Full Width [alt+shift+f] Shortcuts [alt+shift+k]
Sign Up [alt+shift+s] Log In [alt+shift+l]
Top Categories > science
#all #programming #technology #startups #life #history #science #literature #architecture #creative #design #finance #travel #AI #comics #indiehacker #cartography Muted Categories [alt+←][alt+→]
The Works in...
The secret liberalization of animal drugs The FDA should do something similar for humans
an hour ago
Uncharted...
Why We Dress the Way We Dress The Four Layers of Fashion
4 hours ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Transgene-Free Gene Editing in Plants Regulations are a classic example of a proverbial double-edged sword. They are essential to create...
4 hours ago
1
4 hours ago
Regulations are a classic example of a proverbial double-edged sword. They are essential to create and maintain a free and fair market, to prevent exploitation, and to promote safety and the public interest. Just look at 19th century America for countless examples of what happens...
Quanta Magazine
Improving Deep Learning With a Little Help From Physics Rose Yu has a plan for how to make AI better, faster and smarter — and it’s already yielding...
yesterday
2
yesterday
Rose Yu has a plan for how to make AI better, faster and smarter — and it’s already yielding results. The post Improving Deep Learning With a Little Help From Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
The discovery of copper New ways to find and extract copper from the earth.
yesterday
Breck's Blog
How to get rid of advertising
yesterday
The Works in...
The breaking of Britain's National Grid A story of aging infrastructure and perverse incentives
2 days ago
Asterisk
Does Abundance Start at Home? Kelsey Piper and Jasmine Sun talk about microschools, whether localism is the enemy of Abundance,...
2 days ago
3
2 days ago
Kelsey Piper and Jasmine Sun talk about microschools, whether localism is the enemy of Abundance, and why Chinese bureaucrats are like Growth PMs.
Breck's Blog
The Internal Comparison Trap
2 days ago
Quanta Magazine
How a Biofilm’s Strange Shape Emerges From Cellular Geometry Micro decisions can have macro consequences. A soft matter physicist reveals how interactions within...
3 days ago
4
3 days ago
Micro decisions can have macro consequences. A soft matter physicist reveals how interactions within simple cellular collectives can lead to emergent physical traits. The post How a Biofilm’s Strange Shape Emerges From Cellular Geometry first appeared on Quanta...
The Works in...
The failure of the land value tax Implementing them in Britain destroyed the then-dominant Liberal Party.
3 days ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Game Transfer Phenomenon Have you ever been into a video game that you played for hours a day for a while? Did you ever...
3 days ago
4
3 days ago
Have you ever been into a video game that you played for hours a day for a while? Did you ever experience elements of game play bleeding over into the real world? If you have, then you have experienced what psychologists call “game transfer phenomenon” or GTP.  This can be...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New Ways Pharma Subsidizes Care | Out-Of-Pocket Is it right? Is it wrong? Is it just hard to track?
3 days ago
Quantum Frontiers
Quantum Algorithms: A Call To Action Quantum computing finds itself in a peculiar situation. The number one question asked about quantum...
3 days ago
7
3 days ago
Quantum computing finds itself in a peculiar situation. The number one question asked about quantum computers by outsiders is very common sensical: What are they good for? The honest answer reveals an elephant in the room: We don’t fully know yet. For theorists like me, it’s an...
nanoscale views
A Grand Bargain and its chaotic dissolution After World War II, under the influence (direct and indirect) of people like Vannevar Bush, a "grand...
4 days ago
5
4 days ago
After World War II, under the influence (direct and indirect) of people like Vannevar Bush, a "grand bargain" was effectively struck between the US government and the nation's universities.  The war had demonstrated how important science and engineering research could be, through...
Breck's Blog
Ford
4 days ago
Cremieux Recueil
The Holistic Judgment Conceit Holistic evaluations are for machines, not people
5 days ago
Breck's Blog
The Infosphere
5 days ago
Quanta Magazine
New Proof Settles Decades-Old Bet About Connected Networks According to mathematical legend, Peter Sarnak and Noga Alon made a bet about optimal graphs in the...
6 days ago
5
6 days ago
According to mathematical legend, Peter Sarnak and Noga Alon made a bet about optimal graphs in the late 1980s. They’ve now both been proved wrong. The post New Proof Settles Decades-Old Bet About Connected Networks first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
Bell Labs Turns 100, Plans to Leave Its Old Headquarters This year, Bell Labs celebrates its hundredth birthday. In a centennial celebration held last week...
6 days ago
5
6 days ago
This year, Bell Labs celebrates its hundredth birthday. In a centennial celebration held last week at the Murray Hill, New Jersey campus, the lab’s impressive technological history was celebrated with talks, panels, demos, and over a half dozen gracefully aging Nobel laureates....
Drew Ex Machina
The Hurricane Hunter Satellites: A Weather Nanosatellite Constellation As part of ongoing outreach efforts by Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA) to the meteorological...
a week ago
10
a week ago
As part of ongoing outreach efforts by Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA) to the meteorological community, TWA’s Chief Scientist, Andrew LePage, attended the National Tropical Weather Conference […]
Quanta Magazine
Can Quantum Gravity Be Created in the Lab? Quantum gravity could help physicists unite the currently incompatible worlds of quantum mechanics...
a week ago
6
a week ago
Quantum gravity could help physicists unite the currently incompatible worlds of quantum mechanics and gravity. In this episode, Monika Schleier-Smith discusses her pioneering experimental approach, using laser-cooled atoms to explore whether gravity could emerge from quantum...
The Works in...
Another reason housing in Texas is cheap What we’ve been reading: urbanism, science, tech, aesthetics and more …
a week ago
Uncharted...
10 Interesting Updates on Why a World with More Humans Is Better Including solar energy, nuclear, geoengineering, reforestation, vertical farming, oceans, and more
a week ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Possible Biosignature on K2-18b Exoplanets are pretty exciting – in the last few decades we have gone from knowing absolutely...
a week ago
7
a week ago
Exoplanets are pretty exciting – in the last few decades we have gone from knowing absolutely nothing about planets beyond our solar system to having a catalogue of over 5,000 confirmed exoplanets. That’s still a small sample considering there are likely between 100 billion and 1...
Quanta Magazine
Touch, Our Most Complex Sense, Is a Landscape of Cellular Sensors Every soft caress of wind, searing burn and seismic rumble is detected by our skin’s tangle of touch...
a week ago
7
a week ago
Every soft caress of wind, searing burn and seismic rumble is detected by our skin’s tangle of touch sensors. David Ginty has spent his career cataloging the neurons beneath everyday sensations. The post Touch, Our Most Complex Sense, Is a Landscape of Cellular...
Explorations of an...
A Quest Nature Tour to Colombia: Tour Extension To Los Llanos The topography of Colombia is dominated by the Andes. While manifested as a single mountain range...
a week ago
8
a week ago
The topography of Colombia is dominated by the Andes. While manifested as a single mountain range from Ecuador southwards, the mountains split into three ranges (or cordilleras) near the Colombia/Ecuador border, and these three ranges span the length of Colombia from this...
The Works in...
Invisible College: Applications close on 28th April Apply to come to our premier event for students
a week ago
IEEE Spectrum
Meet the “First Lady of Engineering” For more than a century, women and racial minorities have fought for access to education and...
a week ago
9
a week ago
For more than a century, women and racial minorities have fought for access to education and employment opportunities once reserved exclusively for white men. The life of Yvonne Young “Y.Y.” Clark is a testament to the power of perseverance in that fight. As a smart Black woman...
Blog - Practical...
When Kitty Litter Caused a Nuclear Catastrophe [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Late in the night of...
a week ago
14
a week ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Late in the night of Valentine’s Day 2014, air monitors at an underground nuclear waste repository outside Carlsbad, New Mexico, detected the release of radioactive elements, including americium and plutonium,...
nanoscale views
Talk about "The Direct Democracy of Matter" The Scientia Institute at Rice sponsors series of public lectures annually, centered around a...
a week ago
7
a week ago
The Scientia Institute at Rice sponsors series of public lectures annually, centered around a theme.  The intent is to get a wide variety of perspectives spanning across the humanities, social sciences, arts, sciences, and engineering, presented in an accessible way.  The youtube...
Uncharted...
16 Most Surprising Facts About Korea As I research the country, these are the most interesting and surprising facts I gathered—and some...
a week ago
11
a week ago
As I research the country, these are the most interesting and surprising facts I gathered—and some beautiful images along the way.
The Works in...
570 million Frenchmen France's decline coincided with a collapse in its birth rate – now we know why.
a week ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Running Tests on Generative AI with Autoblocks | Out-Of-Pocket How can we keep these bots in check??
a week ago
Breck's Blog
Experiments
a week ago
Quanta Magazine
To Make Language Models Work Better, Researchers Sidestep Language We insist that large language models repeatedly translate their mathematical processes into words....
a week ago
8
a week ago
We insist that large language models repeatedly translate their mathematical processes into words. There may be a better way. The post To Make Language Models Work Better, Researchers Sidestep Language first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
OK – But Are They Dire Wolves Last week I wrote about the de-extinction of the dire wolf by a company, Colossal Biosciences. What...
a week ago
9
a week ago
Last week I wrote about the de-extinction of the dire wolf by a company, Colossal Biosciences. What they did was pretty amazing – sequence ancient dire wolf DNA and use that as a template to make 20 changes to 14 genes in the gray wolf genome via CRISPR. They focused on the...
The Works in...
Join our events in your city Sydney, Washington DC, Madrid, and more – sign up now
a week ago
Cremieux Recueil
The Demise of the Flynn Effect Massive changes in IQ scores over time are much less meaningful than people think
a week ago
nanoscale views
US science situation updates and what's on deck Many things have been happening in and around US science.  This is a non-exhaustive list of recent...
a week ago
8
a week ago
Many things have been happening in and around US science.  This is a non-exhaustive list of recent developments and links: There have been very large scale personnel cuts across HHS, FDA, CDC, NIH - see here.  This includes groups like the people who monitor lead in drinking...
Breck's Blog
Pretext
a week ago
nanoscale views
What is multiferroicity? (A post summarizing recent US science-related events will be coming later.  For now, here is my...
a week ago
12
a week ago
(A post summarizing recent US science-related events will be coming later.  For now, here is my promised post about multiferroics, inspired in part by a recent visit to Rice by Yoshi Tokura.) Electrons carry spins and therefore magnetic moments (that is, they can act in some ways...
Breck's Blog
Movement
a week ago
Explorations of an...
A Quest Nature Tour to Colombia's Central Andes I have recently returned from an excellent tour to Colombia that I led for Quest Nature Tours. This...
a week ago
10
a week ago
I have recently returned from an excellent tour to Colombia that I led for Quest Nature Tours. This was my third time guiding in Colombia, following excellent trips in 2020 and 2022. Those previous tours covered a lot of ground, in the eastern Andes near Bogotá, the Central Andes...
Quanta Magazine
‘Paraparticles’ Would Be a Third Kingdom of Quantum Particle A new proposal makes the case that paraparticles — a new category of quantum particle — could be...
a week ago
10
a week ago
A new proposal makes the case that paraparticles — a new category of quantum particle — could be created in exotic materials. The post ‘Paraparticles’ Would Be a Third Kingdom of Quantum Particle first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Bury Broadband and Electricity We may have a unique opportunity to make an infrastructure investment that can demonstrably save...
a week ago
9
a week ago
We may have a unique opportunity to make an infrastructure investment that can demonstrably save money over the long term – by burying power and broadband lines. This is always an option, of course, but since we are in the early phases of rolling out fiber optic service, and also...
Breck's Blog
Mind Changers
a week ago
Uncharted...
The Force That Drives Korea The force that split Korea in 1945 in two is not recent: It has been pulling it apart for thousands...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
The force that split Korea in 1945 in two is not recent: It has been pulling it apart for thousands of years. If you understand it, you can understand all of Korea's history.
The Works in...
How DC densified Washington, DC, has avoided the worst price rises that have plagued other American cities. Arlington...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
Washington, DC, has avoided the worst price rises that have plagued other American cities. Arlington might be the reason.
Breck's Blog
A funny thing about the original Microsoft Source Code
2 weeks ago
Quanta Magazine
Where Does Meaning Live in a Sentence? Math Might Tell Us. The mathematician Tai-Danae Bradley is using category theory to try to understand both human and...
2 weeks ago
9
2 weeks ago
The mathematician Tai-Danae Bradley is using category theory to try to understand both human and AI-generated language. The post Where Does Meaning Live in a Sentence? Math Might Tell Us. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
A syllabus for nuclear power A reading list about making nuclear power cheaper and faster
2 weeks ago
Andrew Fraknoi –...
128 New Moons Found Around Saturn An international team of astronomers announced recently that they had discovered 128 new, small...
2 weeks ago
12
2 weeks ago
An international team of astronomers announced recently that they had discovered 128 new, small moons orbiting the planet Saturn.  That brings the total number of moons known around the ringed planet to 274, breaking all planetary records. Jupiter, the runner-up, has “only” 95...
Uncharted...
12 Interesting Updates on AI, Immortality, Robotaxis, and More From the last 6 months | Q4 2024 and Q1 2025
2 weeks ago
NeuroLogica Blog
De-extincting the Dire Wolf This really is just a coincidence – I posted yesterday about using AI and modern genetic engineering...
2 weeks ago
11
2 weeks ago
This really is just a coincidence – I posted yesterday about using AI and modern genetic engineering technology, with one application being the de-extinction of species. I had not seen the news from yesterday about a company that just announced it has cloned three dire wolves...
Casey Handmer's blog
To Conquer the Primary Energy Consumption Layer of Our Entire Civilization [Originally posted on the Terraform blog April 3, 2025.] Three years ago we set out to make cheap...
2 weeks ago
12
2 weeks ago
[Originally posted on the Terraform blog April 3, 2025.] Three years ago we set out to make cheap synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air. At the time I didn’t fully appreciate that we had kicked off the process of recompiling the foundation layer of our entire industrial...
Chris Grossack's...
Analytic Combinatorics -- A Worked Example Another day, another blog post that starts with “I was on mse the other day…”. This time, someone...
2 weeks ago
64
2 weeks ago
Another day, another blog post that starts with “I was on mse the other day…”. This time, someone asked an interesting question amounting to “how many unordered rooted ternary trees with $n$ nodes are there, up to isomorphism?”. I’m a sucker for these kinds of combinatorial...
Quanta Magazine
Intelligence Evolved at Least Twice in Vertebrate Animals Complex neural pathways likely arose independently in birds and mammals, suggesting that vertebrates...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
Complex neural pathways likely arose independently in birds and mammals, suggesting that vertebrates evolved intelligence multiple times. The post Intelligence Evolved at Least Twice in Vertebrate Animals first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Chinese towers and American blocks The difference comes down to regulation, not culture.
2 weeks ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Will AI Bring Us Jurassic Park I think it’s increasingly difficult to argue that the recent boom in artificial intelligence (AI) is...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
I think it’s increasingly difficult to argue that the recent boom in artificial intelligence (AI) is mostly hype. There is a lot of hype, but don’t let that distract you from the real progress. The best indication of this is applications in scientific research, because the...
Asterisk
Where Babies Come From It’s more complicated than you may think.
2 weeks ago
Probably...
Announcing Think Stats 3e The third edition of Think Stats is on its way to the printer! You can preorder now from...
2 weeks ago
12
2 weeks ago
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...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 19: More From Muyuna Lodge (February 27-28, 2024) February 27, 2024 The rains fell sometime after we went to bed and continued through the night,...
2 weeks ago
11
2 weeks ago
February 27, 2024 The rains fell sometime after we went to bed and continued through the night, infiltrating our dreams. Light rain was still dripping from the trees as we awoke, and the dawn chorus was proportionally muted.  We had a quick breakfast and by 6:30 were on the small...
Cremieux Recueil
Nutrition Beliefs Are Just-So Stories But everyone wishes they weren't!
2 weeks ago
Explorations of an...
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...
2 weeks ago
13
2 weeks ago
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...
Quanta Magazine
How a Problem About Pigeons Powers Complexity Theory When pigeons outnumber pigeonholes, some birds must double up. This obvious statement — and its...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
When pigeons outnumber pigeonholes, some birds must double up. This obvious statement — and its inverse — have deep connections to many areas of math and computer science. The post How a Problem About Pigeons Powers Complexity Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Is Planned Obsolescence Real Yes – it is well-documented that in many industries the design of products incorporates a plan for...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
Yes – it is well-documented that in many industries the design of products incorporates a plan for when the product will need to be replaced. A blatant example was in 1924 when an international meeting of lightbulb manufacturers decided to limit the lifespan of lightbulbs to...
Uncharted...
Why Did Korea Split? The crazy story of a few days that changed Korea forever
2 weeks ago
Quanta Magazine
What Is the True Promise of Quantum Computing? Despite the hype, it’s been surprisingly challenging to find quantum algorithms that outperform...
3 weeks ago
11
3 weeks ago
Despite the hype, it’s been surprisingly challenging to find quantum algorithms that outperform classical ones. In this episode, Ewin Tang discusses her pioneering work in “dequantizing” quantum algorithms — and what it means for the future of quantum computing. The...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Transition to Agriculture It is generally accepted that the transition from hunter-gatherer communities to agriculture was the...
3 weeks ago
10
3 weeks ago
It is generally accepted that the transition from hunter-gatherer communities to agriculture was the single most important event in human history, ultimately giving rise to all of civilization. The transition started to take place around 12,000 years ago in the Middle East,...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Quick Hinge Health S-1 Thoughts | Out-Of-Pocket This episode of Out-Of-Pocket is brought to you by…
3 weeks ago
The Works in...
Pieces we would like to commission Write for Works in Progress
3 weeks ago
Quanta Magazine
Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex A new suggestion that complexity increases over time, not just in living organisms but in the...
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
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
Blog - Practical...
Why Are Beach Holes So Deadly? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Even though it’s a favorite...
3 weeks ago
25
3 weeks ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Even though it’s a favorite vacation destination, the beach is surprisingly dangerous. Consider the lifeguard: There aren’t that many recreational activities in our lives that have explicit staff whose only job...
The Works in...
The prehistoric psychopath Life in the state of nature was less violent than you might think. But this made them vulnerable to...
3 weeks ago
10
3 weeks ago
Life in the state of nature was less violent than you might think. But this made them vulnerable to a few psychopaths.
Uncharted...
What Are My Politics? And my unrefined thoughts on US politics
3 weeks ago
Cremieux Recueil
Fertility Policy For Rich Countries A brief proposal to fix Social Security and grow the population
3 weeks ago
Asterisk
The Future of American Foreign Aid USAID has been slashed, and it is unclear what shape its predecessor will take. How might American...
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
USAID has been slashed, and it is unclear what shape its predecessor will take. How might American foreign assistance be restructured to maintain critical functions? And how should we think about its future?
IEEE Spectrum
Before the Undo Command, There Was the Electric Eraser hot combs—they all obviously benefited from the jolt of electrification. But the eraser? What was so...
3 weeks ago
12
3 weeks ago
hot combs—they all obviously benefited from the jolt of electrification. But the eraser? What was so problematic about the humble eraser that it needed electrifying? 1935 patent application for an apparatus for erasing, “Hand held rubbers are clumsy and cover a greater area than...
Quanta Magazine
A New Proof Smooths Out the Math of Melting A powerful mathematical technique is used to model melting ice and other phenomena. But it has long...
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
A powerful mathematical technique is used to model melting ice and other phenomena. But it has long been imperiled by certain “nightmare scenarios.” A new proof has removed that obstacle. The post A New Proof Smooths Out the Math of Melting first appeared on Quanta...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Politicians We Deserve This is an interesting concept, with an interesting history, and I have heard it quoted many times...
3 weeks ago
14
3 weeks ago
This is an interesting concept, with an interesting history, and I have heard it quoted many times recently – “we get the politicians (or government) we deserve.” It is often invoked to imply that voters are responsible for the malfeasance or general failings of their elected...
The Works in...
Womb for improvement Pregnancy can be painful and, for some women, impossible. New technology may allow more women to...
3 weeks ago
13
3 weeks ago
Pregnancy can be painful and, for some women, impossible. New technology may allow more women to have children and save the lives of prematurely born infants.
Quantum Frontiers
How writing a popular-science book led to a Nature Physics paper Several people have asked me whether writing a popular-science book has fed back into my research....
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
Several people have asked me whether writing a popular-science book has fed back into my research. Nature Physics published my favorite illustration of the answer this January. Here’s the story behind the paper. In late 2020, I was sitting by … Continue reading →
nanoscale views
Science updates - brief items Here are a couple of neat papers that I came across in the last week.  (Planning to write something...
3 weeks ago
16
3 weeks ago
Here are a couple of neat papers that I came across in the last week.  (Planning to write something about multiferroics as well, once I have a bit of time.) The idea of directly extracting useful energy from the rotation of the earth sounds like something out of an H. G. Wells...
Chris Grossack's...
Some Doodles I'm Proud of -- The Capping Algorithm for Embedded Graphs This will be a really quick one! Over the last two weeks I’ve been finishing up a big project to...
3 weeks ago
14
3 weeks ago
This will be a really quick one! Over the last two weeks I’ve been finishing up a big project to make DOIs for all the papers published in TAC, and my code takes a while to run. So while testing I would hit “go” and have like 10 minutes to kill… which means it’s time to start...
Quanta Magazine
The High Cost of Quantum Randomness Is Dropping Randomness is essential to some research, but it’s always been prohibitively complicated. Now, we...
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
Randomness is essential to some research, but it’s always been prohibitively complicated. Now, we can use “pseudorandomness” instead. The post The High Cost of Quantum Randomness Is Dropping first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
H&M Will Use Digital Twins The fashion retailer, H&M, has announced that they will start using AI generated digital twins of...
3 weeks ago
12
3 weeks ago
The fashion retailer, H&M, has announced that they will start using AI generated digital twins of models in some of their advertising. This has sparked another round of discussion about the use of AI to replace artists of various kinds. Regarding the H&M announcement...
The Works in...
A walk down Victoria Street London’s mid-rise architecture
3 weeks ago
The Works in...
Links in Progress: Legalizing the condo Moving the needle on US homebuilding
4 weeks ago
Uncharted...
10 Fascinating GeoHistory Updates Q1 2025
4 weeks ago
NeuroLogica Blog
The 80-20 Rule From the Topic Suggestions (Lal Mclennan): What is the 80/20 theory portrayed in Netflix’s...
4 weeks ago
15
4 weeks ago
From the Topic Suggestions (Lal Mclennan): What is the 80/20 theory portrayed in Netflix’s Adolescence? The 80/20 rule was first posed as a Pareto principle that suggests that approximately 80 per cent of outcomes stem from just 20 per cent of causes. This concept takes its name...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
A few more thoughts on Medical Aid in Dying | Out-Of-Pocket Readers sent in their experiences and thoughts - let the morality fight begin
4 weeks ago
Eukaryote Writes...
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...
4 weeks ago
14
4 weeks ago
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.
Quanta Magazine
The Mysterious Flow of Fluid in the Brain A popular hypothesis for how the brain clears molecular waste, which may help explain why sleep...
4 weeks ago
17
4 weeks ago
A popular hypothesis for how the brain clears molecular waste, which may help explain why sleep feels refreshing, is a subject of debate. The post The Mysterious Flow of Fluid in the Brain first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Apply for Invisible College 2025 Our residential seminar for 18–22 year olds was such a success that we are running it again
4 weeks ago
Uncharted...
10 Interesting Facts on Relationships & Sex Q1 2025
a month ago
The Works in...
How Airbus took off Why you can build a European airliner, but not a European Google
a month ago
The Works in...
Links in Progress: Good drug news More important things happening in biotechnology and medicine
a month ago
NeuroLogica Blog
How To Keep AIs From Lying We had a fascinating discussion on this week’s SGU that I wanted to bring here – the subject of...
a month ago
16
a month ago
We had a fascinating discussion on this week’s SGU that I wanted to bring here – the subject of artificial intelligence programs (AI), specifically large language models (LLMs), lying. The starting point for the discussion was this study, which looked at punishing LLMs as a...
Quanta Magazine
Three Hundred Years Later, a Tool from Isaac Newton Gets an Update A simple, widely used mathematical technique can finally be applied to boundlessly complex problems....
a month ago
17
a month ago
A simple, widely used mathematical technique can finally be applied to boundlessly complex problems. The post Three Hundred Years Later, a Tool from Isaac Newton Gets an Update first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New Out-Of-Pocket 10 year plan | Out-Of-Pocket It’s time for a new north start for this company
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
How Metabolism Can Shape Cells’ Destinies A growing body of work suggests that cell metabolism — the chemical reactions that provide energy...
a month ago
13
a month ago
A growing body of work suggests that cell metabolism — the chemical reactions that provide energy and building materials — plays a vital, overlooked role in the first steps of life. The post How Metabolism Can Shape Cells’ Destinies first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
AlexNet Source Code Is Now Open Source In partnership with Google, the Computer History Museum has released the source code to AlexNet, the...
a month ago
17
a month ago
In partnership with Google, the Computer History Museum has released the source code to AlexNet, the neural network that in 2012 kickstarted today’s prevailing approach to AI. The source code is available as open source on CHM’s GitHub page. What Is AlexNet? AlexNet is an...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Neuroscience of Constructed Languages Language is an interesting neurological function to study. No animal other than humans has such a...
a month ago
15
a month ago
Language is an interesting neurological function to study. No animal other than humans has such a highly developed dedicated language processing area, or languages as complex and nuanced as humans. Although, whale language is more complex than we previously thought, but still not...
nanoscale views
March Meeting 2025, Day 4 and wrap-up I saw a couple of interesting talks this morning before heading out: Alessandro Chiesa of Parma...
a month ago
15
a month ago
I saw a couple of interesting talks this morning before heading out: Alessandro Chiesa of Parma spoke about using spin-containing molecules potentially as qubits, and about chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) in electron transfer.  Regarding the former, here is a review. ...
Cremieux Recueil
Sometimes Papers Contain Obvious Lies What you read in an abstract, a title, or even in the body of a paper might be the opposite of what...
a month ago
15
a month ago
What you read in an abstract, a title, or even in the body of a paper might be the opposite of what papers actually show, and sometimes result are just made up
IEEE Spectrum
IEEE Recognizes Itaipu Dam’s Engineering Achievements Technology should benefit humanity. One of the most remarkable examples of technology’s potential to...
a month ago
24
a month ago
Technology should benefit humanity. One of the most remarkable examples of technology’s potential to provide enduring benefits is the Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam, a massive binational energy project between Brazil and Paraguay. Built on the Paraná River, which forms part of the...
The Works in...
King of fruits Ordinary yellow pineapples were once so precious they were rented for display at dinner parties, but...
a month ago
13
a month ago
Ordinary yellow pineapples were once so precious they were rented for display at dinner parties, but centuries of innovation made them commonplace.
Quanta Magazine
How Did Multicellular Life Evolve? One of the most important events in the history of life on Earth was the emergence of...
a month ago
15
a month ago
One of the most important events in the history of life on Earth was the emergence of multicellularity. In this episode, Will Ratcliff discusses how his snowflake yeast models provide insight into what drove the transition from single-celled to multicellular organisms. ...
Quantum Frontiers
The first and second centuries of quantum mechanics At this week’s American Physical Society Global Physics Summit in Anaheim, California, John Preskill...
a month ago
20
a month ago
At this week’s American Physical Society Global Physics Summit in Anaheim, California, John Preskill spoke at an event celebrating 100 years of groundbreaking advances in quantum mechanics. Here are his remarks. Welcome, everyone, to this celebration of 100 years of … Continue...
Uncharted...
Rise Up, Europe! The Five Beliefs That Cripple a Continent
a month ago
nanoscale views
March Meeting 2025, Day 3 Another busy day at the APS Global Physics Summit.  Here are a few highlights: Shahal Ilani of the...
a month ago
13
a month ago
Another busy day at the APS Global Physics Summit.  Here are a few highlights: Shahal Ilani of the Weizmann gave an absolutely fantastic talk about his group's latest results from their quantum twisting microscope.  In a scanning tunneling microscope, because tunneling happens...
Quanta Magazine
Is Dark Energy Getting Weaker? New Evidence Strengthens the Case. Last year, an enormous map of the cosmos hinted that the engine driving cosmic expansion might be...
a month ago
17
a month ago
Last year, an enormous map of the cosmos hinted that the engine driving cosmic expansion might be sputtering. Now physicists are back with an even bigger map, and a stronger conclusion. The post Is Dark Energy Getting Weaker? New Evidence Strengthens the Case. first...
Probably...
Young Adults Want Fewer Children The most recent data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) provides a first look at...
a month ago
10
a month ago
The most recent data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) provides a first look at people born in the 2000s as young adults and an updated view of people born in the 1990s at the peak of their child-bearing years. Compared to previous generations at the same ages,...
nanoscale views
March Meeting 2025, Day 2 I spent a portion of today catching up with old friends and colleagues, so fewer highlights, but...
a month ago
15
a month ago
I spent a portion of today catching up with old friends and colleagues, so fewer highlights, but here are a couple: Like a few hundred other people, I went to the invited talk by Chetan Nayak, leader of Microsoft's quantum computing effort. It was sufficiently crowded that the...
Beautiful Public...
WWII Japanese Mass Incarceration collections Haunting photos and documents document a shameful chapter of America’s history—the forced...
a month ago
20
a month ago
Haunting photos and documents document a shameful chapter of America’s history—the forced displacement and incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII.
Blog - Practical...
This Bridge’s Bizarre Design Nearly Caused It To Collapse [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] This is the Washington Bridge...
a month ago
24
a month ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] This is the Washington Bridge that carries I-195 over the Seekonk River in Providence, Rhode Island… or at least, it was the Washington Bridge. You can see that the westbound span is just about completely gone....
NeuroLogica Blog
Living with Predators For much of human history, wolves and other large carnivores were considered pests. Wolves were...
a month ago
16
a month ago
For much of human history, wolves and other large carnivores were considered pests. Wolves were actively exterminated on the British Isles, with the last wolf killed in 1680. It is more difficulty to deliberately wipe out a species on a continent than an island, but across Europe...
nanoscale views
March Meeting 2025, Day 1 The APS Global Physics Summit is an intimate affair, with a mere 14,000 attendees, all apparently...
a month ago
14
a month ago
The APS Global Physics Summit is an intimate affair, with a mere 14,000 attendees, all apparently vying for lunch capacity for about 2,000 people.   The first day of the meeting was the usual controlled chaos of people trying to learn the layout of the convention center while...
Quanta Magazine
Quantum Speedup Found for Huge Class of Hard Problems It’s been difficult to find important questions that quantum computers can answer faster than...
a month ago
19
a month ago
It’s been difficult to find important questions that quantum computers can answer faster than classical machines, but a new algorithm appears to do it for some critical optimization tasks. The post Quantum Speedup Found for Huge Class of Hard Problems first appeared...
The Works in...
The value of technological progress Evidence from the life of Matt Clancy
a month ago
Uncharted...
Why Do We Like Concerts? It's not what you think
a month ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Using AI for Teaching A recent BBC article reminded me of one of my enduring technology disappointments over the last 40...
a month ago
15
a month ago
A recent BBC article reminded me of one of my enduring technology disappointments over the last 40 years – the failure of the educational system to reasonably (let alone fully) leverage multimedia and computer technology to enhance learning. The article is about a symposium in...
nanoscale views
March Meeting 2025, Day 0 Technically, this year the conference is known as the APS Global Physics Summit rather than the...
a month ago
16
a month ago
Technically, this year the conference is known as the APS Global Physics Summit rather than the March Meeting, but I'm keeping my blog post titles consistent with previous years.   Over 14,000 physicists have descended upon Anaheim, and there are parallel events in more than a...
Quantum Frontiers
Developing an AI for Quantum Chess: Part 1 In January 2016, Caltech’s Institute for Quantum Information and Matter unveiled a YouTube video...
a month ago
16
a month ago
In January 2016, Caltech’s Institute for Quantum Information and Matter unveiled a YouTube video featuring an extraordinary chess showdown between actor Paul Rudd (a.k.a. Ant-Man) and the legendary Dr. Stephen Hawking. But this was no ordinary match—Rudd had challenged Hawking …...
Chris Grossack's...
A Cute Application of the Yoneda Lemma Every few weeks recently I’ve been putting a new fun problem on one of the whiteboards in the first...
a month ago
17
a month ago
Every few weeks recently I’ve been putting a new fun problem on one of the whiteboards in the first year office. These are often inspired by something I saw on MSE, and I’m usually choosing problems that force you to understand something fundamental really well. Then I usually...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 17: White-sand Birding At RN Allpahuayo-Mishana and Muyuna Lodge... February 24, 2024 Just outside of the city of Iquitos lies an expansive area containing white-sand...
a month ago
19
a month ago
February 24, 2024 Just outside of the city of Iquitos lies an expansive area containing white-sand forest. The particular forest types that grow on white sand are somewhat uncommon in the Amazon, yet the stunted tree growth provides quite the contrast to "typical" Amazonian...
Cremieux Recueil
The End of Credentialism? Cognitive testing might be making a comeback. That could be very important.
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
‘Once in a Century’ Proof Settles Math’s Kakeya Conjecture The deceptively simple Kakeya conjecture has bedeviled mathematicians for 50 years. A new proof of...
a month ago
19
a month ago
The deceptively simple Kakeya conjecture has bedeviled mathematicians for 50 years. A new proof of the conjecture in three dimensions illuminates a whole crop of related problems. The post ‘Once in a Century’ Proof Settles Math’s Kakeya Conjecture first appeared on...
NeuroLogica Blog
Cutting to the Bone One potentially positive outcome from the COVID pandemic is that it was a wakeup call – if there was...
a month ago
17
a month ago
One potentially positive outcome from the COVID pandemic is that it was a wakeup call – if there was any doubt previously about the fact that we all live in one giant interconnected world, it should not have survived the recent pandemic. This is particularly true when it comes to...
Casey Handmer's blog
Long duration propellant stability in Starship Some ideas on preventing cryogenic propellant boiloff in Starship during long duration cruise or...
a month ago
19
a month ago
Some ideas on preventing cryogenic propellant boiloff in Starship during long duration cruise or while operating orbital fuel depots. The usual caveats apply! One of the major concerns with using Starship for the Human Landing System is that propellant (cryogenically liquid...
Quanta Magazine
New Conversations, Deep Questions, Bold Ideas in Season Four of ‘The Joy of Why’ Steven Strogatz and Janna Levin return for a new season on major scientific and mathematical...
a month ago
14
a month ago
Steven Strogatz and Janna Levin return for a new season on major scientific and mathematical questions of our time, with 12 all-new episodes and a new format. The post New Conversations, Deep Questions, Bold Ideas in Season Four of ‘The Joy of Why’ first appeared on...
The Works in...
Issue 18: Urbanism with Chinese characteristics Plus: Reducing the motherhood penalty by extending fertility, the steam networks of New York City,...
a month ago
15
a month ago
Plus: Reducing the motherhood penalty by extending fertility, the steam networks of New York City, and the rise and fall of the Hanseatic league.
NeuroLogica Blog
Hybrid Bionic Hand If you think about the human hand as a work of engineering, it is absolutely incredible. The level...
a month ago
13
a month ago
If you think about the human hand as a work of engineering, it is absolutely incredible. The level of fine motor control is extreme. It is responsive and precise. It has robust sensory feedback. It combines both rigid and soft components, so that it is able to grip and lift heavy...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Debate: Should Medical Aid in Death Be Legal? | Out-Of-Pocket Oh boy, I’m nervous to wade into this conversation
a month ago
Cremieux Recueil
How To Get Cheap Ozempic Or other, more effective GLP-1 drugs
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
The Road Map to Alien Life Passes Through the ‘Cosmic Shoreline’ Astronomers are ready to search for the fingerprints of life in faraway planetary atmospheres. But...
a month ago
16
a month ago
Astronomers are ready to search for the fingerprints of life in faraway planetary atmospheres. But first, they need to know where to look — and that means figuring out which planets are likely to have atmospheres in the first place. The post The Road Map to Alien Life...
nanoscale views
The 2025 Wolf Prize in Physics One nice bit of condensed matter/nanoscale physics news:  This year's Wolf Prize in Physics has gone...
a month ago
19
a month ago
One nice bit of condensed matter/nanoscale physics news:  This year's Wolf Prize in Physics has gone to three outstanding scientists, Jim Eisenstein, Moty Heiblum, and Jainendra Jain, each of whom have done very impactful work involving 2D electron gases - systems of electrons...
Uncharted...
Robotaxis Are Here Within 1-5 years, our daily transportation will be upended, and cities will be reshaped.
a month ago
The Works in...
Flipping the switch on far-UVC We’ve known about far-UVC’s promise for a decade. Why isn't it everywhere?
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
Why Do Researchers Care About Small Language Models? Larger models can pull off greater feats, but the accessibility and efficiency of smaller models...
a month ago
20
a month ago
Larger models can pull off greater feats, but the accessibility and efficiency of smaller models make them attractive tools. The post Why Do Researchers Care About Small Language Models? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Stem Cells for Parkinson’s Disease For my entire career as a neurologist, spanning three decades, I have been hearing about various...
a month ago
18
a month ago
For my entire career as a neurologist, spanning three decades, I have been hearing about various kinds of stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Now a Phase I clinical trial is under way studying the latest stem cell technology, autologous induced pluripotent stem cells,...
Quanta Magazine
‘Next-Level’ Chaos Traces the True Limit of Predictability In math and computer science, researchers have long understood that some questions are fundamentally...
a month ago
18
a month ago
In math and computer science, researchers have long understood that some questions are fundamentally unanswerable. Now physicists are exploring how even ordinary physical systems put hard limits on what we can predict, even in principle. The post ‘Next-Level’ Chaos...
Uncharted...
What Asian Development Can Teach the World The Magic Development of Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and China, and What That Tells Us about US...
a month ago
28
a month ago
The Magic Development of Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and China, and What That Tells Us about US Tariffs, China’s Future, EU Protectionism, Japan’s Zombie Debt, Argentina’s Arrested Development, and more
nanoscale views
Some updates on the NSF and related issues Non-blog life has been very busy, and events have been changing rapidly, but I thought it would be a...
a month ago
25
a month ago
Non-blog life has been very busy, and events have been changing rapidly, but I thought it would be a good idea to give a brief bulleted list of updates regarding the NSF and associated issues: A court decision regarding who has the authority to fire probationary federal workers...
NeuroLogica Blog
Where Are All the Dwarf Planets? In 2006 (yes, it was that long ago – yikes) the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially...
a month ago
20
a month ago
In 2006 (yes, it was that long ago – yikes) the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially adopted the definition of dwarf planet – they are large enough for their gravity to pull themselves into a sphere, they orbit the sun and not another larger body, but they don’t...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Getting Healthcare Data To Train An AI Model - with Protege | Out-Of-Pocket And all the different ways you can “train” a model
a month ago
Quantum Frontiers
What does it mean to create a topological qubit? I’ve worked on topological quantum computation, one of Alexei Kitaev’s brilliant innovations, for...
a month ago
25
a month ago
I’ve worked on topological quantum computation, one of Alexei Kitaev’s brilliant innovations, for around 15 years now.  It’s hard to find a more beautiful physics problem, combining spectacular quantum phenomena (non-Abelian anyons) with the promise of transformative...
Quanta Magazine
A New, Chemical View of Ecosystems Rare and powerful compounds, known as keystone molecules, can build a web of invisible interactions...
a month ago
21
a month ago
Rare and powerful compounds, known as keystone molecules, can build a web of invisible interactions among species. The post A New, Chemical View of Ecosystems first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
Are AIs People? Every year, AI models get better at thinking. Could they possibly be capable of feeling? And if they...
a month ago
22
a month ago
Every year, AI models get better at thinking. Could they possibly be capable of feeling? And if they are, how would we know?
Asterisk
The Science of Woo A conversation about neuroscience, meditation, and the many paths to insight.
a month ago
Asterisk
Greening the Solar System A future where life flourishes beyond Earth is closer than you think. How, precisely, will we get...
a month ago
10
a month ago
A future where life flourishes beyond Earth is closer than you think. How, precisely, will we get there?
Asterisk
We Can, Must, and Will Simulate Nematode Brains Scientists have spent over 25 years trying — and failing — to build computer simulations of the...
a month ago
8
a month ago
Scientists have spent over 25 years trying — and failing — to build computer simulations of the smallest brain we know. Today, we finally have the tools to pull it off.
Blog - Practical...
All Dams Are Temporary [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Lewis and Clark Lake, on the...
a month ago
47
a month ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Lewis and Clark Lake, on the border between Nebraska and South Dakota, might not be a lake for much longer. Together with the dam that holds it back, the reservoir provides hydropower, flood control, and...
Quanta Magazine
Years After the Early Death of a Math Genius, Her Ideas Gain New Life A new proof extends the work of the late Maryam Mirzakhani, cementing her legacy as a pioneer of...
a month ago
20
a month ago
A new proof extends the work of the late Maryam Mirzakhani, cementing her legacy as a pioneer of alien mathematical realms. The post Years After the Early Death of a Math Genius, Her Ideas Gain New Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
The New TIGR-Tas Gene Editing System Remember CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) – that new gene-editing...
a month ago
21
a month ago
Remember CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) – that new gene-editing system which is faster and cheaper than anything that came before it? CRISPR is derived from bacterial systems which uses guide RNA to target a specific sequence on a DNA strand....
Casey Handmer's blog
California’s path to redemption California is by far the richest and most powerful polity led by Progressive ideals, and it has...
a month ago
23
a month ago
California is by far the richest and most powerful polity led by Progressive ideals, and it has taken a beating of late. In this post, I discuss a practical roadmap by which California must reclaim its mantle as the shining city on the hill, an embodiment of the positive...
Quanta Magazine
The Physicist Working to Build Science-Literate AI By training machine learning models with enough examples of basic science, Miles Cranmer hopes to...
a month ago
24
a month ago
By training machine learning models with enough examples of basic science, Miles Cranmer hopes to push the pace of scientific discovery forward. The post The Physicist Working to Build Science-Literate AI first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
The British Navy Resisted a Decent Lightning Rod for Decades Frustrated scientists turned to visual aids to help make their case for the lightning rod. The...
a month ago
29
a month ago
Frustrated scientists turned to visual aids to help make their case for the lightning rod. The exploding thunder house is one example. When a small amount of gunpowder was deposited inside the dollhouse-size structure and a charge was applied, the house would either explode or...
Uncharted...
Free Speech in the US vs Europe: Who Is Right? "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."—Evelyn Beatrice...
a month ago
23
a month ago
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."—Evelyn Beatrice Hall, conveying the ideas of Voltaire
NeuroLogica Blog
Are Small Modular Reactors Finally Coming? Small nuclear reactors have been around since the 1950s. They mostly have been used in military...
a month ago
20
a month ago
Small nuclear reactors have been around since the 1950s. They mostly have been used in military ships, like aircraft carriers and submarines. They have the specific advantage that such ships could remain at sea for long periods of time without needing to refuel. But small modular...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Why are docs late? Why can’t I find prices for anything? | Out-Of-Pocket And why can’t I get my record into one place?
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
The ‘Elegant’ Math Model That Could Help Rescue Coral Reefs Physicists and marine biologists built a quantitative framework that predicts how coral polyps...
a month ago
29
a month ago
Physicists and marine biologists built a quantitative framework that predicts how coral polyps collectively construct a variety of coral shapes. The post The ‘Elegant’ Math Model That Could Help Rescue Coral Reefs first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
A review of Charles Piller’s Doctored How fraud and bad research derailed years of Alzheimer's progress
a month ago
Uncharted...
Reaction to Your Comments on German Elections Election results, german nuclear, slower maps, and more
a month ago
Beautiful Public...
Cold War Military Slides A reporter stumbled upon a treasure trove of Department of Defense slides from the 1970s and 1980s...
a month ago
25
a month ago
A reporter stumbled upon a treasure trove of Department of Defense slides from the 1970s and 1980s depicting data from missile systems, Soviet capabilities and America’s nuclear arsenal.
Quanta Magazine
New Maps of the Bizarre, Chaotic Space-Time Inside Black Holes Physicists hope that understanding the churning region near singularities might help them reconcile...
a month ago
23
a month ago
Physicists hope that understanding the churning region near singularities might help them reconcile gravity and quantum mechanics. The post New Maps of the Bizarre, Chaotic Space-Time Inside Black Holes first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
The Alef Flying Car The flying car is an icon of futuristic technology – in more ways than one. This is partly why I...
a month ago
24
a month ago
The flying car is an icon of futuristic technology – in more ways than one. This is partly why I can’t resist a good flying car story. I was recently sent this YouTube video on the Alef flying car. The company says his is a street-legal flying car, with vertical take off and...
Casey Handmer's blog
What can we send to Mars on the first Starships? As of today, it is 601 days until October 17, 2026, when the mass-optimal launch window to Mars...
a month ago
37
a month ago
As of today, it is 601 days until October 17, 2026, when the mass-optimal launch window to Mars opens next.  While I don’t have any privileged information, it’s fun to speculate about what SpaceX could choose to send on its first Starship flights to Mars. (Spoiler alert: Rods...
nanoscale views
What is "static electricity"/"contact electrification"/triboelectricity? An early physics demonstration that many of us see in elementary school is that of static...
a month ago
16
a month ago
An early physics demonstration that many of us see in elementary school is that of static electricity:  an electrical insulator like a wool cloth or animal fur is rubbed on a glass or plastic rod, and suddenly the rod can pick up pieces of styrofoam or little bits of paper. ...
Uncharted...
What’s at Stake in Germany’s Elections The future of Ukraine, of Europe, freedom of speech, and Germany’s economy
2 months ago
Quanta Magazine
How ‘Event Scripts’ Structure Our Personal Memories By screening films in a brain scanner, neuroscientists discovered a rich library of neural scripts —...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
By screening films in a brain scanner, neuroscientists discovered a rich library of neural scripts — from a trip through an airport to a marriage proposal — that form scaffolds for memories of our experiences. The post How ‘Event Scripts’ Structure Our Personal...
NeuroLogica Blog
Thermoelectric Cooling – It’s Cooler Than You Think I am fascinated by the technologies that live largely behind the scenes. These are not generally...
2 months ago
22
2 months ago
I am fascinated by the technologies that live largely behind the scenes. These are not generally consumer devices, but they may be components of consumer products, or may largely have a role in industry – but they make our modern world possible, or make it much better. In...
wadertales
Iceland’s waders in decline It is estimated that 1.5 million pairs of waders breed in Iceland, most of which spend the winter in...
2 months ago
28
2 months ago
It is estimated that 1.5 million pairs of waders breed in Iceland, most of which spend the winter in West Europe and West Africa. There is a lot of guesswork associated with this number and little national monitoring information to assess whether species are doing well or badly....
nanoscale views
The National Science Foundation - this is not business as usual The National Science Foundation was created 75 years ago, at the behest of Vannevar Bush, who put...
2 months ago
13
2 months ago
The National Science Foundation was created 75 years ago, at the behest of Vannevar Bush, who put together the famed study, Science, The Endless Frontier, in 1945.  The NSF has played a critical role in a huge amount of science and engineering research since its inception,...
IEEE Spectrum
Saving Public Data Takes More Than Simple Snapshots Shortly after the Trump administration took office in the United States in late January, more than...
2 months ago
31
2 months ago
Shortly after the Trump administration took office in the United States in late January, more than 8,000 pages across several government websites and databases were taken down, the New York Times found. Though many of these have now been restored, thousands of pages were purged...
Uncharted...
The Birth of German(y) Goods, Gods, and Guns
2 months ago
Quanta Magazine
After 20 Years, Math Couple Solves Major Group Theory Problem Britta Späth has dedicated her career to proving a single, central conjecture. She’s finally...
2 months ago
35
2 months ago
Britta Späth has dedicated her career to proving a single, central conjecture. She’s finally succeeded, alongside her partner, Marc Cabanes. The post After 20 Years, Math Couple Solves Major Group Theory Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
Catalytic Computing Taps the Full Power of a Full Hard Drive Ten years ago, researchers proved that adding full memory can theoretically aid computation. They’re...
2 months ago
44
2 months ago
Ten years ago, researchers proved that adding full memory can theoretically aid computation. They’re just now beginning to understand the implications. The post Catalytic Computing Taps the Full Power of a Full Hard Drive first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Birds Separately Evolved Complex Brains The evolution of the human brain is a fascinating subject. The brain is arguably the most complex...
2 months ago
23
2 months ago
The evolution of the human brain is a fascinating subject. The brain is arguably the most complex structure in the known (to us) universe, and is the feature that makes humanity unique and has allowed us to dominate (for good or ill) the fate of this planet. But of course we are...
Quantum Frontiers
Lessons in frustration Assa Auerbach’s course was the most maddening course I’ve ever taken.  I was a master’s student in...
2 months ago
25
2 months ago
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...
nanoscale views
What are parastatistics? While I could certainly write more about what is going on in the US these days (ahh, trying to...
2 months ago
13
2 months ago
While I could certainly write more about what is going on in the US these days (ahh, trying to dismantle organizations you don't understand), instead I want to briefly highlight a very exciting result from my colleagues, published in Nature last month.  (I almost titled this post...
Uncharted...
Why Japan Succeeds Despite Stagnation Demographics & lending vs housing, culture & immigration
2 months ago
IEEE Spectrum
Willie Hobbs Moore: STEM Trailblazer At a time in American history when even the most intelligent Black women were expected to become, at...
2 months ago
29
2 months ago
At a time in American history when even the most intelligent Black women were expected to become, at most, teachers or nurses, Willie Hobbs Moore broke with societal expectations to become a noted physicist and engineer. Moore probably is best known for being the first Black...
Blog - Practical...
An Engineer’s Love Letter to Cable-Stayed Bridges [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] I’m Grady, and this is...
2 months ago
37
2 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] I’m Grady, and this is Practical Engineering. You know, every once in a while, all the science, technology, economic factors, and stylistic tastes converge into a singular, beautiful idea of absolute...
Quanta Magazine
The Largest Sofa You Can Move Around a Corner A new proof reveals the answer to the decades-old “moving sofa” problem. It highlights how even the...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
A new proof reveals the answer to the decades-old “moving sofa” problem. It highlights how even the simplest optimization problems can have counterintuitive answers. The post The Largest Sofa You Can Move Around a Corner first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
AI Powered Bionic Arm My younger self, seeing that title – AI Powered Bionic Arm – would definitely feel as if the future...
2 months ago
23
2 months ago
My younger self, seeing that title – AI Powered Bionic Arm – would definitely feel as if the future had arrived, and in many ways it has. This is not the bionic arm of the 1970s TV show, however. That level of tech is probably closer to the 2070s than the 1970s. But we are...
Casey Handmer's blog
Maximizing electrical power output from a nuclear reactor delivered by Starship to a base on Mars This post is a follow on from Powering the Mars Base. It’s an extended riff on the following thought...
2 months ago
25
2 months ago
This post is a follow on from Powering the Mars Base. It’s an extended riff on the following thought experiment: What is the most electrical power you could extract from an integrated Starship-delivered nuclear reactor on Mars? The usual caveats apply. I have taught nuclear...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Total Eclipse of the Moon Coming Mar. 13-14 There will be a total eclipse of the Moon visible in the Americas the night of March 13-14 The post...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
There will be a total eclipse of the Moon visible in the Americas the night of March 13-14 The post Total Eclipse of the Moon Coming Mar. 13-14 appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
The Works in...
The prophet of parking A eulogy for the great Donald Shoup
2 months ago
Quanta Magazine
How Hans Bethe Stumbled Upon Perfect Quantum Theories Quantum calculations amount to sophisticated estimates. But in 1931, Hans Bethe intuited precisely...
2 months ago
30
2 months ago
Quantum calculations amount to sophisticated estimates. But in 1931, Hans Bethe intuited precisely how a chain of particles would behave — an insight that had far-reaching consequences. The post How Hans Bethe Stumbled Upon Perfect Quantum Theories first appeared on...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
What Do Hospitals Care About? | Out-Of-Pocket Let’s look at three big priorities and a real hospital
2 months ago
The Works in...
A writing fellowship on scientific progress Works in Progress and Asimov Press are launching a paid six-month fellowship.
2 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Undergraduate Upends a 40-Year-Old Data Science Conjecture A young computer scientist and two colleagues show that searches within data structures called hash...
2 months ago
38
2 months ago
A young computer scientist and two colleagues show that searches within data structures called hash tables can be much faster than previously deemed possible. The post Undergraduate Upends a 40-Year-Old Data Science Conjecture first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Who Believes Misinformation It’s probably not a surprise that a blog author dedicated to critical thinking and neuroscience...
2 months ago
29
2 months ago
It’s probably not a surprise that a blog author dedicated to critical thinking and neuroscience feels that misinformation is one of the most significant threats to society, but I really to think this. Misinformation (false, misleading, or erroneous information) and disinformation...
Beautiful Public...
US Government UFO (UAP) Footage For decades, the public suspected that the US Government was hiding secret intelligence about UFOs —...
2 months ago
33
2 months ago
For decades, the public suspected that the US Government was hiding secret intelligence about UFOs — (now known as UAPs). Turns out…it kind of was.
Uncharted...
The Steps to AGI How LLMs work, how they're improving today, what are the next ways in which they can get better, and...
2 months ago
22
2 months ago
How LLMs work, how they're improving today, what are the next ways in which they can get better, and is that a straight shot to AGI?
nanoscale views
Indirect costs + potential unintended consequences It's been another exciting week where I feel compelled to write about the practice of...
2 months ago
13
2 months ago
It's been another exciting week where I feel compelled to write about the practice of university-based research in the US.  I've written about "indirect costs" before, but it's been a while.  I will try to get readers caught up on the basics of the university research ecosystem...
Quanta Magazine
How Noether’s Theorem Revolutionized Physics Emmy Noether showed that fundamental physical laws are just a consequence of simple symmetries. A...
2 months ago
28
2 months ago
Emmy Noether showed that fundamental physical laws are just a consequence of simple symmetries. A century later, her insights continue to shape physics. The post How Noether’s Theorem Revolutionized Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Uncharted...
AI Weeks When Decades Happen How fast AI is improving, and how that's impacting jobs today
2 months ago
wadertales
The call of the Whimbrel The seven-note whistle of the Whimbrel is a classic sound, welcomed by Icelanders at the end of a...
2 months ago
32
2 months ago
The seven-note whistle of the Whimbrel is a classic sound, welcomed by Icelanders at the end of a long, dark winter. These wonderful waders are responding badly to recent changes to Iceland’s landscape, such as the ever-expanding areas of non-native forestry and power...
Quanta Magazine
The Poetry Fan Who Taught an LLM to Read and Write DNA By treating DNA as a language, Brian Hie’s “ChatGPT for genomes” could pick up patterns that humans...
2 months ago
30
2 months ago
By treating DNA as a language, Brian Hie’s “ChatGPT for genomes” could pick up patterns that humans can’t see, accelerating biological design. The post The Poetry Fan Who Taught an LLM to Read and Write DNA first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
A Defense of Weird Research Government-funded scientific research may appear strange or impractical, but it has repeatedly...
2 months ago
18
2 months ago
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.
nanoscale views
NSF targeted with mass layoffs, acc to Politico; huge cuts in president’s budget request According to this article at politico, there was an all-hands meeting at NSF today (at least for the...
2 months ago
12
2 months ago
According to this article at politico, there was an all-hands meeting at NSF today (at least for the engineering directorate) where they were told that there will be staff layoffs of 25-50% over the next two months. This is an absolute catastrophe if it is accurately reported and...
Blog - Practical...
What’s Inside a Manhole? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] For as straightforward as they...
2 months ago
37
2 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] For as straightforward as they are, there’s a lot of mystery to sewers. They’re mostly out of sight, out of mind, and ideally out of smell too. But there’s one familiar place you can get a hint of what’s...
IEEE Spectrum
The Lost Story of Alan Turing’s Secret “Delilah” Project It was 8 May 1945, Victory in Europe Day. With the German military’s unconditional surrender, the...
2 months ago
32
2 months ago
It was 8 May 1945, Victory in Europe Day. With the German military’s unconditional surrender, the European part of World War II came to an end. Alan Turing and his assistant Donald Bayley celebrated victory in their quiet English way, by taking a long walk together. They had been...
NeuroLogica Blog
Do Apes Have a Theory of Mind Designing research studies to determine what is going on inside the minds of animals is extremely...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
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...
Casey Handmer's blog
Stuff you should have been taught in college but weren’t As part of my job running Terraform Industries, I get to build an amazing team of super smart...
2 months ago
44
2 months ago
As part of my job running Terraform Industries, I get to build an amazing team of super smart people, and that involves interviewing hundreds of people. Over time certain patterns have become obvious, but I remember when they weren’t obvious to me on the other side of the table!...
Quanta Magazine
New Proofs Probe the Limits of Mathematical Truth By proving a broader version of Hilbert’s famous 10th problem, two groups of mathematicians have...
2 months ago
27
2 months ago
By proving a broader version of Hilbert’s famous 10th problem, two groups of mathematicians have expanded the realm of mathematical unknowability. The post New Proofs Probe the Limits of Mathematical Truth first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 16: ExplorNapo Lodge (February 21 - 23, 2024) February 21, 2024 (continued) We sped down the Amazon and made a left at the confluence with the...
2 months ago
12
2 months ago
February 21, 2024 (continued) We sped down the Amazon and made a left at the confluence with the Napo River. The Napo had noticeably less flow, while we also realized that sandbars were also much more numerous, leading to the presence of many wading birds and terns. At around...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 15: More From Explorama Lodge (February 20 - 21, 2024) February 20, 2024 A Great Potoo was the first bird I heard this morning shortly after my alarm went...
2 months ago
13
2 months ago
February 20, 2024 A Great Potoo was the first bird I heard this morning shortly after my alarm went off at 5:00 AM. It was going to be a good day.  At dinner the previous night Luis, Laura and I had come up with a plan for our full day at Explorama Lodge. We would begin by taking...
nanoscale views
An update, + a paper as a fun distraction My post last week clearly stimulated some discussion.  I know people don't come here for political...
2 months ago
11
2 months ago
My post last week clearly stimulated some discussion.  I know people don't come here for political news, but as a professional scientist it's hard to ignore the chaotic present situation, so here are some things to read, before I talk about a fun paper: Science reports on what...
Quanta Magazine
Chatbot Software Begins to Face Fundamental Limitations Recent results show that large language models struggle with compositional tasks, suggesting a hard...
2 months ago
38
2 months ago
Recent results show that large language models struggle with compositional tasks, suggesting a hard limit to their abilities. The post Chatbot Software Begins to Face Fundamental Limitations first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 14: River Islands And Explorama Lodge (February 18 - 19, 2024) February 18, 2024 (continued)     Where I last left off, Laura and I had just completed our...
2 months ago
12
2 months ago
February 18, 2024 (continued)     Where I last left off, Laura and I had just completed our sixteen-day loop through the mountains and deserts of northern Peru with the rental car. We dropped the vehicle off at the airport with no issues and boarded our flight. We were heading to...
Cremieux Recueil
The Value of Foreign Diplomas Is that immigrant high-skilled or do they just have a fancy degree?
2 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Incorruptible Skepticism Everything, apparently, has a second life on TikTok. At least this keeps us skeptics busy – we have...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
Everything, apparently, has a second life on TikTok. At least this keeps us skeptics busy – we have to redebunk everything we have debunked over the last century because it is popping up again on social media, confusing and misinforming another generation. This video is a great...
IEEE Spectrum
Sony Kills Recordable Blu-Ray And Other Vintage Media Physical media fans need not panic yet—you’ll still be able to buy new Blu-Ray movies for your...
2 months ago
37
2 months ago
Physical media fans need not panic yet—you’ll still be able to buy new Blu-Ray movies for your collection. But for those who like to save copies of their own data onto the discs, the remaining options just became more limited: Sony announced last week that it’s ending all...
Quanta Magazine
How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light? Under the sea ice during the Arctic’s pitch-black polar night, cells power photosynthesis on the...
2 months ago
33
2 months ago
Under the sea ice during the Arctic’s pitch-black polar night, cells power photosynthesis on the lowest light levels ever observed in nature. The post How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Why housing shortages cause homelessness It's not just about rents - it's also about the rooms friends and family can't afford to share
2 months ago
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 13: Quebrada El Limón And The Last Of The Northwest (February 16-18,... February 16, 2024 The town of Olmos isn't the most picturesque in Peru. Situated in the coastal...
2 months ago
13
2 months ago
February 16, 2024 The town of Olmos isn't the most picturesque in Peru. Situated in the coastal desert, the streets are dusty, the wind is always present and the roads are potholed. It is certainly not a town that caters to tourists, and I doubt many stop here. But an advantage...
Uncharted...
The Most Important Time in History Is Now AGI Is Coming Sooner Due to o3, DeepSeek, and Other Cutting-Edge AI Developments
2 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
The Skinny on DeepSeek On January 20th a Chinese tech company released the free version of their chatbot called DeepSeek....
2 months ago
34
2 months ago
On January 20th a Chinese tech company released the free version of their chatbot called DeepSeek. The AI chatbot, by all accounts, is about on par with existing widely available chatbots, like ChatGPT. It does not represent any new abilities or breakthrough in quality. And yet...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How are hospitals actually organized | Out-Of-Pocket We’re gonna need a whiteboard for this one
2 months ago
Uncharted...
The Israel–Hamas Ceasefire Won’t Last Israel & Palestine, One Year Later
2 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Cosmologists Try a New Way to Measure the Shape of the Universe Is the universe flat and infinite, or something more complex? We can’t say for sure, but a new...
2 months ago
80
2 months ago
Is the universe flat and infinite, or something more complex? We can’t say for sure, but a new search strategy is mapping out the subtle signals that could reveal if the universe had a shape. The post Cosmologists Try a New Way to Measure the Shape of the Universe...
nanoscale views
Turbulent times While I've been absolutely buried under deadlines, it's been a crazy week for US science, and things...
2 months ago
11
2 months ago
While I've been absolutely buried under deadlines, it's been a crazy week for US science, and things are unlikely to calm down anytime soon.  As I've written before, I largely try to keep my political views off here, since that's not what people want to read from me, and I want...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 12: Cleaning Up The Remaining Marañón Endemics (February 14-15, 2024) February 14, 2024 (continued) It doesn't matter how much time we spend on the verdant, east slope of...
2 months ago
12
2 months ago
February 14, 2024 (continued) It doesn't matter how much time we spend on the verdant, east slope of the Andes. It is just never enough time. Our five days between the highland town of Pomacochas and the lower foothills near Pueblo Aguas Verdes were amazing, full of incredible...
Quanta Magazine
New Book-Sorting Algorithm Almost Reaches Perfection The library sorting problem is used across computer science for organizing far more than just books....
3 months ago
55
3 months ago
The library sorting problem is used across computer science for organizing far more than just books. A new solution is less than a page-width away from the theoretical ideal. The post New Book-Sorting Algorithm Almost Reaches Perfection first appeared on Quanta...
Uncharted...
Final: So Where Should We Build Ten New Cities in the US? Final article in the series
3 months ago
Quanta Magazine
The Jagged, Monstrous Function That Broke Calculus In the late 19th century, Karl Weierstrass invented a fractal-like function that was decried as...
3 months ago
52
3 months ago
In the late 19th century, Karl Weierstrass invented a fractal-like function that was decried as nothing less than a “deplorable evil.” In time, it would transform the foundations of mathematics. The post The Jagged, Monstrous Function That Broke Calculus first...
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: Satellite Cities How to build new cities near existing ones
3 months ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Announcing…The Out-Of-Pocket Hackathon #2 | Out-Of-Pocket We’re doing it again, but we know what we’re doing now
3 months ago
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 11: Fundo Alto Nieva (February 12 - 14, 2024) February 12, 2024 (continued) We found an area to park in the little village of Fundo Alto Nieva and...
3 months ago
9
3 months ago
February 12, 2024 (continued) We found an area to park in the little village of Fundo Alto Nieva and completed the short, five-minute walk in to the reserve. This particular site has become famous in recent years as a place where the enigmatic Long-whiskered Owlet can be...
Blog - Practical...
Why are the Dutch So Famous for Waterworks? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] This is the Veluwemeer...
3 months ago
52
3 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] This is the Veluwemeer (velOOwemeer) Aqueduct in Harderwijk (HAR-der-vehk), Netherlands. It solves a pretty simple problem. If you put a bridge for vehicles over a navigable waterway, you often have to make it...
Quanta Magazine
Concept Cells Help Your Brain Abstract Information and Build Memories Individual cells in the brain light up for specific ideas. These concept neurons, once known as...
3 months ago
45
3 months ago
Individual cells in the brain light up for specific ideas. These concept neurons, once known as “Jennifer Aniston cells,” help us think, imagine and remember episodes from our lives. The post Concept Cells Help Your Brain Abstract Information and Build Memories first...
IEEE Spectrum
A Spy Satellite You’ve Never Heard of Helped Win the Cold War In the early 1970s, the Cold War had reached a particularly frigid moment, and U.S. military and...
3 months ago
43
3 months ago
In the early 1970s, the Cold War had reached a particularly frigid moment, and U.S. military and intelligence officials had a problem. The Soviet Navy was becoming a global maritime threat—and the United States did not have a global ocean-surveillance capability. Adding to the...
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: New Lakes Creating new lakes is a unique way to make amazing new cities. Where can we do that?
3 months ago
Probably...
Algorithmic Fairness This is the last in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from Lulu.com...
3 months ago
7
3 months ago
This is the last in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. This article is based on the Recidivism Case Study, which is about algorithmic fairness. The goal of the case study is to explain the statistical arguments...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Hubble Tension Hubbub There really is a significant mystery in the world of cosmology. This, in my opinion, is a good...
3 months ago
48
3 months ago
There really is a significant mystery in the world of cosmology. This, in my opinion, is a good thing. Such mysteries point in the direction of new physics, or at least a new understanding of the universe. Resolving this mystery – called the Hubble Tension – is a major goal of...
Quantum Frontiers
Ten lessons I learned from John Preskill Last August, Toronto’s Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control (CQIQC) gave me 35 minutes...
3 months ago
54
3 months ago
Last August, Toronto’s Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control (CQIQC) gave me 35 minutes to make fun of John Preskill in public. CQIQC was hosting its biannual conference, also called CQIQC, in Toronto. The conference features the awarding of … Continue reading →
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: Reviving Lakes Some lakes died before they could birth cities. Could we revive the lakes, and give them a 2nd...
3 months ago
37
3 months ago
Some lakes died before they could birth cities. Could we revive the lakes, and give them a 2nd chance at creating cities?
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: The Salton Sea Salton City and Bombay Beach could flourish with industry and tourism
3 months ago
Cremieux Recueil
Lessons About the Civil Service and Political Appointees What does history tell us about how the executive branch can run the government?
3 months ago
Casey Handmer's blog
Moon Escape! [One from the archives, a previously unpublished short story I wrote c. 2017 on the theme of BASE...
3 months ago
50
3 months ago
[One from the archives, a previously unpublished short story I wrote c. 2017 on the theme of BASE jumping.] Why anyone thought a prison on the Moon was a good idea was beyond me. Remote, dangerous, inhospitable, to be sure. But certainly not impossible to escape from, as I was...
Casey Handmer's blog
Dittemore’s Law A quick note to formalize some observations on elite organization dysfunction. The Space Mirror...
3 months ago
46
3 months ago
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...
Casey Handmer's blog
The Los Angeles wildfires are self-inflicted I don’t ordinarily write about events “in the moment” but for this I will make an exception, as I...
3 months ago
47
3 months ago
I don’t ordinarily write about events “in the moment” but for this I will make an exception, as I was personally affected. Caveats aside, my family and I are safe, we evacuated for several days, and due to heroic efforts by professional firefighters and psychotically brave...
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: 3. Presidio The fastest wealth creation in the history of humanity
3 months ago
IEEE Spectrum
How Antivirus Software Has Changed With the Internet We live in a world filled with computer viruses, and antivirus software is almost as old as the...
3 months ago
48
3 months ago
We live in a world filled with computer viruses, and antivirus software is almost as old as the Internet itself: The first version of what would become McAfee antivirus came out in 1987—just four years after the Internet booted up. For many of us, antivirus software is an...
Quanta Magazine
Heat Destroys All Order. Except for in This One Special Case. Heat is supposed to destroy anything it touches. But physicists have shown that an idealized form of...
3 months ago
48
3 months ago
Heat is supposed to destroy anything it touches. But physicists have shown that an idealized form of magnetism is heatproof. The post Heat Destroys All Order. Except for in This One Special Case. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: 2. Starbase A city of dreams
3 months ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Transcarent, AI Therapists, Interoperability, and more | Out-Of-Pocket Plus Out-Of-Pocket is hiring!!
3 months ago
Cremieux Recueil
National IQs Are Valid National IQ estimates are robust, reliable, and realistic
3 months ago
Chris Grossack's...
Where Do Those Undergraduate Divisibility Problems Come From? Oftentimes in your “intro to proofs” class or your first “discrete math” class or something...
3 months ago
42
3 months ago
Oftentimes in your “intro to proofs” class or your first “discrete math” class or something similar, you’ll be shown problems of the form “prove that for $n^6 + n^3 + 2n^2 + 2n$ is a multiple of $6$ for every $n$”… But where do these problems come from? And have you ever...
Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians Discover New Way for Spheres to ‘Kiss’ A new proof marks the first progress in decades on important cases of the so-called kissing problem....
3 months ago
50
3 months ago
A new proof marks the first progress in decades on important cases of the so-called kissing problem. Getting there meant doing away with traditional approaches. The post Mathematicians Discover New Way for Spheres to ‘Kiss’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Uncharted...
Ten New US Cities: 1. Guantanamo City Why we should turn Guantanamo Bay into Guantanamo City
3 months ago
Uncharted...
Where to Build 10 New Cities in the US, Part 1 Plus vote on new types of content for Uncharted Territories!
3 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Can AI Models Show Us How People Learn? Impossible Languages Point a Way. Certain grammatical rules never appear in any known language. By constructing artificial languages...
3 months ago
50
3 months ago
Certain grammatical rules never appear in any known language. By constructing artificial languages that have these rules, linguists can use neural networks to explore how people learn. The post Can AI Models Show Us How People Learn? Impossible Languages Point a Way....
NeuroLogica Blog
Should the US Ban TikTok? My recent article on social media has fostered good social media engagement, so I thought I would...
3 months ago
40
3 months ago
My recent article on social media has fostered good social media engagement, so I thought I would follow up with a discussion of the most urgent question regarding social media – should the US ban TikTok? The Biden administration signs into law legislation that would ban the...
Quanta Magazine
The Physicist Decoding the Nonbinary Nature of the Subatomic World Inside the proton, quarks and gluons shift and morph their properties in ways that physicists are...
3 months ago
49
3 months ago
Inside the proton, quarks and gluons shift and morph their properties in ways that physicists are still struggling to understand. Rithya Kunnawalkam Elayavalli brings to the problem a perspective unlike many of their peers. The post The Physicist Decoding the...
NeuroLogica Blog
New Material for Nanoconductors One of the things I have come to understand from following technology news for decades is that...
3 months ago
43
3 months ago
One of the things I have come to understand from following technology news for decades is that perhaps the most important breakthroughs, and often the least appreciated, are those in material science. We can get better at engineering and making stuff out of the materials we have,...
NeuroLogica Blog
What Kind of Social Media Do We Want? Recently Meta decided to end their fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram. The move has been both...
3 months ago
48
3 months ago
Recently Meta decided to end their fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram. The move has been both hailed and criticized. They are replacing the fact-checkers with an X-style “community notes”. Mark Zuckerberg summed up the move this way: “It means we’re going to catch less bad...
wadertales
How are migration sites connected? Which are the most important migration sites and how are breeding, moulting, staging and wintering...
3 months ago
95
3 months ago
Which are the most important migration sites and how are breeding, moulting, staging and wintering locations linked? Forty-four authors have collaborated to bring together ringing, colour-ringing and GPS tracking data in a paper entitled Site-level connectivity identified from...
Uncharted...
The Top 50 US Cities: Why Are They Where They Are? The geographic and historical reasons that have made some spots in the country the most populated...
3 months ago
Quanta Magazine
Rational or Not? This Basic Math Question Took Decades to Answer. It’s surprisingly difficult to prove one of the most basic properties of a number: whether it can be...
3 months ago
61
3 months ago
It’s surprisingly difficult to prove one of the most basic properties of a number: whether it can be written as a fraction. A broad new method can help settle this ancient question. The post Rational or Not? This Basic Math Question Took Decades to Answer. first...
IEEE Spectrum
Tragedy Spurred the First Effective Land-Mine Detector Land mines have been around in one form or another for more than a thousand years. By now, you’d...
3 months ago
46
3 months ago
Land mines have been around in one form or another for more than a thousand years. By now, you’d think a simple and safe way of locating and removing the devices would’ve been engineered. But that’s not the case. In fact, up until World War II, the most common method for finding...
Asterisk
Yes, Shrimp Matter What made a private equity analyst decide to devote his life to tiny aquatic crustaceans?
3 months ago
Blog - Practical...
The Hidden Engineering Behind Texas's Top Tourist Attraction [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] I am on location in downtown...
3 months ago
69
3 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] I am on location in downtown San Antonio, Texas, where crews have just finished setting up this massive 650-ton crane. The counterweights are on. The outriggers are down. And the jib, an extension for the...
Quanta Magazine
The Ocean Teems With Networks of Interconnected Bacteria Nanotube bridge networks grow between the most abundant photosynthetic bacteria in the oceans,...
3 months ago
60
3 months ago
Nanotube bridge networks grow between the most abundant photosynthetic bacteria in the oceans, suggesting that the world is far more interconnected than anyone realized. The post The Ocean Teems With Networks of Interconnected Bacteria first appeared on Quanta...
NeuroLogica Blog
Plan To Build First Commercial Fusion Reactor How close are we to having fusion reactors actually sending electric power to the grid? This is a...
3 months ago
64
3 months ago
How close are we to having fusion reactors actually sending electric power to the grid? This is a huge and complicated question, and one with massive implications for our civilization. I think we are still at the point where we cannot count on fusion reactors coming online...
nanoscale views
This week in the arXiv: quantum geometry, fluid momentum "tunneling", and pasta sauce Three papers caught my eye the other day on the arXiv at the start of the new year: arXiv:2501.00098...
3 months ago
12
3 months ago
Three papers caught my eye the other day on the arXiv at the start of the new year: arXiv:2501.00098 - J. Yu et al., "Quantum geometry in quantum materials" - I hope to write up something about quantum geometry soon, but I wanted to point out this nice review even if I haven't...
Probably...
Confidence In the Press This is the fifth in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from Lulu.com...
3 months ago
7
3 months ago
This is the fifth in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. It’s based on Chapter 16, which is part of the political alignment case study. You can read the complete example here, or run the Jupyter notebook on...
Quanta Magazine
Why Computer Scientists Consult Oracles Hypothetical devices that can quickly and accurately answer questions have become a powerful tool in...
3 months ago
50
3 months ago
Hypothetical devices that can quickly and accurately answer questions have become a powerful tool in computational complexity theory. The post Why Computer Scientists Consult Oracles first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine
Scientists Re-Create the Microbial Dance That Sparked Complex Life Evolution was fueled by endosymbiosis, cellular alliances in which one microbe makes a permanent...
3 months ago
54
3 months ago
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...
Explorations of an...
2024 (Part 2 of 2) June and July I always sound like a broken record each year when discussing June and July. I was...
3 months ago
12
3 months ago
June and July I always sound like a broken record each year when discussing June and July. I was fortunate to have a lot of field work in 2024 which kept me occupied for most of these two months. But it's one of the best jobs in the world as I spend each and every day outside,...
Asterisk
Where the Wild Things Aren't We tell our children that weirdness is a blessing in disguise. That’s our fantasy, not theirs.
3 months ago
Asterisk
Get In, Weirdos
3 months ago
Asterisk
Can We Build a Five Gigawatt Data Center? By 2030, leading AI labs will need data centers so massive they will require the power equivalent of...
3 months ago
15
3 months ago
By 2030, leading AI labs will need data centers so massive they will require the power equivalent of some of America’s largest cities. Will they be able to find it?
Asterisk
The Case for Insect Consciousness The evidence that insects feel pain is mounting, however we approach the issue.
3 months ago
Asterisk
The Unbearable Loudness of Chewing Why do some people find certain sounds intolerable? And why has it taken so long for scientists to...
3 months ago
12
3 months ago
Why do some people find certain sounds intolerable? And why has it taken so long for scientists to get even a preliminary answer?
Asterisk
Automating Math Computers can already help verify proofs. One day soon, they may be able to come up with new ones.
3 months ago
9
3 months ago
Computers can already help verify proofs. One day soon, they may be able to come up with new ones.
Asterisk
Deros and the Ur-Abduction What do Atlantean dwarves, witch trials, and tractor beams have in common?
3 months ago
nanoscale views
End of the year thoughts - scientific philanthropy and impact As we head into 2025, and the prospects for increased (US) government investment in science,...
3 months ago
10
3 months ago
As we head into 2025, and the prospects for increased (US) government investment in science, engineering, and STEM education seem very limited, I wanted to revisit a topic that I wrote about over a decade ago (!!!), the role of philanthropy and foundations in these...
Explorations of an...
2024 (Part 1 of 2) Another year has come and gone. As is tradition, I have written a couple of blog posts documenting...
3 months ago
11
3 months ago
Another year has come and gone. As is tradition, I have written a couple of blog posts documenting some of my natural history highlights throughout the year.  January Pre-dawn on January 1, 2024 saw me heading south towards Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia in search of a Gray Heron,...
Drew Ex Machina
Top Ten Posts of 2024 Now that we are at the end of 2024, it is time to look back at this year’s material published on...
3 months ago
64
3 months ago
Now that we are at the end of 2024, it is time to look back at this year’s material published on Drew Ex Machina and see […]
Apoorva Srinivasan
diffusion models for protein generation Introduction Proteins are nature's versatile nanomachines— they have evolved to perform virtually...
3 months ago
56
3 months ago
Introduction Proteins are nature's versatile nanomachines— they have evolved to perform virtually every important task in living systems. While nature has produced an incredible range of protein functions, these represent only a tiny fraction of what's possible in the protein...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Celebrating the Centennial of Galaxies January 1 2025 On January 1, 1925, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC, astronomer...
3 months ago
60
3 months ago
On January 1, 1925, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC, astronomer Henry N. Russell read a paper contributed by a young astronomer named Edwin Hubble (who was too junior to earn a trip across the country from the California observatory where he...
Eukaryote Writes...
Learn to write well BEFORE you have something worth saying Lessons learned from trip reports and journal articles.
3 months ago
Explorations of an...
Making The Most Of Our Seoul Layover October 21, 2024 Laura and I had a long layover scheduled in Seoul, South Korea. I was pleasantly...
3 months ago
14
3 months ago
October 21, 2024 Laura and I had a long layover scheduled in Seoul, South Korea. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there were no visa requirements for Canadians and so we schemed how we could leave the airport to go see some new birds. Neither of us had explored this...
Explorations of an...
Borneo: One Final Day At Kinabalu Park October 20, 2024     And just like that, it was our final day in Borneo. The previous afternoon saw...
3 months ago
9
3 months ago
October 20, 2024     And just like that, it was our final day in Borneo. The previous afternoon saw Laura and I driving to the town of Kundasang which is the main jumping off point to visit Kinabalu Park. There remained several Bornean endemics that would be lifers for Laura...
Casey Handmer's blog
Salton Sea statistics I wanted to gain better insights into the Salton Sea level, evaporation, inflows and outflows. Step...
3 months ago
47
3 months ago
I wanted to gain better insights into the Salton Sea level, evaporation, inflows and outflows. Step one was to gather publicly available data about its level, and collate it into a single graph. Here we see that despite the continual formation of Salton Sea advisory committees,...
Casey Handmer's blog
Part 8 Shikata Ga Nai Part of the Mars Trilogy Technical Commentary Series. Contains spoilers for this chapter and earlier...
3 months ago
46
3 months ago
Part of the Mars Trilogy Technical Commentary Series. Contains spoilers for this chapter and earlier chapters. Google Mars .kml. Literary commentary podcast. “Shikata Ga Nai” Japanese for “What else can we do?” “It is what it is,” “There is no other choice.” The final chapter of...
Explorations of an...
Borneo: Quest for the Bornean Peacock-Pheasant October 19, 2024 Laura and I were up dark and early from our accommodations in Ranau. I filled my...
3 months ago
12
3 months ago
October 19, 2024 Laura and I were up dark and early from our accommodations in Ranau. I filled my thermos with coffee, we quickly packed (though not quietly, as every dog in the neighbourhood began barking), and we headed eastwards to the town of Telupid where we had a very...
Casey Handmer's blog
Part 7 Senzeni Na Part of the Mars Trilogy Technical Commentary Series. Contains spoilers for this chapter and earlier...
3 months ago
60
3 months ago
Part of the Mars Trilogy Technical Commentary Series. Contains spoilers for this chapter and earlier chapters. Google Mars .kml. Literary commentary podcast. [Edit: If you enjoy this kind of thing, you may find a career at my company, Terraform Industries, rewarding. We’re hiring...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Some More 2025 predictions | Out-Of-Pocket OOP readers always have some interesting ones
4 months ago
Explorations of an...
Borneo: Manukan Island And The Tempasuk Plain October 18, 2024 Following our adventure at Trus Madi, our remaining time in Borneo had dwindled to...
4 months ago
11
4 months ago
October 18, 2024 Following our adventure at Trus Madi, our remaining time in Borneo had dwindled to just three days. On October 19 we planned to visit a hide often attended by the Bornean Peacock-Pheasant.  This gave us October 18th as a free day.  After mulling over a few other...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Jersey Drones Are Likely Drones The latest flap over drone sightings in New Jersey and other states in the North East appears to be...
4 months ago
56
4 months ago
The latest flap over drone sightings in New Jersey and other states in the North East appears to be – essentially nothing. Or rather, it’s a classic example of a mass panic. There are reports of “unusual” drone activity, which prompts people to look for drones, which results in...
Quantum Frontiers
Finding Ed Jaynes’s ghost You might have heard of the conundrum “What do you give the man who has everything?” I discovered a...
4 months ago
64
4 months ago
You might have heard of the conundrum “What do you give the man who has everything?” I discovered a variation on it last October: how do you celebrate the man who studied (nearly) everything? Physicist Edwin Thompson Jaynes impacted disciplines from quantum information theory to...
Chris Grossack's...
$\mathsf{B}\text{Diff}(\Sigma)$ Classifies $\Sigma$-bundles I’ve been trying to learn all about topological (quantum) field theories, the cobordism hypothesis,...
4 months ago
68
4 months ago
I’ve been trying to learn all about topological (quantum) field theories, the cobordism hypothesis, and how to use $(\infty,n)$-categories. This is all in service of some stuff I’m doing with skein algebras (which are part of a “$3+1$ TQFT” often named after Crane–Yetter, but...
Probably...
Political Alignment and Outlook This is the fourth in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from...
4 months ago
10
4 months ago
This is the fourth in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. It’s from Chapter 15, which is part of the political alignment case study. You can read the complete chapter here, or run the Jupyter notebook on Colab....
Uncharted...
Deserts, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Snow, Paradises, Swamps: Why Do People Live Where They Live in the... Deserts, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Snow, Paradises, Swamps
4 months ago