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Blog - Practical...
How Sewage Recycling Works [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Wichita Falls, Texas, went...
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13 hours ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Wichita Falls, Texas, went through the worst drought in its history in 2011 and 2012. For two years in a row, the area saw its average annual rainfall roughly cut in half, decimating the levels in the three...
IEEE Spectrum
Why JPEGs Still Rule the Web A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the...
13 hours ago
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13 hours ago
A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the end of the long tail. For roughly three decades, the JPEG has been the World Wide Web’s primary image format. But it wasn’t the one the Web started with. In fact, the first...
The Works in...
The magic of through running By weaving together existing railway lines, some cities can get the best transit in the world
18 hours ago
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Friday is the Summer Solstice — Caused by Earth’s Ancient Accident Friday is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. We explain why. The post Friday is the...
yesterday
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yesterday
Friday is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. We explain why. The post Friday is the Summer Solstice — Caused by Earth’s Ancient Accident appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
Quanta Magazine
The Ecosystem Dynamics That Can Make or Break an Invasion By speedrunning ecosystems with microbes, researchers revealed intrinsic properties that may make a...
2 days ago
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By speedrunning ecosystems with microbes, researchers revealed intrinsic properties that may make a community susceptible to invasion. The post The Ecosystem Dynamics That Can Make or Break an Invasion first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
A Win for Farmers and Tribes Brings New Hope to the Klamath In the long-contentious Klamath River watershed, an experiment that turned a barley field into a...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
In the long-contentious Klamath River watershed, an experiment that turned a barley field into a wetland not only improved water quality. It also offered a path forward for restoring populations of two endangered fish species that are of cultural importance to Native tribes. Read...
nanoscale views
So you want to build a science/engineering laboratory building A very quick summary of some non-negative news developments: The NSF awarded 500 more graduate...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
A very quick summary of some non-negative news developments: The NSF awarded 500 more graduate fellowships this week, bringing the total for this year up to 1500.  (Apologies for the X link.)  This is still 25% lower than last year's number, and of course far below the original...
Eukaryote Writes...
Book review: Air-borne by Carl Zimmer Man, it’s embarrassing to be part of a field of study (biosecurity, in this case) that had such a...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
Man, it’s embarrassing to be part of a field of study (biosecurity, in this case) that had such a public moment of unambiguously whiffing it.
Quanta Magazine
Is Gravity Just Entropy Rising? Long-Shot Idea Gets Another Look. A new argument explores how the growth of disorder could cause massive objects to move toward one...
5 days ago
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A new argument explores how the growth of disorder could cause massive objects to move toward one another. Physicists are both interested and skeptical. The post Is Gravity Just Entropy Rising? Long-Shot Idea Gets Another Look. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
A Third of Forests Lost This Century Will Likely Never Be Restored Of the forest lost so far this century, roughly a third was destroyed to make room for farms, a new...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
Of the forest lost so far this century, roughly a third was destroyed to make room for farms, a new analysis finds. Those woodlands, which spanned an area larger than Mongolia, will likely never be restored, authors say. Read more on E360 →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
OOP Slack Application is Open! And A New FREE Course!! | Out-Of-Pocket Plus we’re running an experiment…
5 days ago
Quanta Magazine
Does Form Really Shape Function? From brain folds to insect architecture, L. Mahadevan explains how complex biological forms and...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
From brain folds to insect architecture, L. Mahadevan explains how complex biological forms and behaviors emerge through the interplay of physical forces, environment and embodiment. The post Does Form Really Shape Function? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Issue 19: American S-Bahn Plus: How to redraw cities with tangled property rights, the secret history of inflation targeting,...
6 days ago
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Plus: How to redraw cities with tangled property rights, the secret history of inflation targeting, and the end of lead pollution in the developing world
NeuroLogica Blog
How Humans Solve Problems The human brain is extremely good at problem-solving, at least relatively speaking. Cognitive...
6 days ago
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The human brain is extremely good at problem-solving, at least relatively speaking. Cognitive scientists have been exploring how, exactly, people approach and solve problems – what cognitive strategies do we use, and how optimal are they. A recent study extends this research and...
Yale e360
Deconstructing Buildings: The Quest for New Life for Old Wood A growing number of cities have launched initiatives to reuse the wood waste from construction and...
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a week ago
A growing number of cities have launched initiatives to reuse the wood waste from construction and demolition that now ends up in landfills. The challenge, proponents say, is to deploy new techniques for disassembling old buildings and markets for repurposing the salvaged...
Quanta Magazine
Epic Effort to Ground Physics in Math Opens Up the Secrets of Time By mathematically proving how individual molecules create the complex motion of fluids, three...
a week ago
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a week ago
By mathematically proving how individual molecules create the complex motion of fluids, three mathematicians have illuminated why time can’t flow in reverse. The post Epic Effort to Ground Physics in Math Opens Up the Secrets of Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Lenacapavir: can this drug end AIDS? Hard Drugs: Episode one is out now.
a week ago
Yale e360
How Restored Wetlands Can Protect Europe from Russian Invasion The flooding of a Ukraine’s Irpin valley thwarted Russia’s assault on Kyiv in 2022. Now, scientists...
a week ago
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a week ago
The flooding of a Ukraine’s Irpin valley thwarted Russia’s assault on Kyiv in 2022. Now, scientists are proposing Europe create a band of restored and protected wetlands along its eastern borders to deter future Russian aggression, and military strategists are taking notice. Read...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Some VoiceAI in Healthcare thoughts | Out-Of-Pocket Features vs. companies, AI scribes can do more, and pricing questions
a week ago
Quantum Frontiers
Congratulations, class of 2025! Words from a new graduate Editor’s note (Nicole Yunger Halpern): Jade LeSchack, the Quantum Steampunk Laboratory’s first...
a week ago
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Editor’s note (Nicole Yunger Halpern): Jade LeSchack, the Quantum Steampunk Laboratory’s first undergraduate, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland this spring. Kermit the Frog presented the valedictory address, but Jade gave the following speech at the...
Chris Grossack's...
A Proof that there's No Constructive Proof of the Intermediate Value Theorem The other day my friend Lucas Salim was asking me some questions about categorical logic and...
a week ago
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a week ago
The other day my friend Lucas Salim was asking me some questions about categorical logic and constructive math, and he mentioned he’d never seen a proof that there’s no constructive proof of the intermediate value theorem before. I showed him the usual counterexample, and...
The Works in...
Gentrification as a housing problem The root cause is inflexible supply
a week ago
Quanta Magazine
New Quantum Algorithm Factors Numbers With One Qubit The catch: It would require the energy of a few medium-size stars. The post New Quantum...
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The catch: It would require the energy of a few medium-size stars. The post New Quantum Algorithm Factors Numbers With One Qubit first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
To Protect Amazon from Drug Traffickers, Title Indigenous Lands, Report Says Drug traffickers are violently seizing Indigenous lands in the Peruvian Amazon to clear rainforest...
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a week ago
Drug traffickers are violently seizing Indigenous lands in the Peruvian Amazon to clear rainforest and grow coca. To combat the drug trade, a new report calls for titling Indigenous territories along major trafficking routes.  Read more on E360 →
NeuroLogica Blog
GMOs May Save Florida Citrus Citrus greening (also called Huanglongbing or HLB) is an infectious disease affecting citrus trees...
a week ago
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Citrus greening (also called Huanglongbing or HLB) is an infectious disease affecting citrus trees in Florida. It is a bacterium, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, and spread by an invasive fly, the Asian citrus psyllid. Since 2004 it has caused a reduction in the Florida citrus...
nanoscale views
A precision measurement science mystery - new physics or incomplete calculations? Again, as a distraction from persistently concerning news, here is a science mystery of which I was...
a week ago
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a week ago
Again, as a distraction from persistently concerning news, here is a science mystery of which I was previously unaware. The role of approximations in physics is something that very often comes as a shock to new students.  There is this cultural expectation out there that because...
Quanta Magazine
First Map Made of a Solid’s Secret Quantum Geometry Physicists recently mapped the hidden shape that underlies the quantum behaviors of a crystal, using...
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Physicists recently mapped the hidden shape that underlies the quantum behaviors of a crystal, using a new method that’s expected to become ubiquitous. The post First Map Made of a Solid’s Secret Quantum Geometry first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
New Potential mRNA HIV Treatment First, don’t get too excited, this is a laboratory study, which means if all goes well we are about...
a week ago
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First, don’t get too excited, this is a laboratory study, which means if all goes well we are about a decade or more from an actual treatment. The study, however, is a nice demonstration of the potential of recent biotechnology, specifically mRNA technology and lipid...
Yale e360
Amid Devastation in Gaza, a Deepening Environmental Wound The ongoing war in the Gaza Strip has obliterated crops and trees, according to a new assessment of...
a week ago
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a week ago
The ongoing war in the Gaza Strip has obliterated crops and trees, according to a new assessment of the impact. Read more on E360 →
The Works in...
How the world's first electric grid was built When Britain actually made something
a week ago
Yale e360
Birds vs. Wind Turbines: New Research Aims to Prevent Conflict Window collisions and cats kill more birds than wind farms do, but ornithologists say turbine...
a week ago
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a week ago
Window collisions and cats kill more birds than wind farms do, but ornithologists say turbine impacts must be taken seriously. Scientists are testing a range of technologies to reduce bird strikes — from painting stripes to using artificial intelligence — to keep birds safe. Read...
IEEE Spectrum
The Birth of the University as Innovation Incubator This article is excerpted from Every American an Innovator: How Innovation Became a Way of Life, by...
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This article is excerpted from Every American an Innovator: How Innovation Became a Way of Life, by Matthew Wisnioski (The MIT Press, 2025). Imagine a point-to-point transportation service in which two parties communicate at a distance. A passenger in need of a ride contacts the...
The Works in...
Why child benefits should be front loaded The timing of benefits matters to families, and doesn't change costs for governments
a week ago
Quanta Magazine
How Much Energy Does It Take To Think? Studies of neural metabolism reveal our brain’s effort to keep us alive and the evolutionary...
a week ago
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Studies of neural metabolism reveal our brain’s effort to keep us alive and the evolutionary constraints that sculpted our most complex organ. The post How Much Energy Does It Take To Think? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
Britain Sees Sunniest Spring on Record This spring was the warmest and sunniest on record in the U.K., a symptom of a rapidly warming...
a week ago
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This spring was the warmest and sunniest on record in the U.K., a symptom of a rapidly warming climate, weather officials say. Read more on E360 →
Chris Grossack's...
An Empty Product of Nonempty Sets A few days ago I saw a cute question on mse asking about a particularly non-intuitive failing of...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
A few days ago I saw a cute question on mse asking about a particularly non-intuitive failing of the axiom of choice. I remember when I was an undergrad talking to a friend of mine about various statements equivalent to choice, and being particularly hung up on the same...
The Works in...
The beauty of concrete Why are buildings today austere, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately ornamented?
2 weeks ago
Blog - Practical...
Why are Smokestacks So Tall? [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] “The big black stacks of the...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] “The big black stacks of the Illium Works of the Federal Apparatus Corporation spewed acid fumes and soot over the hundreds of men and women who were lined up before the red-brick employment office.” That’s the...
NeuroLogica Blog
AI Therapists In the movie Blade Runner 2049 (an excellent film I highly recommend), Ryan Gosling’s character, K,...
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In the movie Blade Runner 2049 (an excellent film I highly recommend), Ryan Gosling’s character, K, has an AI “wife”, Joi, played by Ana de Armas. K is clearly in love with Joi, who is nothing but software and holograms. In one poignant scene, K is viewing a giant ad for AI...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
What does Innovaccer actually do? A look under the hood | Out-Of-Pocket A conversation about EHRs, who their customers actually are, and building apps
2 weeks ago
Yale e360
Cambodian Forest Defenders at Risk for Exposing Illegal Logging The lush forests that have long sustained Cambodia’s Indigenous people have steadily fallen to...
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The lush forests that have long sustained Cambodia’s Indigenous people have steadily fallen to illicit logging. Now, community members face intimidation and risk arrest as they patrol their forests to document the losses and try to push the government to stop the cutting. Read...
Quanta Magazine
The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered By extending the scope of the key insight behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, four mathematicians have...
2 weeks ago
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By extending the scope of the key insight behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, four mathematicians have made great strides toward building a “grand unified theory” of math. The post The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
The world of tomorrow When the future arrived, it felt… ordinary. What happened to the glamour of tomorrow?
2 weeks ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Telepathy Tapes Promotes Pseudoscience I was away on vacation the last week, hence no posts, but am now back to my usual schedule. In fact,...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
I was away on vacation the last week, hence no posts, but am now back to my usual schedule. In fact, I hope to be a little more consistent starting this summer because (if you follow me on the SGU you already know this) I am retiring from my day job at Yale at the […] The post...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Two of My Science-Fiction Stories Published in May View this email in your browser A Change of Pace from Astronomy News  As you may know, I have been...
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2 weeks ago
View this email in your browser A Change of Pace from Astronomy News  As you may know, I have been writing science-fiction stories based on good astronomy as my retirement project.  After a good number of rejections from the finest sci-fi magazines the world over, I am now...
nanoscale views
Pushing back on US science cuts: Now is a critical time Every week has brought more news about actions that, either as a collateral effect or a deliberate...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Every week has brought more news about actions that, either as a collateral effect or a deliberate goal, will deeply damage science and engineering research in the US.  Put aside for a moment the tremendously important issue of student visas (where there seems to be a policy of...
IEEE Spectrum
The Data Reveals Top Patent Portfolios Eight years is a long time in the world of patents. When we last published what we then called the...
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Eight years is a long time in the world of patents. When we last published what we then called the Patent Power Scorecard, in 2017, it was a different technological and social landscape—Google had just filed a patent application on the transformer architecture, a momentous...
Quanta Magazine
How Can AI Researchers Save Energy? By Going Backward. Reversible programs run backward as easily as they run forward, saving energy in theory. After...
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Reversible programs run backward as easily as they run forward, saving energy in theory. After decades of research, they may soon power AI. The post How Can AI Researchers Save Energy? By Going Backward. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
The End Kidney Deaths Act Congress should start compensating compassion
2 weeks ago
Yale e360
In California, Hummingbird Beaks Have Been Transformed by Feeders The profusion of hummingbird feeders in California homes has not only allowed some hummingbirds to...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
The profusion of hummingbird feeders in California homes has not only allowed some hummingbirds to expand their range, but has also altered the shape of their beaks. Read more on E360 →
pcloadletter
Generative AI will probably make blogs better Generative AI will probably make blogs better. Have you ever searched for something on Google and...
2 weeks ago
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Generative AI will probably make blogs better. Have you ever searched for something on Google and found the first one, two, or three blog posts to be utter nonsense? That's because these blog posts have been optimized not for human consumption, but rather to entertain the search...
nanoscale views
Quick survey - machine shops and maker spaces Recent events are very dire for research at US universities, and I will write further about those,...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Recent events are very dire for research at US universities, and I will write further about those, but first a quick unrelated survey for those at such institutions.  Back in the day, it was common for physics and some other (mechanical engineering?) departments to have machine...
Quanta Magazine
Will We Ever Prove String Theory? Promise and controversy continues to surround string theory as a potential unified theory of...
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Promise and controversy continues to surround string theory as a potential unified theory of everything. In the latest episode of The Joy of Why, Cumrun Vafa discusses his progress in trying to find good, testable models hidden among the ‘swampland’ of impossible universes. ...
The Works in...
Computers of the future How to process information without waste
2 weeks ago
Yale e360
To Cope With Extreme Heat, Clownfish Shrink During a severe heat wave in 2023, scientists scuba diving off the coast of Papua New Guinea...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
During a severe heat wave in 2023, scientists scuba diving off the coast of Papua New Guinea captured clownfish to measure their bodies. Between February and August, they calculated the length of 134 of these iconic, orange and white fish once a month, taking a total of six...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
OOP’s 2025 Healthcare AI Hackathon Projects | Out-Of-Pocket Copilots for parents, Chaining Agents, Talking to Your Genome, and more.
2 weeks ago
ToughSF
The Laser Revolution Part II: Ground, Sea and Grid The revolution continues! Warfare on the ground and sea will be heavily affected by megawatt-class...
2 weeks ago
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The revolution continues! Warfare on the ground and sea will be heavily affected by megawatt-class lasers in the next two decades or so. And, as we'll see, there are transformative applications in industry, energy generation, transportation and remote sensing. Beams on the...
Probably...
Announcing Think Linear Algebra I’ve been thinking about Think Linear Algebra for more than a decade, and recently I started working...
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I’ve been thinking about Think Linear Algebra for more than a decade, and recently I started working on it in earnest. If you want to get a sense of it, I’ve posted a draft chapter as a Jupyter notebook. In one way, I am glad I waited — I think it will be better, faster [to...
Quanta Magazine
How Paradoxical Questions and Simple Wonder Lead to Great Science Manu Prakash works on the world’s most urgent problems and seemingly frivolous questions at the same...
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Manu Prakash works on the world’s most urgent problems and seemingly frivolous questions at the same time. They add up to a philosophy he calls “recreational biology.” The post How Paradoxical Questions and Simple Wonder Lead to Great Science first appeared on Quanta...
The Works in...
Why we stopped building subways cheaply We used to dig up roads to put trains underneath
2 weeks ago
Yale e360
Warming Linked to Rising Cancer Rates Among Women in the Middle East New research finds a link between increasingly extreme heat in the Middle East and rising rates of...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
New research finds a link between increasingly extreme heat in the Middle East and rising rates of cancer in women. Read more on E360 →
Quantum Frontiers
I know I am but what are you? Mind and Matter in Quantum Mechanics Nowadays it is best to exercise caution when bringing the words “quantum” and “consciousness”...
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Nowadays it is best to exercise caution when bringing the words “quantum” and “consciousness” anywhere near each other, lest you be suspected of mysticism or quackery. Eugene Wigner did not concern himself with this when he wrote his “Remarks on … Continue reading →
Quanta Magazine
Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill Black hole and Big Bang singularities break our best theory of gravity. A trilogy of theorems hints...
3 weeks ago
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Black hole and Big Bang singularities break our best theory of gravity. A trilogy of theorems hints that physicists will need to go to the ends of space and time to find a fix. The post Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
The bad science behind expensive nuclear How an arcane model makes nuclear power expensive and why it's time might be up
3 weeks ago
Yale e360
The ‘Green’ Aviation Fuel That Would Increase Carbon Emissions The U.S. agriculture lobby has long promoted ethanol for cars. If President Trump’s “Big Beautiful...
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3 weeks ago
The U.S. agriculture lobby has long promoted ethanol for cars. If President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” becomes law, the industry would be given tax credits for producing crop-based fuel for planes, too, despite evidence it would spur deforestation and increase emissions. Read...
Quantum Frontiers
The most steampunk qubit I never imagined that an artist would update me about quantum-computing research. Last year,...
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I never imagined that an artist would update me about quantum-computing research. Last year, steampunk artist Bruce Rosenbaum forwarded me a notification about a news article published in Science. The article reported on an experiment performed in physicist Yiwen Chu’s … Continue...
The Works in...
Animals as chemical factories The price of purple
3 weeks ago
IEEE Spectrum
32 Bits That Changed Microprocessor Design In the late 1970s, a time when 8-bit processors were state of the art and CMOS was the underdog of...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
In the late 1970s, a time when 8-bit processors were state of the art and CMOS was the underdog of semiconductor technology, engineers at AT&T’s Bell Labs took a bold leap into the future. They made a high-stakes bet to outpace IBM, Intel, and other competitors in chip...
Yale e360
In Test, A.I. Weather Model Fails to Predict Freak Storm Artificial intelligence is powering weather forecasts that are generally more accurate than...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Artificial intelligence is powering weather forecasts that are generally more accurate than conventional forecasts and are faster and cheaper to produce. But new research shows A.I. may fail to predict unprecedented weather events, a troubling finding as warming fuels new...
Quanta Magazine
Graduate Student Solves Classic Problem About the Limits of Addition A new proof illuminates the hidden patterns that emerge when addition becomes impossible. ...
3 weeks ago
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A new proof illuminates the hidden patterns that emerge when addition becomes impossible. The post Graduate Student Solves Classic Problem About the Limits of Addition first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Probably...
My very busy week I’m not sure who scheduled ODSC and PyConUS during the same week, but I am unhappy with their...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
I’m not sure who scheduled ODSC and PyConUS during the same week, but I am unhappy with their decisions. Last Tuesday I presented a talk and co-presented a workshop at ODSC, and on Thursday I presented a tutorial at PyCon. If you would like to follow along with my very busy week,...
Beautiful Public...
NASA Ames Research Center Archives In the heart of Silicon Valley, NASA Ames Research Center has the world's largest wind tunnel, and a...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
In the heart of Silicon Valley, NASA Ames Research Center has the world's largest wind tunnel, and a rich history of space and aeronautics innovation captured in a fascinating visual archive.
nanoscale views
How badly has NSF funding already been effectively cut? This NY Times feature lets you see how each piece of NSF's funding has been reduced this year...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
This NY Times feature lets you see how each piece of NSF's funding has been reduced this year relative to the normalized average spanning in the last decade.  Note: this fiscal year, thanks to the continuing resolution, the actual agency budget has not actually been cut like...
NeuroLogica Blog
Preserving Food About 30-40% of the produce we grow ends up wasted. This is a massive inefficiency in the food...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
About 30-40% of the produce we grow ends up wasted. This is a massive inefficiency in the food system. It occurs at every level, from the farm to the end user, and for a variety of reasons. This translates to enough food worldwide to feed 1.6 billion people. We also have to...
The Works in...
One simple deregulation that would save thousands of lives What we’ve been reading: urbanism, medicine, science, tech, AI, housing, energy, economics, culture,...
3 weeks ago
Yale e360
Penguin Droppings May Be Seeding Clouds, Study Finds Penguin droppings may play a role in the formation of clouds over Antarctica, new research...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Penguin droppings may play a role in the formation of clouds over Antarctica, new research finds. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
For Algorithms, a Little Memory Outweighs a Lot of Time One computer scientist’s “stunning” proof is the first progress in 50 years on one of the most...
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One computer scientist’s “stunning” proof is the first progress in 50 years on one of the most famous questions in computer science. The post For Algorithms, a Little Memory Outweighs a Lot of Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
NIMBYism and how to resolve it A diagnosis and a solution.
3 weeks ago
Yale e360
As Bird Flu Spreads, Vaccine Shows Promise for Protecting Cattle Since bird flu was first discovered in U.S. cattle last year, the virus has spread to more than...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Since bird flu was first discovered in U.S. cattle last year, the virus has spread to more than 1,000 herds across the country. A new vaccine for cattle has performed well in early tests, raising hopes that it could protect livestock and help prevent an outbreak in humans. Read...
Blog - Practical...
The Most Implausible Tunneling Method [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] The original plan to get I-95...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] The original plan to get I-95 over the Baltimore Harbor was a double-deck bridge from Fort McHenry to Lazaretto Point. The problem with the plan was this: the bridge would have to be extremely high so that...
The Works in...
The wonder of modern drywall How gypsum changed construction
4 weeks ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Healthcare Data Camp Applications Due Today | Out-Of-Pocket Plus future hackathon ideas?
4 weeks ago
ToughSF
The Laser Revolution Part I: Megawatt beams to the skies There’s a laser revolution coming: a time when megawatt-scale beams will radically transform how we ...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
There’s a laser revolution coming: a time when megawatt-scale beams will radically transform how we produce electricity, conduct war and even upset the nuclear world order. All they have to do it reach a certain convergence of price and power. And by current projections, it...
Yale e360
Out of the Wild: How A.I. Is Transforming Conservation Biology Artificial intelligence is being called a game changer for enabling scientists and conservationists...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
Artificial intelligence is being called a game changer for enabling scientists and conservationists to process vast troves of data collected remotely. But some warn its use could keep biologists from getting out in the field with the animals and ecosystems they are studying. Read...
The Works in...
Why it's so hard to scale up new materials Getting substances out of the lab
4 weeks ago
Quanta Magazine
‘Turbocharged’ Mitochondria Power Birds’ Epic Migratory Journeys Slight changes in the number, shape, efficiency and interconnectedness of organelles in the cells of...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
Slight changes in the number, shape, efficiency and interconnectedness of organelles in the cells of flight muscles provide extra energy for birds’ continent-spanning feats. The post ‘Turbocharged’ Mitochondria Power Birds’ Epic Migratory Journeys first appeared on...
Yale e360
Taiwan to Ramp Up Gas Imports After Shuttering Last Nuclear Plant Having shut down its last remaining nuclear plant Saturday, Taiwan is working to secure new imports...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
Having shut down its last remaining nuclear plant Saturday, Taiwan is working to secure new imports of natural gas. Read more on E360 →
NeuroLogica Blog
End of Life on Earth Let’s talk about climate change and life on Earth. Not anthropogenic climate change – but long term...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
Let’s talk about climate change and life on Earth. Not anthropogenic climate change – but long term natural changes in the Earth’s environment due to stellar evolution. Eventually, as our sun burns through its fuel, it will go through changes. It will begin to grow, becoming a...
nanoscale views
A science anecdote palate cleanser Apologies for slow posting.  Real life has been very intense, and I also was rather concerned when...
a month ago
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a month ago
Apologies for slow posting.  Real life has been very intense, and I also was rather concerned when one of my readers mentioned last weekend that these days my blog was like concentrated doom-scrolling.  I will have more to say about the present university research crisis later,...
The Works in...
Making american milk safe How good ideas spread
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
New ‘Superdiffusion’ Proof Probes the Mysterious Math of Turbulence Turbulence is a notoriously difficult phenomenon to study. Mathematicians are now starting to...
a month ago
22
a month ago
Turbulence is a notoriously difficult phenomenon to study. Mathematicians are now starting to untangle it at its smallest scales. The post New ‘Superdiffusion’ Proof Probes the Mysterious Math of Turbulence first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
Scientists Look to Changing Tree Color to Predict Volcanic Eruptions NASA scientists believe it may be possible to predict when a volcano will erupt by using satellites...
a month ago
15
a month ago
NASA scientists believe it may be possible to predict when a volcano will erupt by using satellites to track changes in the color of surrounding trees. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
How Did Geometry Create Modern Physics? Geometry may have its origins thousands of years ago in ancient land surveying, but it has also had...
a month ago
17
a month ago
Geometry may have its origins thousands of years ago in ancient land surveying, but it has also had a surprising impact on modern physics. In the latest episode of The Joy of Why, Yang-Hui He explores geometry’s evolution and its future potential through AI. The post...
The Works in...
Nuclear reactors for dummies Fission basics #1
a month ago
Yale e360
China’s Mega Dam Project Poses Big Risks for Asia’s Grand Canyon China’s plans to build a massive hydro project in Tibet have sparked fears about the environmental...
a month ago
15
a month ago
China’s plans to build a massive hydro project in Tibet have sparked fears about the environmental impacts on the world’s longest and deepest canyon. It has also alarmed neighboring India, which fears that China could hold back or even weaponize river water it depends on. Read...
Quanta Magazine
How the Universe Differs From Its Mirror Image From living matter to molecules to elementary particles, the world is made of “chiral” objects that...
a month ago
17
a month ago
From living matter to molecules to elementary particles, the world is made of “chiral” objects that differ from their reflected forms. The post How the Universe Differs From Its Mirror Image first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
Teething Babies and Rainy Days Once Cut Calls Short Humans are messy. We spill drinks, smudge screens, and bring our electronic devices into countless...
a month ago
22
a month ago
Humans are messy. We spill drinks, smudge screens, and bring our electronic devices into countless sticky situations. As anyone who has accidentally dropped their phone into a toilet or pool knows, moisture poses a particular problem. And it’s not a new one: From early...
Yale e360
Chimps Found Treating Each Other's Wounds Chimpanzees in Uganda were found treating the injuries of other, unrelated chimps, including those...
a month ago
12
a month ago
Chimpanzees in Uganda were found treating the injuries of other, unrelated chimps, including those caught in hunting snares.  Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
Introducing The Quanta Podcast Exploring the distant universe, the insides of cells, the abstractions of math, the complexity of...
a month ago
13
a month ago
Exploring the distant universe, the insides of cells, the abstractions of math, the complexity of information itself and much more, The Quanta Podcast will be a tour of the frontier between the known and the unknown. The post Introducing The Quanta Podcast first...
The Works in...
How ships escaped the great stagnation Agglomeration unmoored
a month ago
NeuroLogica Blog
The AI Conundrum What the true impact of artificial intelligence (AI) is and soon will be remains a point of...
a month ago
14
a month ago
What the true impact of artificial intelligence (AI) is and soon will be remains a point of contention. Even among scientifically literate skeptics people tend to fall into decidedly different narratives. Also, when being interviewed I can almost guarantee now that I will be...
Yale e360
Foreign Trawlers Plunder Senegalese Waters, Driving Small Fishers to Migrate to Spain A foreign fleet of industrial trawlers is exhausting fish stocks in Senegal, driving artisanal...
a month ago
14
a month ago
A foreign fleet of industrial trawlers is exhausting fish stocks in Senegal, driving artisanal fishers to undertake a difficult, and sometimes deadly, migration to Spain. Read more on E360 →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Paying for friends, Gaming Insurance Via Marriage, and hacking CPAP machines | Out-Of-Pocket What are some more fringe healthcare behaviors?
a month ago
The Works in...
What's new in building beautifully Interesting developments from the last two decades
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
The Fastest Way Yet to Color Graphs Researchers have devised a scheme for painting the edges of a graph that’s almost as speedy as...
a month ago
22
a month ago
Researchers have devised a scheme for painting the edges of a graph that’s almost as speedy as possible. The post The Fastest Way Yet to Color Graphs first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Floating Solar Farms My last post was about floating nuclear power plants. By coincidence I then ran across a news item...
a month ago
17
a month ago
My last post was about floating nuclear power plants. By coincidence I then ran across a news item about floating solar installations. This is also a potentially useful idea, and is already being implemented and increasing. It is estimated that in 2022 total installed floating...
Yale e360
How Natural Solutions Can Help Islands Survive Sea Level Rise Scientists have found that atoll islands with healthy forests and coral reefs are more resilient...
a month ago
9
a month ago
Scientists have found that atoll islands with healthy forests and coral reefs are more resilient against rising seas. To shore up vulnerable islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans, experts are working to restore native trees and seabirds and boost the growth of protective...
Quanta Magazine
Finding Beauty and Truth in Mundane Occurrences The physicist Sidney Nagel delights in solving mysteries of the universe that are hiding in plain...
a month ago
85
a month ago
The physicist Sidney Nagel delights in solving mysteries of the universe that are hiding in plain sight. The post Finding Beauty and Truth in Mundane Occurrences first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
Environmental Enforcement Slows Under Trump Federal enforcement of environmental laws has slowed significantly under President Trump. Read more...
a month ago
12
a month ago
Federal enforcement of environmental laws has slowed significantly under President Trump. Read more on E360 →
Chris Grossack's...
Analytic Combinatorics Redux Earlier today I gave a talk in the graduate student seminar titled “Counting is Hard. Complex...
a month ago
16
a month ago
Earlier today I gave a talk in the graduate student seminar titled “Counting is Hard. Complex Analysis is Easy.” based in part on my recent blog post about analytic combinatorics and based in part on Varilly’s notes on Dirichlet’s Theorem, showing how to count the number of...
Cremieux Recueil
Ozempic and Muscle Mass Are GLP-1 drugs causing excess muscle loss compared to non-pharmacological weight loss?
a month ago
The Works in...
The evolution of psychiatry How to separate order from disorder
a month ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Floating Nuclear Power Plants This is an intriguing idea, and one that I can see becoming critical over the next few decades, or...
a month ago
16
a month ago
This is an intriguing idea, and one that I can see becoming critical over the next few decades, or never manifesting – developing a fleet of floating nuclear power plants. One company, Core Power, is working on this technology and plans to have commercially deployable plants by...
Yale e360
Will U.S. Push on Seabed Mining End Global Consensus on Oceans? President Trump’s recent order to expedite permits to begin deep-sea mining bypasses international...
a month ago
15
a month ago
President Trump’s recent order to expedite permits to begin deep-sea mining bypasses international agreements that protect oceans. By moving unilaterally, says the Ocean Conservancy’s Jeff Watters, the U.S. could endanger fragile marine ecosystems and set a troubling...
Quanta Magazine
The Molecular Bond That Helps Secure Your Memories How do memories last a lifetime when the molecules that form them turn over within days, weeks or...
a month ago
12
a month ago
How do memories last a lifetime when the molecules that form them turn over within days, weeks or months? An interaction between two proteins points to a molecular basis for memory. The post The Molecular Bond That Helps Secure Your Memories first appeared on Quanta...
The Works in...
An 80,000-year history of the tomato Creating the perfect vegetable
a month ago
Uncharted...
Canada vs the 51st State How can Canada fight against an aggressive US?
a month ago
Yale e360
World's Richest 10 Percent Responsible for Two-Thirds of Warming The wealthiest 10 percent of people on Earth have fueled two-thirds of the warming since 1990,...
a month ago
10
a month ago
The wealthiest 10 percent of people on Earth have fueled two-thirds of the warming since 1990, according to a new modeling study. Read more on E360 →
Cremieux Recueil
"Yes, and..." Urbanism What can the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth teach us about effective zoning law?
a month ago
Blog - Practical...
When Abandoned Mines Collapse [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In December of 2024, a huge...
a month ago
17
a month ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] In December of 2024, a huge sinkhole opened up on I-80 near Wharton, New Jersey, creating massive traffic delays as crews worked to figure out what happened and get it fixed. Since then, it happened again in...
The Works in...
The purpose of a building is how it looks True functionalism combines utility and beauty
a month ago
Yale e360
After 17 Years Underground, Massive Cicada Brood to Swarm U.S. After hiding underground for the last 17 years, billions of cicadas will take to the skies this...
a month ago
13
a month ago
After hiding underground for the last 17 years, billions of cicadas will take to the skies this summer, from Tennessee to Cape Cod.  Read more on E360 →
NeuroLogica Blog
The Problem with Self-Diagnosis The recent discussions about autism have been fascinating, partly because there is a robust...
a month ago
16
a month ago
The recent discussions about autism have been fascinating, partly because there is a robust neurodiversity community who have very deep, personal, and thoughtful opinions about the whole thing. One of the issues that has come up after we discussed this on the SGU was that of...
wadertales
Making full use of tracking data This blog has two aims – to share some of the important scientific and conservation stories that are...
a month ago
14
a month ago
This blog has two aims – to share some of the important scientific and conservation stories that are being revealed through shorebird tracking work and to encourage scientists to make their data available via the Global Wader platform. If small numbers of waders are going to be...
Breck's Blog
Does 3D exist?
a month ago
IEEE Spectrum
Why Engineers Still Need the Humanities Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, or Katherine Johnson, but there are many other women in engineering you...
a month ago
11
a month ago
Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, or Katherine Johnson, but there are many other women in engineering you should know about. Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, and Technology, in Kansas City, Mo., and I’m currently working through the unpublished papers of the American...
nanoscale views
Updates, thoughts about industrial support of university research Lots of news in the last few days regarding federal funding of university research: NSF has now...
a month ago
9
a month ago
Lots of news in the last few days regarding federal funding of university research: NSF has now frozen all funding for new and continuing awards.  This is not good; just how bad it is depends on the definition of "until further notice".   Here is an open letter from the NSF...
The Works in...
Why skyscrapers are so short How to overcome physical, economic and regulatory barriers and build taller
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
Dimension 126 Contains Strangely Twisted Shapes, Mathematicians Prove A new proof represents the culmination of a 65-year-old story about anomalous shapes in special...
a month ago
14
a month ago
A new proof represents the culmination of a 65-year-old story about anomalous shapes in special dimensions. The post Dimension 126 Contains Strangely Twisted Shapes, Mathematicians Prove first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
The Race Question As a scientific concept – does race exist? Is it a useful construct, or is it more misleading than...
a month ago
10
a month ago
As a scientific concept – does race exist? Is it a useful construct, or is it more misleading than useful? I wrote about this question in 2016, and my thinking has evolved a bit since then. My bottom line conclusion has not changed – the answer is, it depends. There is no fully...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Emergent, Fringe Behaviors in Healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket tweeting out your labs, induced mental states, and more
a month ago
Yale e360
In Mexico’s ‘Avocado Belt,’ Villagers Stand Up to Protect Their Lands A boom in avocado production in Mexico has led to illegal deforestation and an influx of drug...
a month ago
6
a month ago
A boom in avocado production in Mexico has led to illegal deforestation and an influx of drug cartels dominating the lucrative trade. But Indigenous communities have fought back against the gangs and turned to traditional practices to grow avocados and save their forests.  Read...
The Works in...
What's new in biology Return of the screwworm, new DNA vaccines, gene editing at scale, and more
a month ago
Yale e360
Warming Doubled the Odds of Record Fires in South Korea Warming fueled the hot, dry, windy weather that gave rise to a spate of record-breaking fires in...
a month ago
4
a month ago
Warming fueled the hot, dry, windy weather that gave rise to a spate of record-breaking fires in South Korea in March, an analysis finds. Read more on E360 →
Cremieux Recueil
Storks Take Orders From the State Pronatal benefits and economic booms lead to greater numbers of births
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
Will AI Ever Understand Language Like Humans? AI may sound like a human, but that doesn’t mean that AI learns like a human. In this episode, Ellie...
a month ago
7
a month ago
AI may sound like a human, but that doesn’t mean that AI learns like a human. In this episode, Ellie Pavlick explains why understanding how LLMs can process language could unlock deeper insights into both AI and the human mind. The post Will AI Ever Understand...
The Works in...
Fertility on demand Technology could allow women to have it all
a month ago
Quanta Magazine
Science, Promise and Peril in the Age of AI An exploration of how artificial intelligence is changing what it means to do science and math, and...
a month ago
7
a month ago
An exploration of how artificial intelligence is changing what it means to do science and math, and what it means to be a scientist. The post Science, Promise and Peril in the Age of AI first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
Freddy the Robot Was the Fall Guy for British AI FREDERICK Mark 2, the Friendly Robot for Education, Discussion and Entertainment, the Retrieval of...
a month ago
6
a month ago
FREDERICK Mark 2, the Friendly Robot for Education, Discussion and Entertainment, the Retrieval of Information, and the Collation of Knowledge, better known as Freddy II. This remarkable robot could put together a simple model car from an assortment of parts dumped in its...
Quanta Magazine
Where Do Scientists Think This Is All Going? We asked some of the world’s foremost experts an impossible question. Amazingly, they answered. ...
a month ago
6
a month ago
We asked some of the world’s foremost experts an impossible question. Amazingly, they answered. The post Where Do Scientists Think This Is All Going? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Yale e360
Facing High Tariffs in U.S., Chinese Solar Flows to Poorer Countries Facing high tariffs in the U.S. and Europe, Chinese solar and battery companies have been selling a...
a month ago
4
a month ago
Facing high tariffs in the U.S. and Europe, Chinese solar and battery companies have been selling a growing share of their products to poorer countries, a new analysis finds. Read more on E360 →
The Works in...
The Spanish grid collapse Inertia and why we need it
a month ago
wadertales
Is inbreeding a problem for England’s Black-tailed Godwits? The current English breeding population of limosa Black-tailed Godwits is relatively new, arising...
a month ago
9
a month ago
The current English breeding population of limosa Black-tailed Godwits is relatively new, arising from a recolonisation in the 1950s that is presumed to have involved Dutch-hatched individuals. Given that the number of breeding birds is small and that there has been a...
The Works in...
The fewer the merrier The merits of unified land ownership
a month ago
Yale e360
Brazilian Judge Orders Seizure of Illegally Cleared Lands A justice on the Brazilian Supreme Court has directed the government to seize private lands where...
a month ago
5
a month ago
A justice on the Brazilian Supreme Court has directed the government to seize private lands where forests have been illegally razed.  Read more on E360 →
NeuroLogica Blog
The Other End of the Autism Spectrum In my previous post I wrote about how we think about and talk about autism spectrum disorder (ASD),...
a month ago
8
a month ago
In my previous post I wrote about how we think about and talk about autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and how RFK Jr misunderstands and exploits this complexity to weave his anti-vaccine crank narrative. There is also another challenge in the conversation about autism, which exists...
The Works in...
The future of silk Silk is stronger than steel or kevlar. What could it be used for?
a month ago
NeuroLogica Blog
How Should We Talk About Autism RFK Jr.’s recent speech about autism has sparked a lot of deserved anger. But like many things in...
a month ago
9
a month ago
RFK Jr.’s recent speech about autism has sparked a lot of deserved anger. But like many things in life, it’s even more complicated than you think it is, and this is a good opportunity to explore some of the issues surrounding this diagnosis. While the definition has shifted over...
Yale e360
To Help Growers and the Grid, Build Solar on Farmland, Research Says Two new studies suggest that devoting a small fraction of U.S. farmland to solar power would be a...
a month ago
4
a month ago
Two new studies suggest that devoting a small fraction of U.S. farmland to solar power would be a boon both for the energy system and for farmers themselves. Read more on E360 →
Breck's Blog
Information is the Easiest Job
a month ago
Quantum Frontiers
Quantum automata Do you know when an engineer built the first artificial automaton—the first human-made machine that...
a month ago
10
a month ago
Do you know when an engineer built the first artificial automaton—the first human-made machine that operated by itself, without external control mechanisms that altered the machine’s behavior over time as the machine undertook its mission? The ancient Greek thinker Archytas …...
Asterisk
Reports of the Death of California High-Speed Rail Have Been Greatly Exaggerated Building a high-speed rail between Los Angeles and San Francisco was never going to be easy — but...
a month ago
7
a month ago
Building a high-speed rail between Los Angeles and San Francisco was never going to be easy — but the critics who write it off are missing the real source of the project’s struggles.
Breck's Blog
Deceptive Intelligence verse Genuine Intelligence
a month ago
Uncharted...
Why Is Canada’s Population so Concentrated? In three spots that are disconnected?
a month ago
Casey Handmer's blog
Why am I searched every time I go to Australia? The Australian Border Force won’t stop searching me and my personal devices when I visit Australia....
a month ago
8
a month ago
The Australian Border Force won’t stop searching me and my personal devices when I visit Australia. Despite being an Australian citizen, under Australian law, I have zero recourse to this continued flagrant invasion of my privacy. After two years of harassment I am publicizing...
Yale e360
How Herbicide Drift from Farms Is Harming Trees in Midwest Researchers are starting to pay closer attention to the widespread damage wrought by agricultural...
a month ago
5
a month ago
Researchers are starting to pay closer attention to the widespread damage wrought by agricultural herbicides. Drifting sprays may not kill trees, shrubs, and other nontarget plants outright, but experts believe they are making them vulnerable to insects, fungi, and disease. Read...
The Works in...
Write for Notes in Progress We're looking for new authors and article pitches
a month ago
nanoscale views
NSF, quo vadis? There is a lot going on.  Today, some words about NSF. Yesterday Sethuraman Panchanathan, the...
a month ago
9
a month ago
There is a lot going on.  Today, some words about NSF. Yesterday Sethuraman Panchanathan, the director of the National Science Foundation, resigned 16 months before the end of his six year term.  The relevant Science article raises the possibility that this is because, as an...
Yale e360
Wildlife Returns to Site of Devastating Southern California Wildfire Four months after the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, California, wildlife is making a...
a month ago
Cremieux Recueil
What’s the Deal With Autism Rates? Explaining the "autism epidemic".
a month ago
The Works in...
The secret liberalization of animal drugs The FDA should do something similar for humans
a month ago
Uncharted...
Why We Dress the Way We Dress The Four Layers of Fashion
a month 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...
a month ago
84
a month 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...
Breck's Blog
Knowledge
a month ago
Yale e360
U.S. Aid Cuts Are Hitting Global Conservation Projects Hard The Trump Administration’s dismantling of USAID has done more than cut off life-saving humanitarian...
a month ago
4
a month ago
The Trump Administration’s dismantling of USAID has done more than cut off life-saving humanitarian assistance. It has also eliminated funding for environmental protection and conservation work in dozens of countries, with many programs now being forced to shut down. Read more on...
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...
a month ago
28
a month ago
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.
a month ago
Yale e360
Heat and Fire Making Pollution Worse Across Much of the U.S. By several measures, air pollution is getting worse in the U.S., a trend due in large part to more...
a month ago
4
a month ago
By several measures, air pollution is getting worse in the U.S., a trend due in large part to more severe heat and wildfires, according to a new report. Read more on E360 →
Breck's Blog
How to get rid of advertising
a month ago
The Works in...
The breaking of Britain's National Grid A story of aging infrastructure and perverse incentives
a month ago
Asterisk
Does Abundance Start at Home? Kelsey Piper and Jasmine Sun talk about microschools, whether localism is the enemy of Abundance,...
a month ago
25
a month 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
a month ago
Yale e360
How a Former Herder Protected Mongolia's Vast Grasslands Batmunkh Luvsandash has fought to protect more than a million acres of steppe lands in his native...
a month ago
5
a month ago
Batmunkh Luvsandash has fought to protect more than a million acres of steppe lands in his native Mongolia. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he explains how, by drawing on the knowledge of local herders, he was able to take on the powerful mining industry and win. Read...
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...
a month ago
23
a month 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.
a month 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...
a month ago
23
a month 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?
a month ago
Yale e360
In a First, Chimps Found Sharing Fermented Fruit For the first time, wild chimpanzees have been caught on film sharing fermented fruit. The footage...
a month ago
5
a month ago
For the first time, wild chimpanzees have been caught on film sharing fermented fruit. The footage comes from Cantanhez National Park in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau, where camera traps recorded chimps eating fermented breadfruit together on 10 separate...
Quantum Frontiers
Quantum Algorithms: A Call To Action Quantum computing finds itself in a peculiar situation. The number one question asked about quantum...
a month ago
31
a month 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...
a month ago
20
a month 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
a month ago
Cremieux Recueil
The Holistic Judgment Conceit Holistic evaluations are for machines, not people
a month ago
Breck's Blog
The Infosphere
2 months 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...
2 months ago
18
2 months 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...
2 months ago
25
2 months 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...
2 months ago
25
2 months ago
As part of ongoing outreach efforts by Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA) to the meteorological community, TWA’s Chief Scientist, Andrew LePage, attended the National Tropical Weather Conference […]
Quanta Magazine
Can Quantum Gravity Be Created in the Lab? Quantum gravity could help physicists unite the currently incompatible worlds of quantum mechanics...
2 months ago
15
2 months 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 …
2 months 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
2 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Possible Biosignature on K2-18b Exoplanets are pretty exciting – in the last few decades we have gone from knowing absolutely...
2 months ago
18
2 months 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...
Yale e360
Planned Indian Mega-Port Could 'Wipe Out' Isolated Tribe The Shompen, residents of a small island in the Indian Ocean, are among the world's last isolated...
2 months ago
5
2 months ago
The Shompen, residents of a small island in the Indian Ocean, are among the world's last isolated tribes. But that may soon change as the Indian government moves forward with plans for a massive port that could "wipe out" the tribe, a watchdog group says. Read more on E360 →
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...
2 months ago
17
2 months 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...
2 months ago
17
2 months 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
2 months 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...
2 months ago
22
2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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.
2 months ago
Yale e360
Entries Invited for Yale Environment 360 Film Contest The 12th annual Yale Environment 360 Film Contest is now accepting entries. Read more on E360 →
2 months ago
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Running Tests on Generative AI with Autoblocks | Out-Of-Pocket How can we keep these bots in check??
2 months ago
Breck's Blog
Experiments
2 months 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....
2 months ago
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2 months 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
Yale e360
A.I. Is Quietly Powering a Revolution in Weather Prediction Weather forecasts powered by artificial intelligence are usually more accurate — and require less...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Weather forecasts powered by artificial intelligence are usually more accurate — and require less computational energy and fewer human hours — than conventional predictions. But questions remain about A.I. systems’ reliability and their ability to forecast extreme weather...
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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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...
Yale e360
China Allows New Coal Plants, but With More Limited Role China will allow the construction of new coal power plants through at least 2027 but with...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
China will allow the construction of new coal power plants through at least 2027 but with restrictions aimed at limiting emissions and boosting renewables, according to a newly released action plan. Read more on E360 →
The Works in...
Join our events in your city Sydney, Washington DC, Madrid, and more – sign up now
2 months ago
Cremieux Recueil
The Demise of the Flynn Effect Massive changes in IQ scores over time are much less meaningful than people think
2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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
2 months ago
nanoscale views
What is multiferroicity? (A post summarizing recent US science-related events will be coming later.  For now, here is my...
2 months ago
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2 months 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
2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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...
Yale e360
Trump Administration Fires Hundreds of Climate and Weather Specialists The Trump administration has re-fired hundreds of probationary workers at NOAA after a court ruling...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
The Trump administration has re-fired hundreds of probationary workers at NOAA after a court ruling cleared the way. Read more on E360 →
Breck's Blog
Mind Changers
2 months 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 months ago
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2 months 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 months ago
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2 months 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 months ago
Yale e360
On a Dammed River, Amazon Villagers Fight to Restore the Flow Indigenous communities that rely on the natural flow of the Xingu River have long fought the Belo...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Indigenous communities that rely on the natural flow of the Xingu River have long fought the Belo Monte dam in Brazil. With the dam now up for relicensing, they are urging the government to allow more water to flow, which would help revive the river and their way of life. Read...
Quanta Magazine
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 months ago
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2 months 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
Yale e360
Growing Risk of 'Thirstwaves' as the Planet Warms The atmosphere is getting thirstier. A new study finds that warming is leading to more frequent...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
The atmosphere is getting thirstier. A new study finds that warming is leading to more frequent bouts of hot, dry weather that cause soils to lose large volumes of water to evaporation. Read more on E360 →
Andrew Fraknoi –...
128 New Moons Found Around Saturn An international team of astronomers announced recently that they had discovered 128 new, small...
2 months ago
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2 months 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 months 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 months ago
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2 months 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 months ago
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2 months 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 months ago
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2 months 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 months ago
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2 months 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 months 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 months ago
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2 months 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...
Yale e360
Head of African Bank Warns of "Carbon Grabs" by Foreign Firms Akinwumi Adesina, outgoing president of the African Development Bank, is warning that foreign firms...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Akinwumi Adesina, outgoing president of the African Development Bank, is warning that foreign firms are underpaying for carbon credits from African forests. Read more on E360 →
Asterisk
Where Babies Come From It’s more complicated than you may think.
2 months 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 months ago
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2 months 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 months ago
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2 months 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 months ago
Yale e360
With the Great Mussel Die-Off, Scientists Scramble for Answers One of the most endangered animals in the world, freshwater mussels are threatened by pollution,...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
One of the most endangered animals in the world, freshwater mussels are threatened by pollution, climate change, habitat loss, and invasive species. But in the epicenter of their diversity — the Southeastern U.S. — the root cause of a catastrophic die-off remains a mystery.  Read...
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 months ago
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2 months 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...
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2 months 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...
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2 months 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 months ago
Yale e360
AI Model Can Predict When Lightning Will Spark Wildfires Researchers have developed an AI model that can predict with 90 percent accuracy when and where...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Researchers have developed an AI model that can predict with 90 percent accuracy when and where lightning will ignite wildfires. Read more on E360 →
Quanta Magazine
What Is the True Promise of Quantum Computing? Despite the hype, it’s been surprisingly challenging to find quantum algorithms that outperform...
2 months ago
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2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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…
2 months ago
The Works in...
Pieces we would like to commission Write for Works in Progress
2 months ago
Yale e360
Recycling Nuclear Waste: A Win-Win or a Dangerous Gamble? As interest in nuclear power rises, startups are pursuing plans to recycle spent fuel and reuse its...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
As interest in nuclear power rises, startups are pursuing plans to recycle spent fuel and reuse its untapped energy to power reactors. Advocates tout new recycling methods as a breakthrough, but many experts warn it will extract plutonium that could be used for nuclear...
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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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
Yale e360
Toxic Algae Spurs Sea Lion Attacks in Southern California A sea lion sickened by toxic algae attacked a teenage girl in Long Beach, California, on Sunday, the...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
A sea lion sickened by toxic algae attacked a teenage girl in Long Beach, California, on Sunday, the latest episode of erratic behavior from affected animals. Read more on E360 →
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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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
2 months ago
Yale e360
Global Economy More Vulnerable to Warming Than Previously Thought A new study finds warming could inflict far more damage to the global economy than previously...
2 months ago
Cremieux Recueil
Fertility Policy For Rich Countries A brief proposal to fix Social Security and grow the population
2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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...
2 months ago
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2 months 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...