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Conservation of energy is a somewhat sacred principle in physics, though it can be tricky in certain circumstances, such as an expanding universe. Quantum mechanics is another context in which energy conservation is a subtle thing — so much so that it’s still worth writing papers about, which Jackie Lodman and I recently did. In … Energy Conservation and Non-Conservation in Quantum Mechanics Read More » Related Posts: Energy Is Not Conserved Energy and intelligence Thanksgiving
over a year ago

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More from Sean Carroll

George B. Field, 1929-2024

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 will (consensually) choose are your […]

a year ago 87 votes
New Course: The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics

In past years I’ve done several courses for The Great Courses/Wondrium (formerly The Teaching Company): Dark Matter and Dark Energy, Mysteries of Modern Physics:Time, and The Higgs Boson and Beyond. Now I’m happy to announce a new one, The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics. This is a series of 24 half-hour lectures, given by … New Course: The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics Read More » Related Posts: New Course: The Higgs Boson and Beyond Mysteries of Time: New Teaching Company Course Prof in a Box

a year ago 43 votes
Thanksgiving

This year we give thanks for a feature of nature that is frequently misunderstood: quanta. (We’ve previously given thanks for the Standard Model Lagrangian, Hubble’s Law, the Spin-Statistics Theorem, conservation of momentum, effective field theory, the error bar, gauge symmetry, Landauer’s Principle, the Fourier Transform, Riemannian Geometry, the speed of light, the Jarzynski equality, the moons of Jupiter, space, black hole entropy, electromagnetism, and Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem.) Of course quantum mechanics … Thanksgiving Read More » Related Posts: Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

a year ago 51 votes
Proposed Closure of the Dianoia Institute at Australian Catholic University

Just a few years ago, Australian Catholic University (ACU) established a new Dianoia Institute of Philosophy. They recruited a number of researchers and made something of a splash, leading to a noticeable leap in ACU’s rankings in philosophy — all the way to second among Catholic universities in the English-speaking world, behind only Notre Dame. … Proposed Closure of the Dianoia Institute at Australian Catholic University Read More » Related Posts: Full disclosure Summer Institute in Philosophy of Cosmology, Santa Cruz The Cosmologist vs. The Cardinal

a year ago 62 votes
Thanksgiving

This year we give thanks for Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem. (We’ve previously given thanks for the Standard Model Lagrangian, Hubble’s Law, the Spin-Statistics Theorem, conservation of momentum, effective field theory, the error bar, gauge symmetry, Landauer’s Principle, the Fourier Transform, Riemannian Geometry, the speed of light, the Jarzynski equality, the moons of Jupiter, space, black hole … Thanksgiving Read More » Related Posts: Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

over a year ago 54 votes

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China's most overrated asset with Mike Bird

Episode four of the Works in Progress podcast is about land.

14 hours ago 4 votes
New Physics-Inspired Proof Probes the Borders of Disorder

For decades, mathematicians have struggled to understand matrices that reflect both order and randomness, like those that model semiconductors. A new method could change that. The post New Physics-Inspired Proof Probes the Borders of Disorder first appeared on Quanta Magazine

15 hours ago 2 votes
How Should We Evaluate Healthcare AI? Some Thoughts | Out-Of-Pocket

Maybe we’re thinking about all of these papers the wrong way

3 days ago 5 votes
The Amazon Rainforest Approaches a Point of No Return

In “Amazon Tipping Point” — Third-Place Winner of the 2025 Yale Environment 360 Film Contest — Brazilian filmmakers capture striking images of clear-cutting and explore how human activity is so damaging the world’s largest rainforest that it will not be able to recover. Read more on E360 →

4 days ago 5 votes
Lithium and Alzheimer’s Disease

This is an interesting story, and I am trying to moderate my optimism. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the major cause of dementia in humans, is a very complex disease. We have been studying it for decades, revealing numerous clues as to what kicks it off, what causes it to progress, and how to potentially treat it. […] The post Lithium and Alzheimer’s Disease first appeared on NeuroLogica Blog.

4 days ago 5 votes