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Designing the First Apple Macintosh: The Engineers’ Story In 1979 the Macintosh personal computer existed only as the pet idea of Jef Raskin, a veteran of the...
2nd Jul 2023
44

Designing the First Apple Macintosh: The Engineers’ Story

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jul 2023
In 1979 the Macintosh personal computer existed only as the pet idea of Jef Raskin, a veteran of the Apple II team, who had proposed that Apple Computer Inc. make a low-cost “appliance”-type computer that would be as easy to use as a toaster. Mr. Raskin believed the computer he...
South Pole Signage Please close doors quietly!
23rd Jul 2023
28

South Pole Signage

from brr [alt+shift+b] in science

23rd Jul 2023
Please close doors quietly!
The Last Egg Five more months until freshies...
9th Jun 2023
76

The Last Egg

from brr [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Jun 2023
Five more months until freshies...
EUV lithography - a couple of quick links Welcome to the new year! I've written previously (see here, item #3) about the extreme ultraviolet...
2nd Jan 2026
1

EUV lithography - a couple of quick links

from nanoscale views [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jan 2026
Welcome to the new year! I've written previously (see here, item #3) about the extreme ultraviolet lithography tools used in modern computer chip fabrication.   These machines are incredible, the size of a railway car, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars each.  Veritasium...
When RAND Made Magic in Santa Monica RAND’s halcyon days lasted two decades, during which the corporation produced some of the most...
1st Jun 2024
27

When RAND Made Magic in Santa Monica

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jun 2024
RAND’s halcyon days lasted two decades, during which the corporation produced some of the most influential developments in science and American foreign policy. So how did it become just another think tank?
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...
18th Mar 2023
64

Special Database 18: 3,248 Mugshots Used for Training Image Recognition Systems

from Beautiful Public Data [alt+shift+b] in science

18th Mar 2023
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.
Perseid Meteor Shower Aug 12-13, 2023 We make suggestions for how best to see the 2023 Perseid meteor shower. The post Perseid Meteor...
5th Aug 2023
34

Perseid Meteor Shower Aug 12-13, 2023

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Aug 2023
We make suggestions for how best to see the 2023 Perseid meteor shower. The post Perseid Meteor Shower Aug 12-13, 2023 appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
Are All the Good Men Married? Why do married men earn so much? Is it because the good men get married, or does marriage make men...
13th Sep 2025
1

Are All the Good Men Married?

from Cremieux Recueil [alt+shift+b] in science

13th Sep 2025
Why do married men earn so much? Is it because the good men get married, or does marriage make men good?
Do Apes Have a Theory of Mind Designing research studies to determine what is going on inside the minds of animals is extremely...
4th Feb 2025
47

Do Apes Have a Theory of Mind

from NeuroLogica Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Feb 2025
Designing research studies to determine what is going on inside the minds of animals is extremely challenging. The literature is littered with past studies that failed to properly control for all variables and thereby overinterpreted the results. The challenge is that we cannot...
Rick Doblin: Transformational Psychedelics Humans have consumed psychedelics for at least the last 10,000 years. The outlawing of psychedelics...
11th Jun 2020
1

Rick Doblin: Transformational Psychedelics

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

11th Jun 2020
Humans have consumed psychedelics for at least the last 10,000 years. The outlawing of psychedelics in most of the world in the 20th century didn’t stop that, but it did put an end to promising research into their psychotherapeutic applications to treat depression, addiction,...
6 Questions You Asked Yourself about Solar How fast will it take over, how fast are costs shrinking, why is it so cheap, what industries will...
2nd Nov 2024
43

6 Questions You Asked Yourself about Solar

from Uncharted Territories [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Nov 2024
How fast will it take over, how fast are costs shrinking, why is it so cheap, what industries will it birth, how much surface will it take up, where will it appear first?
When Does Life Begin? What *actually* makes conception special?
15th Jul 2022
31

When Does Life Begin?

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Jul 2022
What *actually* makes conception special?
Steam networks New York’s skyscrapers soar above a century-old steam network that still warms the city. While the...
13th Mar 2025
1

Steam networks

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

13th Mar 2025
New York’s skyscrapers soar above a century-old steam network that still warms the city. While the rest of the world moved to hot water, Manhattanites still buy steam by the megapound.
Every US Electrical Outlet Explained [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] I love the periodic table of...
15th Sep 2026
-2

Every US Electrical Outlet Explained

from Blog - Practical Engineering [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Sep 2026
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] I love the periodic table of the elements. I love it because it reveals the deeper order of what seems like an otherwise wildly disparate collection of atoms with different physical forms, chemical properties,...
How a Human Smell Receptor Works Is Finally Revealed After decades of frustration, researchers have finally determined how an airborne scent molecule...
1st May 2023
158

How a Human Smell Receptor Works Is Finally Revealed

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

1st May 2023
After decades of frustration, researchers have finally determined how an airborne scent molecule links to a human smell receptor. The post How a Human Smell Receptor Works Is Finally Revealed first appeared on Quanta Magazine
What’s Coming in the Sky in 2026? We review what's coming in the sky and in space exploration for 2026 The post What’s Coming in the...
11th Jan 2026
1

What’s Coming in the Sky in 2026?

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

11th Jan 2026
We review what's coming in the sky and in space exploration for 2026 The post What’s Coming in the Sky in 2026? appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
‘World Models,’ an Old Idea in AI, Mount a Comeback You’re carrying around in your head a model of how the world works. Will AI systems need to do the...
2nd Sep 2025
53

‘World Models,’ an Old Idea in AI, Mount a Comeback

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Sep 2025
You’re carrying around in your head a model of how the world works. Will AI systems need to do the same? The post ‘World Models,’ an Old Idea in AI, Mount a Comeback first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Making of an Elite: Japanese Christians Why are Japanese elites so likely to be Christian when Japan is a 99% non-Christian country?
7th Nov 2025
1

The Making of an Elite: Japanese Christians

from Cremieux Recueil [alt+shift+b] in science

7th Nov 2025
Why are Japanese elites so likely to be Christian when Japan is a 99% non-Christian country?
Philip Rosedale: 'Second Life:' What Do We Learn If We Digitize EVERYTHING? ### 2nd Life takes off What is real life coming to owe digital life? After a couple years in the...
1st Dec 2006
2
1st Dec 2006
### 2nd Life takes off What is real life coming to owe digital life? After a couple years in the flat part of exponential growth, the steep part is now arriving for the massive multi-player online world construction kit called "Second Life." With 1.7 million accounts,...
Wandering Space Rocks Help Solve Mysteries of Planet Formation After an interstellar asteroid shot past the sun, scientists realized that there’s probably a lot of...
2nd Jul 2020
1

Wandering Space Rocks Help Solve Mysteries of Planet Formation

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jul 2020
After an interstellar asteroid shot past the sun, scientists realized that there’s probably a lot of itinerant rocks out there. The post Wandering Space Rocks Help Solve Mysteries of Planet Formation first appeared on Quanta Magazine
A Home Battery Revolution Is Reshaping the Power Grid As residential batteries have become more energy dense, cheaper, and smaller, more households are...
1st Jul 2026
1

A Home Battery Revolution Is Reshaping the Power Grid

from Yale E360 [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jul 2026
As residential batteries have become more energy dense, cheaper, and smaller, more households are storing their excess solar power. Now, utilities and energy companies in dozens of countries are buying up those electrons, bundling them together, and using them to balance the...
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...
1st Feb 2024
141
1st Feb 2024
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...
16th Jan 2025
Peatland restoration – ploughing for plovers. Commercial forestry was never a good option for the wet peatlands of northeast Scotland, with...
16th Aug 2025
41

Peatland restoration – ploughing for plovers.

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Aug 2025
Commercial forestry was never a good option for the wet peatlands of northeast Scotland, with planting financed by tax subsidies and sold on the mantra of ‘rural jobs’. The trees did not grow well and, thirty years on, more government money started to be spent to restore the same...
The beauty of concrete Why are buildings today simple and austere, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately...
17th May 2024
1

The beauty of concrete

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

17th May 2024
Why are buildings today simple and austere, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately ornamented? The answer is not the cost of labor.
Advancing antivenom Snakebites kill between 80,000 and 140,000 people every year. Better antivenom should be a high...
8th Dec 2022
1

Advancing antivenom

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Dec 2022
Snakebites kill between 80,000 and 140,000 people every year. Better antivenom should be a high priority – thankfully new technology can help.
Interview: Ted Nordhaus on ecomodernism Are technology and the environment friends or foes? In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss...
20th May 2021
1

Interview: Ted Nordhaus on ecomodernism

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

20th May 2021
Are technology and the environment friends or foes? In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss climate policy, activism and ecomodernism with Ted Nordhaus.
The two views of rationality This essay is part of the series in which I talk about my learnings and insights building a habit...
1st Mar 2026
1

The two views of rationality

from Inverted Passion [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Mar 2026
This essay is part of the series in which I talk about my learnings and insights building a habit coaching app (Nintee) in 2024. It didn’t ultimately work out because an app has marginal influence in a human’s life (v/s that of friends, family, culture and immediate environment)....
Solar Is Booming Solar power as a source of electricity has been on a meteoric rise, and has crossed some encouraging...
1st Sep 2026
1

Solar Is Booming

from NeuroLogica Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Sep 2026
Solar power as a source of electricity has been on a meteoric rise, and has crossed some encouraging milestone recently. Every way you look at it, solar is booming. This is driven primarily by the decrease in the cost of adding solar power, so let’s start there. The Berkley Lab...
Notes on Progress: An environmentalist gets lunch Why being an effective environmentalist can often feel like being a bad one
5th Sep 2022
49

Notes on Progress: An environmentalist gets lunch

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Sep 2022
Why being an effective environmentalist can often feel like being a bad one
Jesse Ausubel: Nature is Rebounding ### Why nature is rebounding Over the last 40 years, in nearly every field, human productivity has...
14th Jan 2015
1

Jesse Ausubel: Nature is Rebounding

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

14th Jan 2015
### Why nature is rebounding Over the last 40 years, in nearly every field, human productivity has _decoupled_ from resource use, Ausubel began. Even though our prosperity and population continue to increase, the trends show _decreasing_ use of energy, water, land, material...
High-Temperature Superconductivity Understood at Last A new atomic-scale experiment all but settles the origin of the strong form of superconductivity...
1st Feb 2023
1

High-Temperature Superconductivity Understood at Last

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Feb 2023
A new atomic-scale experiment all but settles the origin of the strong form of superconductivity seen in cuprate crystals, confirming a 35-year-old theory. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Quasi Motion” by Kevin MacLeod.
DNA of Giant ‘Corpse Flower’ Parasite Surprises Biologists The bizarre genome of the world’s most mysterious flowering plants shows how far parasites will go...
5th Aug 2021
1

DNA of Giant ‘Corpse Flower’ Parasite Surprises Biologists

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Aug 2021
The bizarre genome of the world’s most mysterious flowering plants shows how far parasites will go in stealing, deleting and duplicating DNA. The post DNA of Giant ‘Corpse Flower’ Parasite Surprises Biologists first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Problem With Richard Dawkins How should we view The Selfish Gene 50 years on?
22nd Apr 2023
32

The Problem With Richard Dawkins

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd Apr 2023
How should we view The Selfish Gene 50 years on?
Anne Heggli, Jonathon Keats, & Adam Csank: Art & Science at the Nevada Bristlecone Preserve In a remote corner of the driest state in the country, Anne Heggli's team has been keeping watch...
a week ago
1
a week ago
In a remote corner of the driest state in the country, Anne Heggli's team has been keeping watch over some of Earth’s oldest beings. Since 02012, Heggli’s NevCAN network has recorded conditions at the Nevada Bristlecone Preserve every eight minutes. The result is more than 120...
Scientists Re-Create the Microbial Dance That Sparked Complex Life Evolution was fueled by endosymbiosis, cellular alliances in which one microbe makes a permanent...
2nd Jan 2025
83

Scientists Re-Create the Microbial Dance That Sparked Complex Life

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jan 2025
Evolution was fueled by endosymbiosis, cellular alliances in which one microbe makes a permanent home inside another. For the first time, biologists made it happen in the lab. The post Scientists Re-Create the Microbial Dance That Sparked Complex Life first appeared...
The Army and Navy Style Guides These fascinating Army and Navy brand style guides define the look, feel and voice of our armed...
4th Oct 2023
168

The Army and Navy Style Guides

from Beautiful Public Data [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Oct 2023
These fascinating Army and Navy brand style guides define the look, feel and voice of our armed forces.
Kevin Kelly: Technium Unbound ## Holos Rising When Kevin Kelly looked up the definition of “superorganism” on Wikipedia, he found...
13th Nov 2014
1

Kevin Kelly: Technium Unbound

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

13th Nov 2014
## Holos Rising When Kevin Kelly looked up the definition of “superorganism” on Wikipedia, he found this: “A collection of agents which can act in concert to produce phenomena governed by the collective.” The source cited was Kevin Kelly, in his 01994 book, Out of Control. His...
Could There Be Laws Of Biology? Physics has such nice equations and universal laws. Could we ever expect to find similar principles...
10th Mar 2023
40

Could There Be Laws Of Biology?

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Mar 2023
Physics has such nice equations and universal laws. Could we ever expect to find similar principles or axioms for biology?
A look at Britain’s new DARPA ARIA is the UK’s visionary new scientific funding body. It has £800m and the freedom to make big...
10th Feb 2023
1

A look at Britain’s new DARPA

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Feb 2023
ARIA is the UK’s visionary new scientific funding body. It has £800m and the freedom to make big bold bets on the scientific trajectories it thinks will benefit Britain – and change the future. We interviewed chief executive Ilan Gur and chairman Matt Clifford, to better...
Peter Schwartz: The Art Of The Really Long View ### The art of the really long view For such a weighty subject there was a lot of guffawing going...
13th Dec 2003
1

Peter Schwartz: The Art Of The Really Long View

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

13th Dec 2003
### The art of the really long view For such a weighty subject there was a lot of guffawing going on in the Seminar Thursday night. The topic was "The Art of the Really Long View." Peter Schwartz chatted through his slides for tonight's lecture, then the discussion waded in....
Let the great world spin I first heard the song “Fireflies,” by Owl City, shortly after my junior year of college. During the...
12th Jun 2023
58

Let the great world spin

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

12th Jun 2023
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 →
Larry Brilliant, Richard Rockefeller, & Katherine Fulton: The Deeper News About the New... ### Philanthropic stamina 10,000 families in the US, Katherine Fulton reported, have assets of $100...
4th Nov 2006
1
4th Nov 2006
### Philanthropic stamina 10,000 families in the US, Katherine Fulton reported, have assets of $100 million or more. That's up from 7,000 just a couple years ago. Most of that money is "on the sidelines." The poor and the middle class are far more generous in their philanthropy,...
Announcing Think Stats 3e The third edition of Think Stats is on its way to the printer! You can preorder now from...
6th Apr 2025
51

Announcing Think Stats 3e

from Probably Overthinking It [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Apr 2025
The third edition of Think Stats is on its way to the printer! You can preorder now from Bookshop.org and Amazon (those are affiliate links), or if you can’t wait to get a paper copy, you can read the free, online version here. Here’s the new cover, still featuring a...
What Can We Gain by Losing Infinity? Most mathematicians take the notion of infinity for granted — it’s deeply rooted in math’s most...
5th May 2026
1

What Can We Gain by Losing Infinity?

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

5th May 2026
Most mathematicians take the notion of infinity for granted — it’s deeply rooted in math’s most fundamental assumptions. But a small group of researchers hopes to banish infinity completely. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with math editor Jordana...
Why didn’t suicides rise during Covid? Covid-19 brought death, suffering and financial straits, so it was unsurprising that depression rose...
20th May 2021
1

Why didn’t suicides rise during Covid?

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

20th May 2021
Covid-19 brought death, suffering and financial straits, so it was unsurprising that depression rose around the world. But when the data came in, we found suicide did not – and it’s a mystery why.
A World Without Clouds A state-of-the-art supercomputer simulation indicates that a feedback loop between global warming...
2nd Jan 2020
1

A World Without Clouds

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jan 2020
A state-of-the-art supercomputer simulation indicates that a feedback loop between global warming and cloud loss can push Earth’s climate past a disastrous tipping point in as little as a century. The post A World Without Clouds first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The end of lead How a single taxi ride saved millions of lives
3rd Jul 2025
41

The end of lead

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Jul 2025
How a single taxi ride saved millions of lives
Balancing cube This cube manages to balance itself on a corner, and can simultaneously rotate around its axis in a...
10th Feb 2024
56

Balancing cube

from Willem Pennings [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Feb 2024
This cube manages to balance itself on a corner, and can simultaneously rotate around its axis in a controlled manner. It does so using clever controls and a set of three reaction wheels. The original idea for this device comes from researchers at ETH Zürich, who demonstrate...
USAF Project Able-1: The First Attempt to Reach the Moon In the years leading up to the beginning of the Space Age, there were many studies made in the West...
17th Aug 2022
47

USAF Project Able-1: The First Attempt to Reach the Moon

from Drew Ex Machina [alt+shift+b] in science

17th Aug 2022
In the years leading up to the beginning of the Space Age, there were many studies made in the West about lunar missions which gripped the […]
Things I Learned at the 2025 Progress Conference Neural Implants with Actual Neurons, Drone Delivery, Freedom of Speech and AI, Fact-Checking...
3rd Dec 2025
1

Things I Learned at the 2025 Progress Conference

from Uncharted Territories [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Dec 2025
Neural Implants with Actual Neurons, Drone Delivery, Freedom of Speech and AI, Fact-Checking Tech, When AI Will Manage Entire Companies, Ecoterrorists Could Stop Global Warming, and more
What I’ve been reading, September 2023 A quasi-monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them...
6th Sep 2023
313

What I’ve been reading, September 2023

from The Roots of Progress | Articles [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Sep 2023
A quasi-monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests. I’ve been busy helping to choose the first cohort of our blogging fellowship, so my reading has been relatively light. All emphasis in bold in the quotes...
Can Biology Be Reduced To Physics? "Physics is the most fundamental and all-inclusive of the sciences." Or is it?
11th Nov 2022
41

Can Biology Be Reduced To Physics?

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

11th Nov 2022
"Physics is the most fundamental and all-inclusive of the sciences." Or is it?
Things you can do with diodes Paying homage to the component we usually don't think about.
2nd Nov 2025
1

Things you can do with diodes

from lcamtuf’s thing [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Nov 2025
Paying homage to the component we usually don't think about.
WWII Japanese Mass Incarceration collections Haunting photos and documents document a shameful chapter of America’s history—the forced...
18th Mar 2025
65

WWII Japanese Mass Incarceration collections

from Beautiful Public Data [alt+shift+b] in science

18th Mar 2025
Haunting photos and documents document a shameful chapter of America’s history—the forced displacement and incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII.
Suhanya Raffel: World Art Through The Asian Perspective Coming to the fore in this century is Asian perspective on everything. A thrilling place to watch...
21st Oct 2019
1

Suhanya Raffel: World Art Through The Asian Perspective

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

21st Oct 2019
Coming to the fore in this century is Asian perspective on everything. A thrilling place to watch the shift is in art. Extraordinary contemporary art from all over the world, especially Asia, has been collected for the new world-class museum in Hong Kong called M+. The massive...
Just bury your trash What if everything we know about recycling is wrong?
1st Sep 2026
1

Just bury your trash

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Sep 2026
What if everything we know about recycling is wrong?
James Holland Jones: The Science of Climate Fiction: Can Stories Lead to Social Action? The warming planet is increasingly the subject of all kinds of fiction. Beyond entertainment or...
4th Apr 2019
1
4th Apr 2019
The warming planet is increasingly the subject of all kinds of fiction. Beyond entertainment or distraction could climate fiction (“Cli-Fi”) actually help us in solving the climate dilemma? Biological anthropologist and environmental scientist [James Holland...
Bacterial Complexity Revises Ideas About ‘Which Came First?’ Contrary to popular belief, bacteria have organelles too. Scientists are now studying them for...
7th May 2020
1

Bacterial Complexity Revises Ideas About ‘Which Came First?’

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

7th May 2020
Contrary to popular belief, bacteria have organelles too. Scientists are now studying them for insights into how complex cells evolved. The post Bacterial Complexity Revises Ideas About ‘Which Came First?’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine
How AI Will Change Media Work with me to make it happen
3rd Apr 2026
1

How AI Will Change Media

from Uncharted Territories [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Apr 2026
Work with me to make it happen
Good posts from the Inkhaven blogging residency Cannot stress this enough: literally everyone at the writing residency was good at this. Maybe...
28th Feb 2026
1

Good posts from the Inkhaven blogging residency

from Eukaryote Writes Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

28th Feb 2026
Cannot stress this enough: literally everyone at the writing residency was good at this. Maybe you'll find a new favorite blog among these.
The Refugee Reality: Thinking Long-term About the Evolving Global Challenge With a complex and truly global problem like this, we can only scratch the surface in an hour. But...
1st Oct 2017
1
1st Oct 2017
With a complex and truly global problem like this, we can only scratch the surface in an hour. But we hoped to reframe some aspects and include perspectives not always heard. What's certain is this is a long-term problem that has been ongoing and looks likely to worsen due to...
Inland feeding by coastal godwits Species such as Dunlin and Knot are well-served by conservation measures that aim to protect...
10th Nov 2022
54

Inland feeding by coastal godwits

from wadertales [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Nov 2022
Species such as Dunlin and Knot are well-served by conservation measures that aim to protect estuaries but the same is not necessarily true for Black-tailed Godwits. In a 2022 paper in the journal Wader Study, Clément Jourdan and colleagues describe the movements of ten tagged...
What Are My Politics? And my unrefined thoughts on US politics
1st Apr 2025
44

What Are My Politics?

from Uncharted Territories [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Apr 2025
And my unrefined thoughts on US politics
Annual Nobel speculation thread It’s that time of year again.  The physics Nobel will be announced next Tuesday, and the chemistry...
1st Oct 2025
1

Annual Nobel speculation thread

from nanoscale views [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Oct 2025
It’s that time of year again.  The physics Nobel will be announced next Tuesday, and the chemistry prize on Wednesday.  Who will it be this time?  Please speculate in the comments.  As is my annual futile tradition, I will put forward that the physics prize could...
Watt lies beneath The earth’s core is hot. So hot, that if we drilled deep enough, we could power the world millions...
15th Nov 2023
1

Watt lies beneath

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Nov 2023
The earth’s core is hot. So hot, that if we drilled deep enough, we could power the world millions of times over with cheap, clean energy, supporting renewables when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. But getting there is tough.
Susan Freinkel: Eternal Plastic ### Making plastic even better Plastic is so new, Freinkel began, that among all the objects...
23rd May 2012
1

Susan Freinkel: Eternal Plastic

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

23rd May 2012
### Making plastic even better Plastic is so new, Freinkel began, that among all the objects preserved in the sunken _Titanic_ , none are synthetic plastic, because there was hardly any available in 1912. Natural plastic, however, was a familiar material. Amber was popular....
Detecting Online Predatory Journals The World Wide Web has proven to be a transformative communication technology (we are using it right...
2nd Sep 2025
37

Detecting Online Predatory Journals

from NeuroLogica Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Sep 2025
The World Wide Web has proven to be a transformative communication technology (we are using it right now). At the same time there have been some rather negative unforeseen consequences. Significantly lowering the threshold for establishing a communications outlet has democratized...
Planning for your midlife crisis Yesterday I presented a talk at ODSC East 2026, called “Counterfactual Analysis with Bayesian...
1st May 2026
3

Planning for your midlife crisis

from Probably Overthinking It [alt+shift+b] in science

1st May 2026
Yesterday I presented a talk at ODSC East 2026, called “Counterfactual Analysis with Bayesian Models: What Drives the Life Expectancy Gap?” Here’s the abstract Across nearly every country in the world, women live longer than men—but the size of this gap varies from about two...
The Hidden Engineering of Liquid Dampers in Skyscrapers [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] There’s a new trend in...
1st Jul 2025
54

The Hidden Engineering of Liquid Dampers in Skyscrapers

from Blog - Practical Engineering [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jul 2025
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] There’s a new trend in high-rise building design. Maybe you’ve seen this in your city. The best lots are all taken, so developers are stretching the limits to make use of space that isn’t always ideal for...
The Rise and Fall of 3M’s Floppy Disk A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the...
2nd Apr 2024
82

The Rise and Fall of 3M’s Floppy Disk

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Apr 2024
A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the end of the long tail. if you look on 3M’s own website, you will see no mention of this legacy—it’s a firm that sells abrasive materials, adhesive tapes, filters, films, personal...
AI After Drug Development Coming up with drug candidates isn’t the bottleneck on finding new treatments. Can AI help with the...
1st Jan 1970
1

AI After Drug Development

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jan 1970
Coming up with drug candidates isn’t the bottleneck on finding new treatments. Can AI help with the things that are?
Why frontier labs are scaling-pilled Investors underwrite scaling laws because the alternative (having an Einstein discover better...
14th Jul 2026
1

Why frontier labs are scaling-pilled

from Inverted Passion [alt+shift+b] in science

14th Jul 2026
Investors underwrite scaling laws because the alternative (having an Einstein discover better algorithms) is high variance What would it take to make progress towards general intelligence, where general stands for any problem that might arise in our world? Since our world is big...
To Make Sense of the Present, Brains May Predict the Future A controversial theory suggests that perception, motor control, memory and other brain functions all...
9th May 2019
1

To Make Sense of the Present, Brains May Predict the Future

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

9th May 2019
A controversial theory suggests that perception, motor control, memory and other brain functions all depend on comparisons between ongoing actual experiences and the brain’s modeled expectations. The post To Make Sense of the Present, Brains May Predict the Future...
Mo’ heights mo’ challenges – Climbing mount grad school My wife’s love of mountain hiking and my interest in quantum thermodynamics collided in Telluride,...
4th Oct 2022
56

Mo’ heights mo’ challenges – Climbing mount grad school

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Oct 2022
My wife’s love of mountain hiking and my interest in quantum thermodynamics collided in Telluride, Colorado. We spent ten days in Telluride, where I spoke at the Information Engines at the Frontiers of Nanoscale Thermodynamics workshop. Telluride is a gorgeous … Continue reading...
Notes on Progress: A tale of two particles Not all radioactivity is risky or harmful
5th Dec 2022
49

Notes on Progress: A tale of two particles

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Dec 2022
Not all radioactivity is risky or harmful
San Diego Photologs from the 1970s A collection of beautiful, high-resolution photolog scans reveals a colorful world of pastel-colored...
23rd Jun 2026
1

San Diego Photologs from the 1970s

from Beautiful Public Data [alt+shift+b] in science

23rd Jun 2026
A collection of beautiful, high-resolution photolog scans reveals a colorful world of pastel-colored cars and whimsical signage.
The Math of Catastrophe Around 6,000 years ago, the Sahara was a lush grassland. Then, as if a switch flipped, it began to...
14th Oct 2025
1

The Math of Catastrophe

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

14th Oct 2025
Around 6,000 years ago, the Sahara was a lush grassland. Then, as if a switch flipped, it began to dry out, becoming the desert that we know today. Tipping points are moments in Earth’s history where gradual change suddenly becomes rapid and forms a new equilibrium. They’re one...
How Herbicide Drift from Farms Is Harming Trees in Midwest Researchers are starting to pay closer attention to the widespread damage wrought by agricultural...
25th Apr 2025
5

How Herbicide Drift from Farms Is Harming Trees in Midwest

from Yale E360 [alt+shift+b] in science

25th Apr 2025
Researchers are starting to pay closer attention to the widespread damage wrought by agricultural herbicides. Drifting sprays may not kill trees, shrubs, and other nontarget plants outright, but experts believe they are making them vulnerable to insects, fungi, and disease. Read...
Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex A new suggestion that complexity increases over time, not just in living organisms but in the...
2nd Apr 2025
56

Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Apr 2025
A new suggestion that complexity increases over time, not just in living organisms but in the nonliving world, promises to rewrite notions of time and evolution. The post Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Statins and Strength Does lowering your LDL and saving your heart mean sacrificing muscular strength? No.
6th May 2026
1

Statins and Strength

from Cremieux Recueil [alt+shift+b] in science

6th May 2026
Does lowering your LDL and saving your heart mean sacrificing muscular strength? No.
Alaska Wolf Found With Record Amount of Mercury, a Sign of Growing Contamination When Alaska’s wolves began eating sea otters, it looked like a story of adaptation. Then they...
2nd Jan 2026
1
2nd Jan 2026
When Alaska’s wolves began eating sea otters, it looked like a story of adaptation. Then they started getting sick. Read more on E360 →
Peter Schwartz: The Starships ARE Coming ### Starship destiny We now know, Schwartz began, that nearly all of the billions of stars in our...
18th Sep 2013
1

Peter Schwartz: The Starships ARE Coming

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

18th Sep 2013
### Starship destiny We now know, Schwartz began, that nearly all of the billions of stars in our galaxy have planets. If we can master interstellar travel, "there’s someplace to go." Our own solar system is pretty boring---one planet is habitable, the rest are "like Antarctica...
Recommendation: reports on the search for missing hiker Bill Ewasko How to find someone who has died in the wilderness.
31st Jul 2024
113

Recommendation: reports on the search for missing hiker Bill Ewasko

from Eukaryote Writes Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

31st Jul 2024
How to find someone who has died in the wilderness.
Mapping the Sea Floor USGS research vessels equipped with cameras, sonar and scanners created a map of 125 square miles of...
29th Dec 2022
87

Mapping the Sea Floor

from Beautiful Public Data [alt+shift+b] in science

29th Dec 2022
USGS research vessels equipped with cameras, sonar and scanners created a map of 125 square miles of the sea floor off Cape Ann, MA.
In an Already Broiling Summer, El Niño Is About to Turn Up the Heat El Niño is expected to intensify in the weeks ahead, fueling more severe heat across the globe,...
3rd Aug 2026
1
3rd Aug 2026
El Niño is expected to intensify in the weeks ahead, fueling more severe heat across the globe, according to the U.N. World Meteorological Organization. The forecast comes as blistering heat shatters temperature records from Europe to Asia. Read more on E360 →
Who Can Understand the Proof? A Window on Formalized Mathematics Related writings: “Logic, Explainability and the Future of Understanding” (2018) » “The...
9th Jan 2025
161

Who Can Understand the Proof? A Window on Formalized Mathematics

from Stephen Wolfram Writings [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Jan 2025
Related writings: “Logic, Explainability and the Future of Understanding” (2018) » “The Physicalization of Metamathematics and Its Implications for the Foundations of Mathematics” (2022) » “Computational Knowledge and the Future of Pure Mathematics” (2014) » The Simplest Axiom...
Flipping the switch on far-UVC We’ve known about far-UVC’s promise for a decade. Why isn't it everywhere?
10th Mar 2025
47

Flipping the switch on far-UVC

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Mar 2025
We’ve known about far-UVC’s promise for a decade. Why isn't it everywhere?
How the Computer Graphics Industry Got Started at the University of Utah Animation has come a long way since 1900, when J. Stuart Blackton created The Enchanted Drawing, the...
9th Jun 2023
30

How the Computer Graphics Industry Got Started at the University of Utah

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Jun 2023
Animation has come a long way since 1900, when J. Stuart Blackton created The Enchanted Drawing, the earliest known animated film. The 90-second movie was created using stop-motion techniques, as flat characters, props, and backgrounds were drawn on an easel or made from...
Eukaryote Skips Town – why I’m leaving DC I’m hesitant to write this piece because it’s directly about my EA ambitions, and I’ve talked to a...
26th Mar 2025
63

Eukaryote Skips Town – why I’m leaving DC

from Eukaryote Writes Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

26th Mar 2025
I’m hesitant to write this piece because it’s directly about my EA ambitions, and I’ve talked to a lot of EAs trying to get into biosecurity who want advice, and I have no idea what they should take away from my story or if any of this should be taken as any kind of advice.
Speciesquest 2026 A multiplayer distributed game where you find as many species in a year as you can.
31st Dec 2025
2

Speciesquest 2026

from Eukaryote Writes Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

31st Dec 2025
A multiplayer distributed game where you find as many species in a year as you can.
Get your fine, handcrafted artisanal essays right here I don’t use AI to draft my writing. These are fine handcrafted artisanal essays, every word placed...
10th Jun 2026
1

Get your fine, handcrafted artisanal essays right here

from The Roots of Progress [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Jun 2026
I don’t use AI to draft my writing. These are fine handcrafted artisanal essays, every word placed individually with loving care. I use AI a lot for researching, occasionally for brainstorming, and increasingly for fact-checking. But not for outlining, drafting, or directly...
Don’t Bet on the Super Bowl If you have studied probability, you might be familiar with fractional odds, which represent the...
8th Feb 2026
2

Don’t Bet on the Super Bowl

from Probably Overthinking It [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Feb 2026
If you have studied probability, you might be familiar with fractional odds, which represent the ratio of the probability something happens to the probability it doesn’t. For example, if the Seahawks have a 75% chance of winning the Super Bowl, they have a 25% chance of losing,...
Haunted by the ghosts of materialism Is philosophy real? We sent our correspondent to find out.
2 weeks ago
1

Haunted by the ghosts of materialism

from lcamtuf’s thing [alt+shift+b] in science

2 weeks ago
Is philosophy real? We sent our correspondent to find out.
Organisms Are Not Made Of Atoms Individuality is a process.
12th Feb 2022
23

Organisms Are Not Made Of Atoms

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

12th Feb 2022
Individuality is a process.
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,...
1st Oct 2024
44

How to Beat Cancer with Viruses: An Interview with Beata Halassy

from Uncharted Territories [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Oct 2024
How viruses kill cancers, which viruses to use, how many injections, at what stage of the cancer, and much more
Multiple Regression with StatsModels This is the third is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from...
4th Dec 2024
24

Multiple Regression with StatsModels

from Probably Overthinking It [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Dec 2024
This is the third is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. It’s from Chapter 10, which is about multiple regression. You can read the complete chapter here, or run the Jupyter notebook on Colab. In the previous...
Steven Johnson: Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World ## Inventing toward delight Humanity has been inventing toward delight for a long time. Johnson...
5th Jan 2017
1

Steven Johnson: Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Jan 2017
## Inventing toward delight Humanity has been inventing toward delight for a long time. Johnson began with a slide of shell beads found in Morocco that indicate human interest in personal adornment going back 80,000 years. He showed 50,000-year-old bone flutes found in modern...
The Unlimited Horizon, part 2 Previously: The Unlimited Horizon, part 1. Is there really that much more progress to be made in the...
27th Aug 2025
1

The Unlimited Horizon, part 2

from The Roots of Progress [alt+shift+b] in science

27th Aug 2025
Previously: The Unlimited Horizon, part 1. Is there really that much more progress to be made in the future? How many problems are left to solve? How much better could life really get? After all, we are pretty comfortable today. We have electricity, clean running water, heating...
Talk - Where Are The Open Sets? I was invited to give a talk at HoTTEST 2022, and was more than happy to accept! Ever since I was...
6th Oct 2022
41

Talk - Where Are The Open Sets?

from Chris Grossack's Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Oct 2022
I was invited to give a talk at HoTTEST 2022, and was more than happy to accept! Ever since I was first learning HoTT I was curious how we could be sure that theorems in HoTT give us corresponding theorems in “classical” homotopy theory. Earlier this summer I spent a lot of...
A nicer voltmeter clock Sometimes, electronic circuit design is mostly about wood
16th May 2026
1

A nicer voltmeter clock

from lcamtuf’s thing [alt+shift+b] in science

16th May 2026
Sometimes, electronic circuit design is mostly about wood
Eric Debrah Otchere: Sonic Spaces Eric Debrah Otchere's research revolves around the power of music in the context of work; covering...
10th Feb 2023
1

Eric Debrah Otchere: Sonic Spaces

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Feb 2023
Eric Debrah Otchere's research revolves around the power of music in the context of work; covering an ambitious range from ethnographic research on Ghanaian indigenous fishing culture to personalized musical preferences via modern technology. Throughout history, the power of...
The New Laws of Explosive Networks Researchers are uncovering the hidden laws that reveal how the Internet grows, how viruses spread,...
30th Jul 2015
1

The New Laws of Explosive Networks

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

30th Jul 2015
Researchers are uncovering the hidden laws that reveal how the Internet grows, how viruses spread, and how financial bubbles burst. The post The New Laws of Explosive Networks first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Issue 12: Houston, we have a solution Plus: How Mexico built its state, the causes of the Baby Boom, and the 141-year quest for a malaria...
7th Sep 2023
75

Issue 12: Houston, we have a solution

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

7th Sep 2023
Plus: How Mexico built its state, the causes of the Baby Boom, and the 141-year quest for a malaria vaccine.
Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT — “brightest of all time” — appears to have produced a...
1st Mar 2023
1

Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Mar 2023
A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT — “brightest of all time” — appears to have produced a high-energy particle that shouldn’t exist. For some, dark matter provides the explanation. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Pulse” by Geographer.
Why I refrain from infosec punditry If you know about my professional background, the most puzzling aspect of this Substack must be that...
16th Apr 2026
1

Why I refrain from infosec punditry

from lcamtuf’s thing [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Apr 2026
If you know about my professional background, the most puzzling aspect of this Substack must be that I don’t use it to talk about my primary field of expertise: information security.
Virtual Walking When I use my virtual reality gear I do practical zero virtual walking – meaning that I don’t have...
1st Mar 2024
63

Virtual Walking

from NeuroLogica Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Mar 2024
When I use my virtual reality gear I do practical zero virtual walking – meaning that I don’t have my avatar walk while I am not walking. I general play standing up which means I can move around the space in my office mapped by my VR software – so I am physically walking to...
What’s a Chartist? Recently I heard the word “chartist” for the first time in my life (that I recall). And then later...
19th Nov 2024
17

What’s a Chartist?

from Probably Overthinking It [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Nov 2024
Recently I heard the word “chartist” for the first time in my life (that I recall). And then later the same day, I heard it again. So that raises two questions: To answer the second question first, it’s someone who supported chartism, which was “a working-class movement for...
Will Making Your Kids Tall Shorten Their Lives? Bonus: How to get human growth hormone (HGH) for cheap
1st Jul 2026
1

Will Making Your Kids Tall Shorten Their Lives?

from Cremieux Recueil [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jul 2026
Bonus: How to get human growth hormone (HGH) for cheap
Jason Scott: The Web In An Eye Blink Jason Scott is an activist archiver who preserves artifacts of digital culture for the future. Users...
1st Nov 2017
1

Jason Scott: The Web In An Eye Blink

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Nov 2017
Jason Scott is an activist archiver who preserves artifacts of digital culture for the future. Users today have many ways to create content online, but they often lack the skills, tools or guidance to preserve the media they make. As startups fail, platforms disappear, and...
A Modest Proposal To Turn Canada Into a Narco State Americans want cheap drugs and Canadians wants loads of money. I smell a deal.
30th Jul 2025
1

A Modest Proposal To Turn Canada Into a Narco State

from Cremieux Recueil [alt+shift+b] in science

30th Jul 2025
Americans want cheap drugs and Canadians wants loads of money. I smell a deal.
More Than 110 New Species Discovered In Deep Waters Off Australia Scientists have identified more than 110 new species found in deep water beyond the edges of...
1st Apr 2026
4

More Than 110 New Species Discovered In Deep Waters Off Australia

from Yale E360 [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Apr 2026
Scientists have identified more than 110 new species found in deep water beyond the edges of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Read more on E360 →
Rip Anderson & Gwyneth Cravens: Power to Save the World ### Nuclear Footprint In the early 1980s Gwyneth Cravens was one of the protesters against the...
15th Sep 2007
1

Rip Anderson & Gwyneth Cravens: Power to Save the World

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Sep 2007
### Nuclear Footprint In the early 1980s Gwyneth Cravens was one of the protesters against the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant on Long Island, and also participated in ban-the-bomb rallies. After 15 years of deepening familiarity with nuclear power, she says she still would ban the...
Approximation game The number 22/7 and the pigeon flock of Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.
28th Feb 2026
1

Approximation game

from lcamtuf’s thing [alt+shift+b] in science

28th Feb 2026
The number 22/7 and the pigeon flock of Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.
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...
4th Jun 2025
43

An Empty Product of Nonempty Sets

from Chris Grossack's Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Jun 2025
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...
Liberté, égalité, radioactivité France built 40 nuclear reactors in a decade. Here’s how they did it, and how the world can follow...
4th Sep 2025
1

Liberté, égalité, radioactivité

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Sep 2025
France built 40 nuclear reactors in a decade. Here’s how they did it, and how the world can follow their lead today.
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 10: The Owlet Lodge (February 11 and 12, 2024) February 11, 2024 Laura and I were looking forward to our one-night visit to the Owlet Lodge. Up to...
20th Jul 2024
27

A Month In Northern Peru, Part 10: The Owlet Lodge (February 11 and 12, 2024)

from Explorations of an Ecologist [alt+shift+b] in science

20th Jul 2024
February 11, 2024 Laura and I were looking forward to our one-night visit to the Owlet Lodge. Up to this point we had only stayed at cheap hotels, while we had also eaten simply, with at least two meals each day consisting of sandwiches/snacks that we prepared. For once, someone...
Ethernet is Still Going Strong After 50 Years The Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in California has spawned many pioneering computer technologies...
16th Nov 2023
69

Ethernet is Still Going Strong After 50 Years

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Nov 2023
The Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in California has spawned many pioneering computer technologies including the Alto—the first personal computer to use a graphical user interface—and the first laser printer. The PARC facility also is known for the invention of Ethernet, a...
Fusion without Fissiles: Superbombs and Wilderness Orion Fusion technology today relies on expensive, building-sized equipment for ignition, or the help of...
25th Mar 2022
1

Fusion without Fissiles: Superbombs and Wilderness Orion

from ToughSF [alt+shift+b] in science

25th Mar 2022
Fusion technology today relies on expensive, building-sized equipment for ignition, or the help of an already powerful fission detonation. What if we could do away with both? Fusion power without the need for fissiles, but also small enough to be launched into space. It is...
Notes on Progress: A winter's tale Melting snow can make the season easier
4th May 2023
55

Notes on Progress: A winter's tale

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

4th May 2023
Melting snow can make the season easier
Why does correlation not equal causation? In this blog post I will explain why it makes sense to think about causal explanations when we see...
24th Nov 2023
1

Why does correlation not equal causation?

from Peder M. Isager [alt+shift+b] in science

24th Nov 2023
In this blog post I will explain why it makes sense to think about causal explanations when we see correlation, why correlation does not always imply causation, and which alternative causal models to consider when you are trying to figure out why two variables in your data are...
Kind of Cool Image of Io from Juno Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI The brightest spot is a radiation signature, but all the...
18th Aug 2021
45

Kind of Cool Image of Io from Juno

from Wanderingspace [alt+shift+b] in science

18th Aug 2021
Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI The brightest spot is a radiation signature, but all the rest are thought to be active volcanos on the Io surface. The moons are not a primary target of the Juno mission, but they do occasionally take a peek to try and monitor such...
Eight highlights from publishing a science book for the general public What’s it like to publish a book? I’ve faced the question again and again this year, as my book...
19th Dec 2022
55

Eight highlights from publishing a science book for the general public

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Dec 2022
What’s it like to publish a book? I’ve faced the question again and again this year, as my book Quantum Steampunk hit bookshelves in April. Two responses suggest themselves. On the one hand, I channel the Beatles: It’s a hard … Continue reading →
Borneo 2024: Introduction And Pre-Tour Birding About a month ago, I returned to Sabah in east Malaysia for my fourth tour of duty as a guide for...
3rd Nov 2024
31

Borneo 2024: Introduction And Pre-Tour Birding

from Explorations of an Ecologist [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Nov 2024
About a month ago, I returned to Sabah in east Malaysia for my fourth tour of duty as a guide for Quest Nature Tours. I've always said that Borneo is one of my favourite tours that I run and even after three previous trips I was looking forward to returning. One of the main...
Dwarf Planet Ring Mystery Scientists love mysteries, because that is where new discoveries lay. It is nice to find evidence...
9th Feb 2023
57

Dwarf Planet Ring Mystery

from NeuroLogica Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Feb 2023
Scientists love mysteries, because that is where new discoveries lay. It is nice to find evidence consistent with existing theories, providing further confirmation, but it’s exciting to find evidence that cannot be explained with existing theories. Astronomers may have found such...
What Will Happen to Indian IT? The past and future of the “world’s back office.”
a week ago
1

What Will Happen to Indian IT?

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

a week ago
The past and future of the “world’s back office.”
You Can’t Fail Unless You Try: NASA’s Pioneer P-3 Lunar Orbiter Space enthusiasts of a certain age, like myself, grew up learning about the trio of NASA’s unmanned...
26th Nov 2024
90

You Can’t Fail Unless You Try: NASA’s Pioneer P-3 Lunar Orbiter

from Drew Ex Machina [alt+shift+b] in science

26th Nov 2024
Space enthusiasts of a certain age, like myself, grew up learning about the trio of NASA’s unmanned programs which provided scientists and engineers with vital information […]
OMB proposed rule changes - act now For non-US folks, feel free to skip.  For US folks:  The Office of Management and Budget, which for...
6th Jul 2026
1

OMB proposed rule changes - act now

from nanoscale views [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Jul 2026
For non-US folks, feel free to skip.  For US folks:  The Office of Management and Budget, which for much of its history has been a comparatively uncontroversial element of the executive branch, has set rules and guidelines for how many executive-branch agencies conduct business...
Jennifer Pahlka: Fixing Government: Bottom Up and Outside In ## Toward agile government Pahlka quoted: “Efficiency in government is a matter of social justice.”...
2nd Feb 2017
1

Jennifer Pahlka: Fixing Government: Bottom Up and Outside In

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Feb 2017
## Toward agile government Pahlka quoted: “Efficiency in government is a matter of social justice.” (Mayor John Norquist) It is at the often maddening interface with government that the inefficiency and injustice play out. Two examples (both now fixed)… At the Veterans Affairs...
COVID-19 FAQ A lot of people have been asking me questions about the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak, in my...
12th Mar 2020
58

COVID-19 FAQ

from Eukaryote Writes Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

12th Mar 2020
A lot of people have been asking me questions about the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak, in my informal capacity as “local biodefense person”.
Frank Gavin: Five Ways to Use History Well ### History-savvy Policy Why do policy makers and historians shun each other? Gavin observed that...
13th Jul 2010
1

Frank Gavin: Five Ways to Use History Well

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

13th Jul 2010
### History-savvy Policy Why do policy makers and historians shun each other? Gavin observed that policy people want actionable information, certainty, and simple explanations. Meanwhile historians revel in nuance, distrust simple explanations and also distrust power and those...
The Traveler and His Baggage On 19 May 1943, a news report from Berlin deepened the already dreary gloom that clung to the people...
3rd Jun 2021
42

The Traveler and His Baggage

from Damn Interesting [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Jun 2021
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...
Plant Sounds My early adulthood coincided with the New Age movement and its belief in many discredited past...
5th Aug 2024
26

Plant Sounds

from Tikalon Blog by Dev Gualtieri [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Aug 2024
My early adulthood coincided with the New Age movement and its belief in many discredited past ideas, such as astrology. One New Age idea that seemed strange at the time was that talking to plants helped them to grow. What could be more New Age than a hippie chick talking to a...
A New Blast May Have Forged Cosmic Gold For decades, researchers believed that violent supernovas forged gold and other heavy elements. But...
18th May 2017
1

A New Blast May Have Forged Cosmic Gold

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

18th May 2017
For decades, researchers believed that violent supernovas forged gold and other heavy elements. But many now argue for a different cosmic quarry. The post A New Blast May Have Forged Cosmic Gold first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Paul Hawken: The New Great Transformation ### Humanity's immune system The title of Paul Hawken's talk, "The New Great Transformation," has...
9th Jun 2007
1

Paul Hawken: The New Great Transformation

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

9th Jun 2007
### Humanity's immune system The title of Paul Hawken's talk, "The New Great Transformation," has two referents, he explained. Economist Karl Polanyi's 1944 book, _The Great Transformation_ , said that the "market society" and modern nation state emerged together in Europe after...
Words are minimum-viable coordination tools Words have a bewitching tendency as we assume they point to some deep essences. But, game...
4th Feb 2026
1

Words are minimum-viable coordination tools

from Inverted Passion [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Feb 2026
Words have a bewitching tendency as we assume they point to some deep essences. But, game theoretically speaking, words exist to get a job done so they operate at the level of coarse graining that’s sufficient to get the job done of the speaker. Evolution doesn’t like to waste...
A Bird’s-Eye View of Nature’s Hidden Order Scientists are exploring a mysterious pattern, found in birds’ eyes, boxes of marbles and other...
5th Aug 2016
1

A Bird’s-Eye View of Nature’s Hidden Order

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Aug 2016
Scientists are exploring a mysterious pattern, found in birds’ eyes, boxes of marbles and other surprising places, that is neither regular nor random. The post A Bird’s-Eye View of Nature’s Hidden Order first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Risk-Adjusted Return What are we afraid of?
15th Apr 2026
1

Risk-Adjusted Return

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Apr 2026
What are we afraid of?
Drew Ex Machina 10th Anniversary: Top Ten Posts I find it difficult to believe but, it was ten years ago today that I posted the first article on my...
27th Mar 2024
111

Drew Ex Machina 10th Anniversary: Top Ten Posts

from Drew Ex Machina [alt+shift+b] in science

27th Mar 2024
I find it difficult to believe but, it was ten years ago today that I posted the first article on my then-new website, Drew Ex Machina. […]
How Jurassic Plankton Stole Control of the Ocean’s Chemistry Only 170 million years ago, new plankton evolved. Their demand for carbon and calcium permanently...
10th Sep 2020
1

How Jurassic Plankton Stole Control of the Ocean’s Chemistry

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Sep 2020
Only 170 million years ago, new plankton evolved. Their demand for carbon and calcium permanently transformed the seas as homes for life. The post How Jurassic Plankton Stole Control of the Ocean’s Chemistry first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Dittemore’s Law A quick note to formalize some observations on elite organization dysfunction. The Space Mirror...
17th Jan 2025
83

Dittemore’s Law

from Casey Handmer's blog [alt+shift+b] in science

17th Jan 2025
A quick note to formalize some observations on elite organization dysfunction. The Space Mirror Memorial at Kennedy Space Center in Florida commemorates the 25 US astronauts who have died in flight.  Ron Dittemore is the retired former Space Shuttle program manager who was...
Lawrence Lessig: How Money Corrupts Congress and a Plan to Stop It ### Public Funding for Public Elections Larry Lessig gave a rousing performance for the 100th...
18th Jan 2012
1

Lawrence Lessig: How Money Corrupts Congress and a Plan to Stop It

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

18th Jan 2012
### Public Funding for Public Elections Larry Lessig gave a rousing performance for the 100th Seminar About Long-Term Thinking. In a lawyerly fashion he laid out evidence of a new type of corruption that is disrupting the American republic, and he offered a remedy for that...
An Eclipse of the Sun Coming to N. America April 8th A rare eclipse of the Sun will be visible all over North America on April 8th. The post An Eclipse...
23rd Mar 2024
48

An Eclipse of the Sun Coming to N. America April 8th

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

23rd Mar 2024
A rare eclipse of the Sun will be visible all over North America on April 8th. The post An Eclipse of the Sun Coming to N. America April 8th appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered By extending the scope of the key insight behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, four mathematicians have...
2nd Jun 2025
51

The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Jun 2025
By extending the scope of the key insight behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, four mathematicians have made great strides toward building a “grand unified theory” of math. The post The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered first appeared on Quanta Magazine
AI Filters Will Always Have Holes Ask ChatGPT how to build a bomb, and it will flatly respond that it “can’t help with that.” But...
6th Jan 2026
2

AI Filters Will Always Have Holes

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Jan 2026
Ask ChatGPT how to build a bomb, and it will flatly respond that it “can’t help with that.” But users have long played a cat-and-mouse game to try to trick language models into providing forbidden information. Just as quickly as these “jailbreaks” appear, AI companies patch them...
The New TIGR-Tas Gene Editing System Remember CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) – that new gene-editing...
3rd Mar 2025
52

The New TIGR-Tas Gene Editing System

from NeuroLogica Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Mar 2025
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....
Lessons in frustration Assa Auerbach’s course was the most maddening course I’ve ever taken.  I was a master’s student in...
17th Feb 2025
64

Lessons in frustration

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

17th Feb 2025
Assa Auerbach’s course was the most maddening course I’ve ever taken.  I was a master’s student in the Perimeter Scholars International program at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Perimeter trotted in world experts to lecture about modern physics. Many … Continue...
Sci-fi and Hi-fi Many a technologist has been inspired by science fiction. Some have even built, or rebuilt, entire...
4th Mar 2024
66

Sci-fi and Hi-fi

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Mar 2024
Many a technologist has been inspired by science fiction. Some have even built, or rebuilt, entire companies around an idea introduced in a story they read, as the founders of Second Life and Meta did, working from the metaverse as imagined by Neal Stephenson in his seminal 1992...
Libraries of matter Libraries contain books, yes. But they also contain latex rubber, carbon fiber fabrics, and graphene...
29th Aug 2024
1

Libraries of matter

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

29th Aug 2024
Libraries contain books, yes. But they also contain latex rubber, carbon fiber fabrics, and graphene aerogel. And in some materials libraries you can cut, cast, drill, sand, scrape, and sculpt too.
Silicon Valley’s Gold Rush Roots Silicon Valley, purveyor of disruptive technologies, likes to think of itself as sui generis. But...
1st Apr 2024
25

Silicon Valley’s Gold Rush Roots

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Apr 2024
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.
Weekend trivia: your process' memory is a file The underappreciated gem of /proc/ /mem
1st Jun 2026
1

Weekend trivia: your process' memory is a file

from lcamtuf’s thing [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Jun 2026
The underappreciated gem of /proc/ /mem
Riding Sunbeams with Solar Sails Reset your expectations of solar sails. They are a fast and free way to travel to any point in the...
26th May 2023
1

Riding Sunbeams with Solar Sails

from ToughSF [alt+shift+b] in science

26th May 2023
Reset your expectations of solar sails. They are a fast and free way to travel to any point in the Solar System, as many times as you want, any time of the year. Solar sails can carry passengers and they have a nearly unlimited number of uses. You just have to... think...
Winter Solstice Arrives on Sunday Dec 21 Dec. 21 is the winter solstice. We explain what this means and how the seasons come about. The post...
19th Dec 2025
1

Winter Solstice Arrives on Sunday Dec 21

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Dec 2025
Dec. 21 is the winter solstice. We explain what this means and how the seasons come about. The post Winter Solstice Arrives on Sunday Dec 21 appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
The UX of LEGO Interface Panels LEGO interface panels are beautiful, iconic, and great for learning interface design basics. I...
2nd Aug 2020
28

The UX of LEGO Interface Panels

from Interaction Magic - George Cave [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Aug 2020
LEGO interface panels are beautiful, iconic, and great for learning interface design basics. I bought 52 of them from BrickLink to explore the design, layout and organisation of complex interfaces.
The perks of being a mole rat The secrets to extending human lifespans might lie in the animals that can already live for...
4th Feb 2026
1

The perks of being a mole rat

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Feb 2026
The secrets to extending human lifespans might lie in the animals that can already live for centuries.
The rare, deadly virus lurking in the Southwest US, and the bigger picture If you live in this one county in California, you might be more likely to die from Sin Nombre Virus...
14th Nov 2025
1

The rare, deadly virus lurking in the Southwest US, and the bigger picture

from Eukaryote Writes Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

14th Nov 2025
If you live in this one county in California, you might be more likely to die from Sin Nombre Virus than in a car crash.
Farming Fiasco: The world’s first commercial octopus breeding programme It seems ironic that shortly after an amendment to the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill stating...
4th Jan 2022
66

Farming Fiasco: The world’s first commercial octopus breeding programme

from Marine Madness [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Jan 2022
It seems ironic that shortly after an amendment to the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill stating octopuses to be ‘sentient beings’ capable of a range of human-like emotions such as joy, pleasure, excitement, as well as pain, distress, and harm, plans of the word’s first commercial...
Mathematicians Tame Rogue Waves, Lighting Up Future of LEDs The mathematician Svitlana Mayboroda and collaborators have figured out how to predict the behavior...
1st Feb 2018
1

Mathematicians Tame Rogue Waves, Lighting Up Future of LEDs

from The Quanta Podcast [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Feb 2018
The mathematician Svitlana Mayboroda and collaborators have figured out how to predict the behavior of electrons — a mathematical discovery that could have immediate practical effects. The post Mathematicians Tame Rogue Waves, Lighting Up Future of LEDs first...
After Seven Years Away Exploring an Asteroid, OSIRIS-REx is Landing Soon with Precious Samples Bits of pebbles and dust from the asteriod Bennu that were collected during the long journey of the...
11th Sep 2023
48
11th Sep 2023
Bits of pebbles and dust from the asteriod Bennu that were collected during the long journey of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft should be landing in the Utah desert later this month. The delivery will be a first for NASA — its first sample return from an asteroid and one of a very...
Event, Feb 29: “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” in Boston and on Zoom On Thursday, February 29, I’ll be giving my talk “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” to the New...
21st Feb 2024
109

Event, Feb 29: “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” in Boston and on Zoom

from The Roots of Progress | Articles [alt+shift+b] in science

21st Feb 2024
On Thursday, February 29, I’ll be giving my talk “Towards a New Philosophy of Progress” to the New England Legal Foundation, for their Economic Liberty Speaker Series. The talk will be held over breakfast at NELF’s offices in Boston, and will also be livestreamed over Zoom. See...
South Pole Water Infrastructure Fresh water from snow, at 70 below!
8th Jun 2024
146

South Pole Water Infrastructure

from brr [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Jun 2024
Fresh water from snow, at 70 below!
A Defense of Weird Research Government-funded scientific research may appear strange or impractical, but it has repeatedly...
5th Feb 2025
41

A Defense of Weird Research

from Asterisk [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Feb 2025
Government-funded scientific research may appear strange or impractical, but it has repeatedly yielded scientific breakthroughs — and continues to pay for itself many times over.
Engineering for Slow Internet How to minimize user frustration in Antarctica.
31st May 2024
122

Engineering for Slow Internet

from brr [alt+shift+b] in science

31st May 2024
How to minimize user frustration in Antarctica.
Issue 16: I dream of genes Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and...
3rd Sep 2024
84

Issue 16: I dream of genes

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Sep 2024
Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and how America's favourite type of coffee got really, really good.
A Quick Application of Model Categories Almost exactly a year ago (time flies!) I was thinking really hard about model categories in...
22nd Mar 2023
38

A Quick Application of Model Categories

from Chris Grossack's Blog [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd Mar 2023
Almost exactly a year ago (time flies!) I was thinking really hard about model categories in preparation for the HoTTEST summer school. I learned a TON doing this, but I’ve just today seen a really nice (and somewhat concrete) reason to care about the whole endeavor! I’d love...
How Covid brought the future back Crises upend plans, force people to re-evaluate their priorities, and bring into focus new goals....
8th Feb 2021
1

How Covid brought the future back

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

8th Feb 2021
Crises upend plans, force people to re-evaluate their priorities, and bring into focus new goals. Financial markets give us hints of what we can expect from the aftermath of Covid-19.
What is a biological individual? Some individuals have no clear boundaries. Here’s an assortment of some of the most interesting...
6th Sep 2021
20

What is a biological individual?

from SubAnima [alt+shift+b] in science

6th Sep 2021
Some individuals have no clear boundaries. Here’s an assortment of some of the most interesting problem cases
This 1945 TV Console Showed Two Programs at Once As I try to write this article, my friend and I have six different screens attached to three types...
3rd Jul 2025
55

This 1945 TV Console Showed Two Programs at Once

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Jul 2025
As I try to write this article, my friend and I have six different screens attached to three types of devices. We’re working in the same room but on our own projects—separate yet together, a comfortable companionship. I had never really thought of the proliferation of screens as...
Local warming Gas heating is bad for the environment. But home-built heat pumps aren’t perfect either.
21st Apr 2022
1

Local warming

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

21st Apr 2022
Gas heating is bad for the environment. But home-built heat pumps aren’t perfect either.
Sound Invisible and relentless, sound is seemingly just there, traveling through our surroundings to carry...
18th Oct 2022
73

Sound

from Bartosz Ciechanowski [alt+shift+b] in science

18th Oct 2022
Invisible and relentless, sound is seemingly just there, traveling through our surroundings to carry beautiful music or annoying noises. In this article I’ll explain what sound is, how it’s created and propagated. Throughout this presentation you will be hearing different sounds,...
Why aren’t things changing faster? Been wondering lately that given everyone has a consultant with all the world’s knowledge in their...
4th May 2026
2

Why aren’t things changing faster?

from Inverted Passion [alt+shift+b] in science

4th May 2026
Been wondering lately that given everyone has a consultant with all the world’s knowledge in their pockets, we should be seeing efficiency rise across the board everywhere. Literally everyone can now get personalised advise on how to serve their customers better, improve quality...
Edward Burtynsky: The 10,000-year Gallery ### Stone Ink Gallery Photographer Edward Burtynsky made a formal proposal for a permanent art...
24th Jul 2008
1

Edward Burtynsky: The 10,000-year Gallery

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

24th Jul 2008
### Stone Ink Gallery Photographer Edward Burtynsky made a formal proposal for a permanent art gallery in the chamber that encloses the 10,000-year Clock in its Nevada mountain. The gallery would consist of art in materials as durable as the alloy steel and jade of the Clock...
First Pictures: Earthrise from Apollo 8 – December 24, 1968 The year 1968 was a tumultuous one in the US with many political and cultural changes punctuated by...
24th Dec 2023
74

First Pictures: Earthrise from Apollo 8 – December 24, 1968

from Drew Ex Machina [alt+shift+b] in science

24th Dec 2023
The year 1968 was a tumultuous one in the US with many political and cultural changes punctuated by the assassination of prominent public figures, violent protests […]
Lynn Rothschild: Nature’s Hardware Store What if the solutions to humanity’s greatest challenges — on Earth and beyond — have already been...
5th Nov 2025
1

Lynn Rothschild: Nature’s Hardware Store

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Nov 2025
What if the solutions to humanity’s greatest challenges — on Earth and beyond — have already been invented by nature? In this forward-looking talk, evolutionary biologist and astrobiologist Dr. Lynn Rothschild explores how life’s patterns, materials, and mechanisms, refined over...
The Unlimited Horizon, part 1 Previously: The Problem-Solving Animal, part 1, part 2 and part 3. The acceleration that we saw...
15th Jul 2025
1

The Unlimited Horizon, part 1

from The Roots of Progress [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Jul 2025
Previously: The Problem-Solving Animal, part 1, part 2 and part 3. The acceleration that we saw in Chapter 6 is driven by a feedback process in which growth itself improves the mechanisms of growth. When we zoom out to look at thousands of years, this process looks smooth and...
Stewart Brand: Reviving Extinct Species ### De-extinction begins The new tools of synthetic biology, I began, are about to liberate...
22nd May 2013
1

Stewart Brand: Reviving Extinct Species

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

22nd May 2013
### De-extinction begins The new tools of synthetic biology, I began, are about to liberate conservation in a spectacular way. It is becoming possible to bring some extinct species back to life. A project within Long Now called “Revive & Restore” is pushing to make...
Life as a physical process It’s always hard to define life. Everyone has their favorite definition – some describe it as a...
4th Jun 2025
47

Life as a physical process

from Inverted Passion [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Jun 2025
It’s always hard to define life. Everyone has their favorite definition – some describe it as a struggle against entropy, while others describe it as an emergent property of chemicals. Countless books have been written on the topic, yet we’re far from a consensus. Against the...
Chuck E. Cheese’s Animatronics Band Bows Out That may have been the last time I entered a Chuck E. Cheese pizzeria. And yet, when I heard that...
2nd Dec 2024
135

Chuck E. Cheese’s Animatronics Band Bows Out

from IEEE Spectrum [alt+shift+b] in science

2nd Dec 2024
That may have been the last time I entered a Chuck E. Cheese pizzeria. And yet, when I heard that the company was phasing out the animatronic bands from all but five locations by the end of this year, I felt a twinge of nostalgia. Much to my surprise, I was truly sad that the...
Kara Platoni: Transforming Perception, One Sense at a Time Kara Platoni, author and journalism professor at UC-Berkeley, set out to find the sensory pioneers...
3rd Jul 2017
1

Kara Platoni: Transforming Perception, One Sense at a Time

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

3rd Jul 2017
Kara Platoni, author and journalism professor at UC-Berkeley, set out to find the sensory pioneers who are changing the way we experience the world. Her boot-strapped and crowd-sourced quest led her to laboratories and workshops around the world. In her book _[We Have The...
Issue 17: No great stagnation in cruise ships Plus: animals as chemical factories, how progress lost its glamour, and how Madrid built 120 miles...
5th Dec 2024
75

Issue 17: No great stagnation in cruise ships

from The Works in Progress Newsletter [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Dec 2024
Plus: animals as chemical factories, how progress lost its glamour, and how Madrid built 120 miles of metro in twelve years.
A Course Via Zoom on Atomic Science for Everyone I am teaching a new Zoom course on the mysterious world of the atom, with lots of visuals and no...
20th Sep 2025
36

A Course Via Zoom on Atomic Science for Everyone

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

20th Sep 2025
I am teaching a new Zoom course on the mysterious world of the atom, with lots of visuals and no math. It’s a six-week class for retired people: Join me for a richly illustrated tour of the atomic world that lies beneath our everyday conception of reality. Using historical...
Dominican Republic, October 2025: Introduction and Parque Nacional Los Haitises I have recently returned from an eight-day blitz of the Dominican Republic with my wife, Laura, and...
29th Oct 2025
24

Dominican Republic, October 2025: Introduction and Parque Nacional Los Haitises

from Explorations of an Ecologist [alt+shift+b] in science

29th Oct 2025
I have recently returned from an eight-day blitz of the Dominican Republic with my wife, Laura, and good friend, Daniel Riley. Now October isn't really an ideal time for a birding trip to the Dominican Republic for a few reasons. First, October is the off-season and few birds are...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 18: Wattled Curassows at Muyuna Lodge (February 26, 2024) February 26, 2024 As dawn broke, Laura, Moises and I slowly cruised along a quiet watercourse. The...
4th Apr 2025
52

A Month In Northern Peru, Part 18: Wattled Curassows at Muyuna Lodge (February 26, 2024)

from Explorations of an Ecologist [alt+shift+b] in science

4th Apr 2025
February 26, 2024 As dawn broke, Laura, Moises and I slowly cruised along a quiet watercourse. The dawn chorus was active and included species like Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Zimmer's Woodcreeper and Black-tailed Antbird, but I stayed focused on the treeline, hoping that a...
3 tips for co-designing with kids Designing future sports products with a group of 11 year olds.
28th Mar 2023
38

3 tips for co-designing with kids

from Interaction Magic - George Cave [alt+shift+b] in science

28th Mar 2023
Designing future sports products with a group of 11 year olds.
Machines for living in Buildings are not just art – they are the places people live in, work in, and experience every day....
5th Dec 2024
1

Machines for living in

from Works in Progress RSS Feed [alt+shift+b] in science

5th Dec 2024
Buildings are not just art – they are the places people live in, work in, and experience every day. True functionalism combines utility and beauty for the people who use it most.
A Comet Visible in Our Evening Sky A newly discovered comet is now faintly visible in our skies soon after sunset, if you have clear...
15th Oct 2024
84

A Comet Visible in Our Evening Sky

from Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy Lectures – Astronomy Education Resources [alt+shift+b] in science

15th Oct 2024
A newly discovered comet is now faintly visible in our skies soon after sunset, if you have clear skies and a view low toward the west-southwest horizon. See our diagram from Sky & Telescope magazine, in which the yellow numbers show you the comet’s location in the evening sky...
The Hidden Connection That Changed Number Theory Quadratic reciprocity lurks around many corners in mathematics. By proving it, number theorists...
1st Nov 2023
70

The Hidden Connection That Changed Number Theory

from Quanta Magazine [alt+shift+b] in science

1st Nov 2023
Quadratic reciprocity lurks around many corners in mathematics. By proving it, number theorists reimagined their whole field. The post The Hidden Connection That Changed Number Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Vernor Vinge: What If the Singularity Does NOT Happen? ### Non-Singularity scenarios Vinge began by declaring that he still believes that a Singularity...
16th Feb 2007
1

Vernor Vinge: What If the Singularity Does NOT Happen?

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

16th Feb 2007
### Non-Singularity scenarios Vinge began by declaring that he still believes that a Singularity event in the next few decades is the most likely outcome-- meaning that self-accelerating technologies will speed up to the point of so profound a transformation that the other side...
Philip K. Howard: Fixing Broken Government ### Government 4.0 Americans have made major adjustments to our government before, Howard declared....
19th Jan 2011
1

Philip K. Howard: Fixing Broken Government

from Long Now [alt+shift+b] in science

19th Jan 2011
### Government 4.0 Americans have made major adjustments to our government before, Howard declared. At the beginning of the 20th century a Progressive era ended strict laissez-faire. The New Deal in the 1930s provided social safety nets. In the 1960s Civil Rights came to the...
Interacting collaborators reveal noninteracting fermions By day, I work as an experimentalist on laser-cooling molecules, but I’ve never fully surrendered my...
10th Aug 2026
1

Interacting collaborators reveal noninteracting fermions

from Quantum Frontiers [alt+shift+b] in science

10th Aug 2026
By day, I work as an experimentalist on laser-cooling molecules, but I’ve never fully surrendered my theoretical-physics license. I started as an undergraduate in Lincoln Carr’s group at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO. I learned from his … Continue reading →
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