes died before they could birth cities. Could we revive the lakes, and give them a 2nd chance at creating cities?
IEEE Spectrum
The Costly Impact of Non-Strategic Patents The five largest auto manufacturers will face massive U.S. patent fees within the next five years....
over a year ago
22
over a year ago
The five largest auto manufacturers will face massive U.S. patent fees within the next five years. This report examines auto industry lapse trends and how a company’s decisions on keeping, selling or pruning patents can greatly impact its cost savings and revenue generation...
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...
over a year ago
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over 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...
Quanta Magazine
How Quantum Physicists Explained Earth’s Oscillating Weather Patterns By treating Earth as a topological insulator — a state of quantum matter — physicists found a...
a year ago
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a year ago
By treating Earth as a topological insulator — a state of quantum matter — physicists found a powerful explanation for the movements of the planet’s air and seas. The post How Quantum Physicists Explained Earth’s Oscillating Weather Patterns first appeared on Quanta...
The Works in...
Should you infect yourself with Zika? What life is like in a challenge trial
a year ago
Yale E360
In a First, California Tribe May Freely Burn Its Ancestral Lands In California, a state increasingly beset by devastating wildfires, the Karuk Tribe will be able to...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
In California, a state increasingly beset by devastating wildfires, the Karuk Tribe will be able to freely set controlled burns, helping to clear the dense underbrush that fuels larger and more destructive fires. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
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...
8 months ago
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8 months 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...
Bartosz Ciechanowski
Mechanical Watch In the world of modern portable devices, it may be hard to believe that merely a few decades ago the...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
In the world of modern portable devices, it may be hard to believe that merely a few decades ago the most convenient way to keep track of time was a mechanical watch. Unlike their quartz and smart siblings, mechanical watches can run without using any batteries or other...
NeuroLogica Blog
The New TIGR-Tas Gene Editing System Remember CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) – that new gene-editing...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Remember CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) – that new gene-editing system which is faster and cheaper than anything that came before it? CRISPR is derived from bacterial systems which uses guide RNA to target a specific sequence on a DNA strand....
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
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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...
Cremieux Recueil
The Worst Argument Against Ozempic Unfortunately, being skinny might require effort
10 months ago
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...
over a year ago
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over 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.
Cremieux Recueil
The Demise of the Flynn Effect Massive changes in IQ scores over time are much less meaningful than people think
3 months ago
Drew Ex Machina
GOES Video of Solar Eclipse – October 14, 2023 Solar eclipses have fascinated humanity since ancient times and the annular eclipse of October 14,...
a year ago
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a year ago
Solar eclipses have fascinated humanity since ancient times and the annular eclipse of October 14, 2023 was no different. Unlike a total solar eclipse where the […]
Quanta Magazine
New Kind of Magnetism Spotted in an Engineered Material In an atomically thin stack of semiconductors, a mechanism unseen in any natural substance causes...
a year ago
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a year ago
In an atomically thin stack of semiconductors, a mechanism unseen in any natural substance causes electrons’ spins to align. The post New Kind of Magnetism Spotted in an Engineered Material first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How Data Transformed Small Group Underwriting | Out-Of-Pocket Paper forms be gone, now we anonymize and risk it all (literally).
12 months ago
Quanta Magazine
A Brief History of Tricky Mathematical Tiling The discovery earlier this year of the “hat” tile marked the culmination of hundreds of years of...
a year ago
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a year ago
The discovery earlier this year of the “hat” tile marked the culmination of hundreds of years of work into tiles and their symmetries. The post A Brief History of Tricky Mathematical Tiling 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...
a year ago
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a year 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...
Yale E360
Cambodian Forest Defenders at Risk for Exposing Illegal Logging The lush forests that have long sustained Cambodia’s Indigenous people have steadily fallen to...
a month ago
2
a month ago
The lush forests that have long sustained Cambodia’s Indigenous people have steadily fallen to illicit logging. Now, community members face intimidation and risk arrest as they patrol their forests to document the losses and try to push the government to stop the cutting. Read...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Threat of Technology In my second book (shameless plug alert) – The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future – my coauthors and I...
a year ago
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a year ago
In my second book (shameless plug alert) – The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future – my coauthors and I try to imagine both the utopian and dystopian versions of the future, brought about by technology, either individually or collectively. This topic has come up multiple times recently...
NeuroLogica Blog
Should Japan Release Radioactive Water Into The Pacific? Japan is planning on releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear accident into...
a year ago
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a year ago
Japan is planning on releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear accident into the ocean. They claim this will be completely safe, but there are protests going on in both Japan and South Korea, and China has just placed a ban on seafood from Japan. In a perfect...
NeuroLogica Blog
DNA Directed Assembly of Nanomaterials Arguably the type of advance that has the greatest impact on technology is material science....
a year ago
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a year ago
Arguably the type of advance that has the greatest impact on technology is material science. Technology can advance by doing more with the materials we have, but new materials can change the game entirely. It is no coincidence that we mark different technological ages by the...
Quanta Magazine
The High Cost of Quantum Randomness Is Dropping Randomness is essential to some research, but it’s always been prohibitively complicated. Now, we...
3 months ago
35
3 months ago
Randomness is essential to some research, but it’s always been prohibitively complicated. Now, we can use “pseudorandomness” instead. The post The High Cost of Quantum Randomness Is Dropping first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
What does Innovaccer actually do? A look under the hood | Out-Of-Pocket A conversation about EHRs, who their customers actually are, and building apps
a month ago
Yale E360
Trump’s Logging Push Thrusts a Dagger at the Heart of Wilderness Alaska’s Tongass is the world’s largest temperate rainforest and a sanctuary for wildlife. The Trump...
3 days ago
2
3 days ago
Alaska’s Tongass is the world’s largest temperate rainforest and a sanctuary for wildlife. The Trump administration’s plan to rescind a rule banning roads in wild areas of National Forests would open untouched parts of the Tongass and other forests to logging and...
The Roots of...
Do we get better or worse at adapting to change? Verner Vinge, in a classic 1993 essay, described “the Singularity” as an era where progress becomes...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Verner Vinge, in a classic 1993 essay, described “the Singularity” as an era where progress becomes “an exponential runaway beyond any hope of control.” The idea that technological change might accelerate to a pace faster than we can keep up with is a common concern. Almost three...
Beautiful Public...
Vehicle Crash Test Films from the 1970's and 1980s Deep in the public archives of the NHTSA, there are thousands of films of some classic (and some...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Deep in the public archives of the NHTSA, there are thousands of films of some classic (and some ugly) 70’s and 80’s cars being smashed into smithereens.
Yale E360
On a Dammed River, Amazon Villagers Fight to Restore the Flow Indigenous communities that rely on the natural flow of the Xingu River have long fought the Belo...
3 months ago
2
3 months ago
Indigenous communities that rely on the natural flow of the Xingu River have long fought the Belo Monte dam in Brazil. With the dam now up for relicensing, they are urging the government to allow more water to flow, which would help revive the river and their way of life. Read...
IEEE Spectrum
The Saga of AD-X2, the Battery Additive That Roiled the NBS Senate hearings, a post office ban, the resignation of the director of the National Bureau of...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
Senate hearings, a post office ban, the resignation of the director of the National Bureau of Standards, and his reinstatement after more than 400 scientists threatened to resign. Who knew a little box of salt could stir up such drama? What was AD-X2? It all started in 1947 when...
Quanta Magazine
What Is Quantum Teleportation? Teleporting people through space is still science fiction. But quantum teleportation is dramatically...
a year ago
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a year ago
Teleporting people through space is still science fiction. But quantum teleportation is dramatically different and entirely real. In this episode, Janna Levin interviews the theoretical physicist John Preskill about teleporting bits and the promise of quantum technology. ...
The Works in...
The beauty of concrete Why are buildings today austere, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately ornamented?
a month ago
IEEE Spectrum
This Wearable Computer Made a Fashion Statement Google Glass debuted, the artist Lisa Krohn designed a prototype wearable computer that looked like...
a year ago
99
a year ago
Google Glass debuted, the artist Lisa Krohn designed a prototype wearable computer that looked like no other. The Cyberdesk was an experiment in augmented reality. At a time when computers were mostly beige and boxy, Krohn envisioned a pliable, high-tech garment that fused...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How to analyze public healthcare datasets (even if you're non-technical) | Out-Of-Pocket Plus: using ChatGPT to analyze datasets?
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph Dijkstra’s algorithm was long thought to be the most efficient way to find a graph’s best routes....
8 months ago
57
8 months ago
Dijkstra’s algorithm was long thought to be the most efficient way to find a graph’s best routes. Researchers have now proved that it’s “universally optimal.” The post Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Chris Grossack's...
An Empty Product of Nonempty Sets A few days ago I saw a cute question on mse asking about a particularly non-intuitive failing of...
a month ago
16
a month ago
A few days ago I saw a cute question on mse asking about a particularly non-intuitive failing of the axiom of choice. I remember when I was an undergrad talking to a friend of mine about various statements equivalent to choice, and being particularly hung up on the same...
Interaction Magic -...
Metaphors mold minds Every good design is founded on a great metaphor. How to use metaphors to design more a inclusive...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Every good design is founded on a great metaphor. How to use metaphors to design more a inclusive future for our cities. My IXDA Interaction 22 conference talk.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
23andMe, a healthcare fund idea, and the NHS | Out-Of-Pocket Some random musings coming from London
9 months ago
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, September 2023 A quasi-monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them...
a year ago
300
a year ago
A quasi-monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests. I’ve been busy helping to choose the first cohort of our blogging fellowship, so my reading has been relatively light. All emphasis in bold in the quotes...
nanoscale views
A Grand Bargain and its chaotic dissolution After World War II, under the influence (direct and indirect) of people like Vannevar Bush, a "grand...
2 months ago
28
2 months ago
After World War II, under the influence (direct and indirect) of people like Vannevar Bush, a "grand bargain" was effectively struck between the US government and the nation's universities.  The war had demonstrated how important science and engineering research could be, through...
Yale E360
Pakistan's Solar Revolution Is Bringing Power to the People Fed up with pricey electricity from an unreliable grid, Pakistanis have snapped up cheap solar...
5 days ago
6
5 days ago
Fed up with pricey electricity from an unreliable grid, Pakistanis have snapped up cheap solar panels. In an interview, Muhammad Mustafa Amjad, of Islamabad-based Renewables First, says his country can stand as a model for other nations as they transition away from fossil...
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
36
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 […]
The Roots of...
The environment as infrastructure A good metaphor for the ideal relationship between humanity and the environment is that the...
over a year ago
50
over a year ago
A good metaphor for the ideal relationship between humanity and the environment is that the environment is like critical infrastructure. Infrastructure is valuable, because it provides crucial services. You want to maintain it carefully, because it’s bad if it breaks down. But...
NeuroLogica Blog
Why Do Species Evolve to Get Bigger or Smaller Have you heard of Cope’s Rule or Foster’s Rule? American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope first...
a year ago
48
a year ago
Have you heard of Cope’s Rule or Foster’s Rule? American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope first noticed a trend in the fossil record that certain animal lineages tend to get bigger over evolutionary time. Most famously this was noticed in the horse lineage, beginning with small...
NeuroLogica Blog
AI – Is It Time to Panic? I’m really excited about the recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and their potential...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
I’m really excited about the recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and their potential as powerful tools. I am also concerned about unintended consequences. As with any really powerful tool, there is the potential for abuse and also disruption. But I also think that...
Cremieux Recueil
Trump Should Finish What He Started A guestpost calling for Trump to finish radically reforming the tax system
7 months ago
Yale E360
Facing High Tariffs in U.S., Chinese Solar Flows to Poorer Countries Facing high tariffs in the U.S. and Europe, Chinese solar and battery companies have been selling a...
2 months ago
7
2 months ago
Facing high tariffs in the U.S. and Europe, Chinese solar and battery companies have been selling a growing share of their products to poorer countries, a new analysis finds. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
Are There Reasons to Believe in a Multiverse? Several areas of physics suggest reasons to think that unobservable universes with different natural...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Several areas of physics suggest reasons to think that unobservable universes with different natural laws could lie beyond ours. The theoretical physicist David Kaplan talks with Steven Strogatz about the mysteries that a multiverse would solve. The post Are There...
NeuroLogica Blog
Cultural Blindness One of the core tenets of scientific skepticism is what I call neuropsychological humility – the...
a year ago
29
a year ago
One of the core tenets of scientific skepticism is what I call neuropsychological humility – the recognition that while the human brain is a powerful information processing machine, it also has many frailties. One of those frailties is perception – we do not perceive the world in...
Blog - Practical...
Why Are Rails Shaped Like That? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Maybe more than any other type...
a year ago
67
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Maybe more than any other type of infrastructure, railways have a contingent of devoted enthusiasts. “Railfans” as they call themselves; Or should say “ourselves”? Maybe it's the nostalgia of an earlier era or...
The Works in...
Issue 09: Cheap shots and killer bots Plus: Why scientific writing is so bad, how to stop snakebites from killing 100,000 people every...
over a year ago
35
over a year ago
Plus: Why scientific writing is so bad, how to stop snakebites from killing 100,000 people every year, and what science can learn from the fight against global poverty.
symmetry magazine
Is dark matter the most powerful wave in the universe? Dark matter could consist of particles so ultralight, they behave more like waves.  ...
over a year ago
50
over a year ago
Dark matter could consist of particles so ultralight, they behave more like waves.  Although the motions of galaxies provide evidence that dark matter exists, scientists have yet to directly detect the invisible stuff, or figure out what it could be made...
Many Worlds
A Real ET Discovery With Promise, Amid Some Other Quite Questionable Claims Beware easy answers to the question of whether life exists beyond Earth. Be they “alien” skeletons...
a year ago
32
a year ago
Beware easy answers to the question of whether life exists beyond Earth. Be they “alien” skeletons in Mexico City, interstellar probes that briefly pass through our solar system, UFOs of all sorts and claims to have found “biosignature” chemical byproducts of life around planets...
Quanta Magazine
How Metabolism Can Shape Cells’ Destinies A growing body of work suggests that cell metabolism — the chemical reactions that provide energy...
3 months ago
29
3 months ago
A growing body of work suggests that cell metabolism — the chemical reactions that provide energy and building materials — plays a vital, overlooked role in the first steps of life. The post How Metabolism Can Shape Cells’ Destinies first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Damn Interesting
To Hell With Facebook The earliest known version of the idiom “the straw that broke the camel’s back” was written by the...
over a year ago
28
over a year ago
The earliest known version of the idiom “the straw that broke the camel’s back” was written by the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury in 1677, though it was concerned with horses and feathers: “The last Dictate of the Judgement, concerning the Good or Bad, that may...
Eukaryote Writes...
A love letter to civilian OSINT What is civilian OSINT, and could it be used altruistically?
over a year ago
Quantum Frontiers
A peek inside Northrop Grumman’s subatomic endeavors As the weather turns colder and we trade outdoor pools for pumpkin spice and then Christmas carols,...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
As the weather turns colder and we trade outdoor pools for pumpkin spice and then Christmas carols, perhaps you’re longing for summer’s warmth. For me, it is not just warmth I yearn for: This past summer, I worked as a … Continue reading →
Blog - Practical...
What’s the Deal with Base Plates? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] A lot of engineering focuses...
7 months ago
111
7 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] A lot of engineering focuses on structural members. How wide is this beam? How tall is this column? But some of the most important engineering decisions are in how to connect those members together. Take a...
NeuroLogica Blog
Birds Separately Evolved Complex Brains The evolution of the human brain is a fascinating subject. The brain is arguably the most complex...
4 months ago
33
4 months ago
The evolution of the human brain is a fascinating subject. The brain is arguably the most complex structure in the known (to us) universe, and is the feature that makes humanity unique and has allowed us to dominate (for good or ill) the fate of this planet. But of course we are...
Yale E360
Return of Trees to Eastern U.S. Is Fueling a Surge in Wildfires Trees and shrubs have proliferated in unmanaged forests in the eastern U.S. This growth, which marks...
6 months ago
4
6 months ago
Trees and shrubs have proliferated in unmanaged forests in the eastern U.S. This growth, which marks a return of trees to the region after centuries of deforestation, is fueling a new surge in wildfires, a study finds. Read more on E360 →
IEEE Spectrum
This Little Mars Rover Stayed Home Sojourner sent back photos of the Martian surface during the summer of 1997. I was not alone. The...
a month ago
15
a month ago
Sojourner sent back photos of the Martian surface during the summer of 1997. I was not alone. The servers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab slowed to a crawl when they got more than 47 million hits (a record number!) from people attempting to download those early images of the Red...
Yale E360
A Craze for Tiny Plants Is Driving a Poaching Crisis in South Africa South Africa’s Succulent Karoo is the most biodiverse arid region on the planet, with thousands of...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
South Africa’s Succulent Karoo is the most biodiverse arid region on the planet, with thousands of plants found nowhere else. But to meet a demand fueled by social media, criminal networks have been poaching these colorful succulents by the millions and smuggling them...
NeuroLogica Blog
More On Electric Vehicles I recently wrote about electric vehicles, which sparked a lively discussion in the comments. There...
a year ago
35
a year ago
I recently wrote about electric vehicles, which sparked a lively discussion in the comments. There was enough discussion that I wanted to pull my responses together into a new post. Before I get to the details, some general observations. The conversation, in my opinion, nicely...
Uncharted...
Final: So Where Should We Build Ten New Cities in the US? Final article in the series
5 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living Tissue After identifying interlocking symmetries in mammalian cells, scientists can describe some tissues...
a year ago
58
a year ago
After identifying interlocking symmetries in mammalian cells, scientists can describe some tissues as liquid crystals — an observation that lays the groundwork for a fluid-dynamic theory of how tissues move. The post Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living...
Quanta Magazine
Elliptic Curve ‘Murmurations’ Found With AI Take Flight Mathematicians are working to fully explain unusual behaviors uncovered using artificial...
a year ago
57
a year ago
Mathematicians are working to fully explain unusual behaviors uncovered using artificial intelligence. The post Elliptic Curve ‘Murmurations’ Found With AI Take Flight first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Some Common Mistakes to Avoid When Pitching Angels | Out-Of-Pocket With some real decks and emails!
a year ago
NeuroLogica Blog
The Neuroscience of Constructed Languages Language is an interesting neurological function to study. No animal other than humans has such a...
3 months ago
31
3 months ago
Language is an interesting neurological function to study. No animal other than humans has such a highly developed dedicated language processing area, or languages as complex and nuanced as humans. Although, whale language is more complex than we previously thought, but still not...
The Works in...
Gentrification as a housing problem The root cause of displacement is inflexible supply
12 months ago
Asterisk
They May as Well Grow on Trees The Future of Genetically Engineered Livestock
over a year ago
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
54
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...
Quanta Magazine
Concept Cells Help Your Brain Abstract Information and Build Memories Individual cells in the brain light up for specific ideas. These concept neurons, once known as...
5 months ago
57
5 months ago
Individual cells in the brain light up for specific ideas. These concept neurons, once known as “Jennifer Aniston cells,” help us think, imagine and remember episodes from our lives. The post Concept Cells Help Your Brain Abstract Information and Build Memories first...
Quanta Magazine
The Quest to Quantify Quantumness What makes a quantum computer more powerful than a classical computer? It’s a surprisingly subtle...
a year ago
22
a year ago
What makes a quantum computer more powerful than a classical computer? It’s a surprisingly subtle question that physicists are still grappling with, decades into the quantum age. The post The Quest to Quantify Quantumness first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
What Do Hospitals Care About? | Out-Of-Pocket Let’s look at three big priorities and a real hospital
5 months ago
Quanta Magazine
The Physicist Who’s Challenging the Quantum Orthodoxy For decades, physicists have struggled to develop a quantum theory of gravity. But what if gravity —...
over a year ago
102
over a year ago
For decades, physicists have struggled to develop a quantum theory of gravity. But what if gravity — and space-time — are fundamentally classical? The post The Physicist Who’s Challenging the Quantum Orthodoxy first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
Dimension 126 Contains Strangely Twisted Shapes, Mathematicians Prove A new proof represents the culmination of a 65-year-old story about anomalous shapes in special...
2 months ago
22
2 months ago
A new proof represents the culmination of a 65-year-old story about anomalous shapes in special dimensions. The post Dimension 126 Contains Strangely Twisted Shapes, Mathematicians Prove first appeared on Quanta Magazine
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
39
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
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...
over a year ago
58
over 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...
Quanta Magazine
Rational or Not? This Basic Math Question Took Decades to Answer. It’s surprisingly difficult to prove one of the most basic properties of a number: whether it can be...
6 months ago
77
6 months ago
It’s surprisingly difficult to prove one of the most basic properties of a number: whether it can be written as a fraction. A broad new method can help settle this ancient question. The post Rational or Not? This Basic Math Question Took Decades to Answer. first...
Quanta Magazine
Can AI Models Show Us How People Learn? Impossible Languages Point a Way. Certain grammatical rules never appear in any known language. By constructing artificial languages...
6 months ago
60
6 months ago
Certain grammatical rules never appear in any known language. By constructing artificial languages that have these rules, linguists can use neural networks to explore how people learn. The post Can AI Models Show Us How People Learn? Impossible Languages Point a Way....
Quanta Magazine
How Will We Know We’re Not Alone? The first planet beyond our solar system was identified just 30 years ago. Since then, thousands...
6 months ago
66
6 months ago
The first planet beyond our solar system was identified just 30 years ago. Since then, thousands have been found and characterized. As we look for more, exoplanet experts are also probing for signs of alien biospheres hundreds of light-years away. In this episode, co-host Janna...
Quanta Magazine
Are Robots About to Level Up? Today’s AI largely lives in computers, but acting and reacting in the real world — that’s the realm...
11 months ago
47
11 months ago
Today’s AI largely lives in computers, but acting and reacting in the real world — that’s the realm of robots. In this week’s episode, co-host Steven Strogatz talks with pioneering roboticist Daniela Rus about creativity, collaboration, and the unusual forms robots of the future...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Special Edition - WoW | Out-Of-Pocket World Of Warcraft vs. COVID-19
a year ago
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: Representation and human history Do shrunken heads belong in a museum?
over a year ago
Asterisk
Between the Lines: A History of the Most Important Concept in Global Poverty The global poverty line helps determine how billions of dollars in aid are allocated. But where did...
a year ago
13
a year ago
The global poverty line helps determine how billions of dollars in aid are allocated. But where did the idea of measuring poverty come from — and how might it be holding us back?
Damn Interesting
Much Ado About Adenoids Edmund Lawall must have felt cursed. He’d brought his family to New York in the late 1800s to carry...
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
Edmund Lawall must have felt cursed. He’d brought his family to New York in the late 1800s to carry on his father’s business as a pharmacist, but fate—or perhaps the city itself—seemed determined to drive him back out again. Lawall’s health had been in decline since their...
brr
South Pole Signage Please close doors quietly!
a year ago
Asterisk
Through the Looking Glass, and What Zheludev et al. (2024) Found There Every time microbiologists develop a new way of looking, they find that there’s more to see than...
a year ago
symmetry magazine
Spacetime: All the universe’s a stage In the 1900s, Albert Einstein unified the concepts of space and time, giving us a useful new way to...
a year ago
123
a year ago
In the 1900s, Albert Einstein unified the concepts of space and time, giving us a useful new way to picture the universe.
Quanta Magazine
The Lawlessness of Large Numbers Mathematicians can often figure out what happens as quantities grow infinitely large. What about...
over a year ago
44
over a year ago
Mathematicians can often figure out what happens as quantities grow infinitely large. What about when they are just a little big? The post The Lawlessness of Large Numbers first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
A Brief History of the World’s First Planetarium In 1912, Oskar von Miller, an electrical engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum, had an idea:...
a year ago
103
a year ago
In 1912, Oskar von Miller, an electrical engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum, had an idea: Could you project an artificial starry sky onto a dome, as a way of demonstrating astronomical principles to the public? It was such a novel concept that when von Miller approached...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
2024 Healthcare Predictions, Out-Of-Pocket Style | Out-Of-Pocket I'm not a fortune teller, I'm a fortune, teller
a year ago
NeuroLogica Blog
A Lifecycle Analysis of Electric Vehicles This article is part of my informal series on EVs, sorting through the claims, reality, and...
a year ago
35
a year ago
This article is part of my informal series on EVs, sorting through the claims, reality, and propaganda. There are many complicated factors to sort through, but overall, in my opinion, most concerns about EVs are outdated or overblown. There are definitely locations and use...
Quanta Magazine
The ‘Accidental Activist’ Who Changed the Face of Mathematics Throughout her 60-year career, Lenore Blum has developed new perspectives on logic and computation...
a year ago
33
a year 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...
Yale E360
Entries Invited for Yale Environment 360 Film Contest The 12th annual Yale Environment 360 Film Contest is now accepting entries. Read more on E360 →
3 months ago
Quanta Magazine
In a ‘Dark Dimension,’ Physicists Search for the Universe’s Missing Matter An idea derived from string theory suggests that dark matter is hiding in a (relatively) large extra...
a year ago
97
a year ago
An idea derived from string theory suggests that dark matter is hiding in a (relatively) large extra dimension. The theory makes testable predictions that physicists are investigating now. The post In a ‘Dark Dimension,’ Physicists Search for the Universe’s Missing...
Quanta Magazine
Plants Find Light Using Gaps Between Their Cells A mutant seedling revealed how plant tissues scatter incoming light, allowing plants to sense its...
a year ago
34
a year ago
A mutant seedling revealed how plant tissues scatter incoming light, allowing plants to sense its direction and move toward it. The post Plants Find Light Using Gaps Between Their Cells first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
A New Idea for How to Assemble Life If we want to understand complex constructions, such as ourselves, assembly theory says we must...
over a year ago
71
over a year ago
If we want to understand complex constructions, such as ourselves, assembly theory says we must account for the entire history of how such entities came to be. The post A New Idea for How to Assemble Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
How America Made Machines Make Machines A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
over a year ago
Quanta Magazine
New Sphere-Packing Record Stems From an Unexpected Source After just a few months of work, a complete newcomer to the world of sphere packing has solved one...
a week ago
15
a week ago
After just a few months of work, a complete newcomer to the world of sphere packing has solved one of its biggest open problems. The post New Sphere-Packing Record Stems From an Unexpected Source first appeared on Quanta Magazine
symmetry magazine
Muon g-2 doubles down with latest measurement, explores uncharted territory Fermilab's Muon g-2 experiment brings particle physics closer to a showdown between theory and...
a year ago
Quanta Magazine
Math’s ‘Game of Life’ Reveals Long-Sought Repeating Patterns John Conway’s Game of Life, a famous cellular automaton, has been found to have periodic patterns of...
a year ago
132
a year ago
John Conway’s Game of Life, a famous cellular automaton, has been found to have periodic patterns of every possible length. The post Math’s ‘Game of Life’ Reveals Long-Sought Repeating Patterns first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Chris Grossack's...
Talk -- What is Factorization Homology? I was recently invited to speak at the AMS Sectional in Tallahassee, Florida. In particular, at the...
a year ago
75
a year ago
I was recently invited to speak at the AMS Sectional in Tallahassee, Florida. In particular, at the special session on Homotopy Theory and Category Theory in Interaction. The conference was this weekend, and I’m typing this up on my plane ride home. I had a great time, and...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Pharmacies Inside-and-Out With John Capecelatro | Out-Of-Pocket How does a pharmacy actually work?
a year ago
Melting Asphalt
Outbreak Harry Stevens at The Washington Post recently published a very elegant simulation of how a disease...
over a year ago
32
over a year ago
Harry Stevens at The Washington Post recently published a very elegant simulation of how a disease like COVID-19 spreads. If you haven't already, I highly recommend checking it out. Today I want to follow up with something I've been working… Read more ›
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
38
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...
Quantum Frontiers
Memories of things past My best friend—who’s held the title of best friend since kindergarten—calls me the keeper of her...
over a year ago
45
over a year ago
My best friend—who’s held the title of best friend since kindergarten—calls me the keeper of her childhood memories. I recall which toys we played with, the first time I visited her house,1 and which beverages our classmates drank during snack … Continue reading →
Yale E360
Lightning Strikes the Arctic: What Will It Mean for the Far North? A warmer world is expected to bring more thunderstorms, especially at higher latitudes. Scientists...
3 weeks ago
2
3 weeks ago
A warmer world is expected to bring more thunderstorms, especially at higher latitudes. Scientists are now reporting a dramatic surge in lightning in the Far North and are scrambling to parse how this could affect wildfires, the chemistry of the atmosphere, and Arctic...
Wanderingspace
We don’t post enough Mars Scenic Views I mean… we don’t post enough in general.
over a year ago
IEEE Spectrum
Smellovision Gets a Refresh This article is part of our exclusive IEEE Journal Watch series in partnership with IEEE...
over a year ago
51
over 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...
NeuroLogica Blog
About Those Lab Leak Documents It was recently revealed that the House subcommittee probing the origins of COVID-19 accidentally...
over a year ago
33
over a year ago
It was recently revealed that the House subcommittee probing the origins of COVID-19 accidentally released a “trove” of documents related to their investigations. The documents include e-mails and internal communications among the scientists and experts who put together the first...
Yale E360
On a Dammed River, Amazon Villagers Fight to Restore the Flow Indigenous communities that rely on the natural flow of the Xingu River have long fought the Belo...
3 months ago
9
3 months ago
Indigenous communities that rely on the natural flow of the Xingu River have long fought the Belo Monte dam in Brazil. With the dam now up for relicensing, they are urging the government to allow more water to flow, which would help revive the river and their way of life. Read...
Quanta Magazine
Never-Repeating Tiles Can Safeguard Quantum Information Two researchers have proved that Penrose tilings, famous patterns that never repeat, are...
a year ago
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a year ago
Two researchers have proved that Penrose tilings, famous patterns that never repeat, are mathematically equivalent to a kind of quantum error correction. The post Never-Repeating Tiles Can Safeguard Quantum Information first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Join our events in your city Sydney, Washington DC, Madrid, and more – sign up now
3 months ago
Quanta Magazine
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
34
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
Confidently Wrong How certain are you of anything that you believe? Do you even think about your confidence level, and...
9 months ago
58
9 months ago
How certain are you of anything that you believe? Do you even think about your confidence level, and do you have a process for determining what your confidence level should be or do you just follow your gut feelings? Thinking about confidence is a form of metacognition – thinking...
Marine Madness
Culture Club: Time to let the cetaceans in? Up until recently, culture has been thought of as a primarily human characteristic. However, recent...
over a year ago
39
over a year ago
Up until recently, culture has been thought of as a primarily human characteristic. However, recent studies shine a light on the fact that non-human animals including Cetaceans (dolphins and whales), may also possess it. They live in tightly-knit social communities, exhibit...
Drew Ex Machina
The Hurricane Hunter Satellites: A Weather Nanosatellite Constellation As part of ongoing outreach efforts by Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA) to the meteorological...
2 months ago
32
2 months ago
As part of ongoing outreach efforts by Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA) to the meteorological community, TWA’s Chief Scientist, Andrew LePage, attended the National Tropical Weather Conference […]
NeuroLogica Blog
Carbon Fiber Structural Battery I have written previously about the concept of structural batteries, such as this recent post on a...
10 months ago
55
10 months ago
I have written previously about the concept of structural batteries, such as this recent post on a concrete battery. The basic idea is a battery made out of material that is strong enough that it can bare a load. Essentially we’re asking the material to do two things at once – be...
Drew Ex Machina
First Pictures: View of the Earth from NASA’s Explorer 6 – August 14, 1959 Today we take for granted that we can instantly access images of almost any part of the Earth taken...
11 months ago
91
11 months ago
Today we take for granted that we can instantly access images of almost any part of the Earth taken from space using an ever growing collection […]
NeuroLogica Blog
Diamond Batteries Again Why does news reporting of science and technology have to be so terrible at baseline? I know the...
7 months ago
69
7 months ago
Why does news reporting of science and technology have to be so terrible at baseline? I know the answers to this question – lack of expertise, lack of a business model to support dedicated science news infrastructure, the desire for click-bait and sensationalism – but it is still...
NeuroLogica Blog
Regret After Transitioning In my last post I noted that even mentioning general vague support for the LGBTQ community was...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
In my last post I noted that even mentioning general vague support for the LGBTQ community was enough to trigger very specific feedback, often making erroneous scientific claims. Each claim requires a deep dive and article-length discussion. Even though the discussion that...
Stephen Wolfram...
What’s Really Going On in Machine Learning? Some Minimal Models The Mystery of Machine Learning It’s surprising how little is known about the foundations of machine...
10 months ago
74
10 months ago
The Mystery of Machine Learning It’s surprising how little is known about the foundations of machine learning. Yes, from an engineering point of view, an immense amount has been figured out about how to build neural nets that do all kinds of impressive and sometimes almost...
Yale E360
Renewables Did Not Cause Spanish Blackout, Investigations Find In the aftermath of a massive blackout that hit Spain and Portugal in April, some pundits were quick...
3 weeks ago
2
3 weeks ago
In the aftermath of a massive blackout that hit Spain and Portugal in April, some pundits were quick to blame wind and solar for the loss of power. But official inquiries have found that a shortfall in conventional power led to the outages. Read more on E360 →
Blog - Practical...
How Railroad Crossings Work [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] If you’ve ever ridden a bike,...
a year ago
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a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] If you’ve ever ridden a bike, driven a car, or operated pretty much any other vehicle on earth, there’s a fact you’ve probably taken for granted: you can see farther than it takes to stop. Within the span...
Yale E360
In Mexico’s ‘Avocado Belt,’ Villagers Stand Up to Protect Their Lands A boom in avocado production in Mexico has led to illegal deforestation and an influx of drug...
2 months ago
6
2 months ago
A boom in avocado production in Mexico has led to illegal deforestation and an influx of drug cartels dominating the lucrative trade. But Indigenous communities have fought back against the gangs and turned to traditional practices to grow avocados and save their forests.  Read...
nanoscale views
Guide to faculty searches, 2024 edition As you can tell from my posting frequency lately, I have been unusually busy.  I hope to be writing...
8 months ago
13
8 months ago
As you can tell from my posting frequency lately, I have been unusually busy.  I hope to be writing about more condensed matter and nano science soon.   In the meantime, I realized that I have not re-posted or updated my primer on how tenure-track faculty searches work in physics...
The Roots of...
Making every researcher seek grants is a broken model When Galileo wanted to study the heavens through his telescope, he got money from those legendary...
a year ago
68
a year ago
When Galileo wanted to study the heavens through his telescope, he got money from those legendary patrons of the Renaissance, the Medici. To win their favor, when he discovered the moons of Jupiter, he named them the Medicean Stars. Other scientists and inventors offered flashy...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Should more people be using urgent care? | Out-Of-Pocket is the rise of urgent care a good or bad thing?
a year ago
IEEE Spectrum
The Forgotten History of Chinese Keyboards Today, typing in Chinese works by converting QWERTY keystrokes into Chinese characters via a...
a year ago
117
a year ago
Today, typing in Chinese works by converting QWERTY keystrokes into Chinese characters via a software interface, known as an input method editor. But this was not always the case. Thomas S. Mullaney’s new book, The Chinese Computer: A Global History of the Information Age,...
Quanta Magazine
How Noether’s Theorem Revolutionized Physics Emmy Noether showed that fundamental physical laws are just a consequence of simple symmetries. A...
5 months ago
40
5 months ago
Emmy Noether showed that fundamental physical laws are just a consequence of simple symmetries. A century later, her insights continue to shape physics. The post How Noether’s Theorem Revolutionized Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
How badly has NSF funding already been effectively cut? This NY Times feature lets you see how each piece of NSF's funding has been reduced this year...
a month ago
23
a month ago
This NY Times feature lets you see how each piece of NSF's funding has been reduced this year relative to the normalized average spanning in the last decade.  Note: this fiscal year, thanks to the continuing resolution, the actual agency budget has not actually been cut like...
NeuroLogica Blog
Biofrequency Gadgets are a Total Scam I was recently asked what I thought about the Solex AO Scan. The website for the product includes...
a year ago
63
a year ago
I was recently asked what I thought about the Solex AO Scan. The website for the product includes this claim: AO Scan Technology by Solex is an elegant, yet simple-to-use frequency technology based on Tesla, Einstein, and other prominent scientists’ discoveries. It uses delicate...
NeuroLogica Blog
Microbes Aboard the ISS As I have written many times, including in yesterday’s post, people occupying space is hard. The...
a year ago
35
a year ago
As I have written many times, including in yesterday’s post, people occupying space is hard. The environment of space, or really anywhere not on Earth, is harsh and unforgiving. One of the issues, for example, rarely addressed in science fiction or even discussions of space...
brr
Cape Crozier A nearby field camp, and my first helicopter flight!
over a year ago
Drew Ex Machina
NASA’s Viking Mission & The Search for Life on Mars: The Experiments For young space enthusiasts like myself growing up in the 1970s, NASA’s Viking mission to Mars was...
over a year ago
42
over a year ago
For young space enthusiasts like myself growing up in the 1970s, NASA’s Viking mission to Mars was one of the more exciting and memorable. The Viking […]
Sean Carroll
George B. Field, 1929-2024 George Field, brilliant theoretical astrophysicist and truly great human being, passed away on the...
11 months ago
83
11 months ago
George Field, brilliant theoretical astrophysicist and truly great human being, passed away on the morning of July 31. He was my Ph.D. thesis advisor and one of my favorite people in the world. I often tell my own students that the two most important people in your life who you...
Yale E360
In a First, Chimps Found Sharing Fermented Fruit For the first time, wild chimpanzees have been caught on film sharing fermented fruit. The footage...
2 months ago
5
2 months ago
For the first time, wild chimpanzees have been caught on film sharing fermented fruit. The footage comes from Cantanhez National Park in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau, where camera traps recorded chimps eating fermented breadfruit together on 10 separate...
Quanta Magazine
How Math Achieved Transcendence Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to...
over a year ago
67
over a year ago
Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to understand them. The post How Math Achieved Transcendence first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale E360
Brazilian Judge Orders Seizure of Illegally Cleared Lands A justice on the Brazilian Supreme Court has directed the government to seize private lands where...
2 months ago
6
2 months ago
A justice on the Brazilian Supreme Court has directed the government to seize private lands where forests have been illegally razed.  Read more on E360 →
Quantum Frontiers
Now published: Building Quantum Computers Building Quantum Computers: A Practical Introduction by Shayan Majidy, Christopher Wilson, and...
9 months ago
79
9 months ago
Building Quantum Computers: A Practical Introduction by Shayan Majidy, Christopher Wilson, and Raymond Laflamme has been published by Cambridge University Press and will be released in the US on September 30. The authors invited me to write a Foreword for … Continue reading →
Chris Grossack's...
Proving Another "Real Theorem" with Topos Theory Another day, another post that starts with “So I was on mse…”, lol. Somebody asked whether...
a year ago
51
a year ago
Another day, another post that starts with “So I was on mse…”, lol. Somebody asked whether maximizing over a compact set is a continuous thing to do. That is, given a continuous function $f : K \times X \to \mathbb{R}$ is the function $x \mapsto \max_{k \in K} f(k,x)$...
NeuroLogica Blog
Hybrid Biopolymer Transistors – Implications for Brain Machine Interface There are several technologies which seem likely to be transformative in the coming decades. Genetic...
a year ago
26
a year ago
There are several technologies which seem likely to be transformative in the coming decades. Genetic bioengineering gives us the ability to control the basic machinery of life, including ourselves. Artificial intelligence is a suite of active, learning, information tools....
Yale E360
Why U.S. Geothermal May Advance, Despite Political Headwinds The Trump administration is outwardly hostile to clean energy sourced from solar and wind. But...
2 weeks ago
2
2 weeks ago
The Trump administration is outwardly hostile to clean energy sourced from solar and wind. But thanks to close ties to the fossil fuel industry and new technological breakthroughs, U.S. geothermal power may survive the GOP assaults on support for renewables and even thrive. Read...
Quanta Magazine
How Math Has Changed the Shape of Gerrymandering New tools make it possible to detect hidden manipulation of maps. The post How Math Has...
over a year ago
86
over a year ago
New tools make it possible to detect hidden manipulation of maps. The post How Math Has Changed the Shape of Gerrymandering first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
Manufacturing Bliss A growing community centered on the Bay Area is rediscovering the jhanas, a meditation technique...
a year ago
16
a year ago
A growing community centered on the Bay Area is rediscovering the jhanas, a meditation technique that practitioners claim could upend how we think about the brain — and transform our lives in the process.
Yale E360
How Tearing Down Small Dams Is Helping Restore Northeast Rivers More than 30,000 small dams currently block river tributaries from Maine to Maryland. New...
5 months ago
2
5 months ago
More than 30,000 small dams currently block river tributaries from Maine to Maryland. New initiatives to remove them are aimed at restoring natural flows, improving habitat for aquatic life, and reopening thousands of river miles to migratory fish, from shad to American...
The Works in...
A walk down Victoria Street London’s mid-rise architecture
3 months ago
Asterisk
A User’s Guide to Building a Subculture First, you’re going to need something to care about.
8 months ago
Quanta Magazine
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
59
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
Yale E360
In California, Hummingbird Beaks Have Been Transformed by Feeders The profusion of hummingbird feeders in California homes has not only allowed some hummingbirds to...
a month ago
2
a month ago
The profusion of hummingbird feeders in California homes has not only allowed some hummingbirds to expand their range, but has also altered the shape of their beaks. Read more on E360 →
Uncharted...
Robotaxis Are Here Within 1-5 years, our daily transportation will be upended, and cities will be reshaped.
4 months ago
Yale E360
China's Disastrous Summer Floods Linked to Unusually Warm Spring in Tibet A new study links devastating summer floods in southern China to unusually warm spring weather over...
5 months ago
6
5 months ago
A new study links devastating summer floods in southern China to unusually warm spring weather over the Tibetan plateau. Read more on E360 →
NeuroLogica Blog
Woman with Catatonia for Years Wakes After Treatment The story of a woman, in a severe state of catatonia for years and “waking up” after being treated...
over a year ago
70
over a year ago
The story of a woman, in a severe state of catatonia for years and “waking up” after being treated for an autoimmune disease, is making the rounds and deserves a little bit of context. April Burrell was diagnosed with a severe form of schizophrenia resulting in catatonia, and has...
Yale E360
Can Toxic Mining Waste Help Remove CO2 from the Atmosphere? On the coast of Newfoundland, waste from a shuttered asbestos mine has been a troubling source of...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
On the coast of Newfoundland, waste from a shuttered asbestos mine has been a troubling source of contamination for decades. Now, a company plans to process the waste to draw CO2 from the air — one of several projects worldwide that aim to turn this liability into an asset. Read...