Beautiful Public...
14,000 Photos of Army Uniforms and Rations from the 70s and 80s
An incredible archive of 14,000 photos of Army uniforms, military gear and rations from the 70s and...
15 hours ago
An incredible archive of 14,000 photos of Army uniforms, military gear and rations from the 70s and 80s.
Quanta Magazine
All Life on Earth Today Descended From a Single Cell. Meet LUCA.
The clearest picture yet of our “last universal common ancestor” suggests it was a relatively...
15 hours ago
The clearest picture yet of our “last universal common ancestor” suggests it was a relatively complex organism living 4.2 billion years ago, a time long considered too harsh for life to flourish.
The post All Life on Earth Today Descended From a Single Cell. Meet...
Probably...
What’s a Chartist?
Recently I heard the word “chartist” for the first time in my life (that I recall). And then later...
2 days ago
Recently I heard the word “chartist” for the first time in my life (that I recall). And then later the same day, I heard it again. So that raises two questions: To answer the second question first, it’s someone who supported chartism, which was “a working-class movement for...
Blog - Practical...
Which Power Plant Does My Electricity Come From?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In June of 2000, the power...
2 days ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In June of 2000, the power shut off across much of the San Francisco Bay area. There simply wasn’t enough electricity to meet demands, so more than a million customers were disconnected in California's largest...
NeuroLogica Blog
Robots and a Sense of Self
Humans (assuming you all experience roughly what I experience, which is a reasonable assumption)...
2 days ago
Humans (assuming you all experience roughly what I experience, which is a reasonable assumption) have a sense of self. This sense has several components – we feel as if we occupy our physical bodies, that our bodies are distinct entities separate from the rest of the universe,...
The Works in...
Links in Progress: What are children for?
And how the UN’s birth rate forecasts keep getting it wrong
3 days ago
And how the UN’s birth rate forecasts keep getting it wrong
Quanta Magazine
Mathematical Thinking Isn’t What You Think It Is
The mathematician David Bessis claims that everyone is capable of, and can benefit greatly from,...
3 days ago
The mathematician David Bessis claims that everyone is capable of, and can benefit greatly from, mathematical thinking.
The post Mathematical Thinking Isn’t What You Think It Is first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Pledge to Triple Nuclear by 2050
It’s interesting that there isn’t much discussion about this in the mainstream media, but the Biden...
3 days ago
It’s interesting that there isn’t much discussion about this in the mainstream media, but the Biden administration recently pledged to triple US nuclear power capacity by 2050. At COP28 last year the US was among 25 signatories who also pledged to triple world nuclear power...
nanoscale views
Really doing mechanics at the quantum level
A helpful ad from Science Made Stupid.
Since before the development of micro- and...
4 days ago
A helpful ad from Science Made Stupid.
Since before the development of micro- and nanoelectromechanical techniques, there has been an interest in making actual mechanical widgets that show quantum behavior. There is no reason that we should not be able to make a mechanical...
Probably...
Comparing Distributions
This is the second is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from...
4 days ago
This is the second is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. It’s from Chapter 8, which is about representing distribution using PMFs and CDFs. This section explains why I think CDFs are often better for plotting...
Quanta Magazine
How Public Key Cryptography Really Works, Using Only Simple Math
The security system that underlies the internet makes use of a curious fact: You can broadcast part...
6 days ago
The security system that underlies the internet makes use of a curious fact: You can broadcast part of your encryption to make your information much more secure.
The post How Public Key Cryptography Really Works, Using Only Simple Math first appeared on Quanta...
NeuroLogica Blog
Managing Plastic Waste
The world produces 350-400 million metric tons of plastic waste. Less than 10% of this waste is...
6 days ago
The world produces 350-400 million metric tons of plastic waste. Less than 10% of this waste is recycled, while 25% is mismanaged or littered. About 1.7 million tons ends up in the ocean. This is not sustainable, but whose responsibility is it to deal with this issue? The debate...
The Works in...
Where inflation comes from
How we calculate inflation has always been contested with small changes leading to large differences...
a week ago
How we calculate inflation has always been contested with small changes leading to large differences in how well-off we think we are.
Quanta Magazine
The Cosmos Teems with Complex Organic Molecules
Wherever astronomers look, they see life’s raw materials.
The post The Cosmos Teems with...
a week ago
Wherever astronomers look, they see life’s raw materials.
The post The Cosmos Teems with Complex Organic Molecules first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
The First Virtual Meeting Was in 1916
At 8:30 p.m. on 16 May 1916, John J. Carty banged his gavel at the Engineering Societies Building in...
a week ago
At 8:30 p.m. on 16 May 1916, John J. Carty banged his gavel at the Engineering Societies Building in New York City to call to order a meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. This was no ordinary gathering. The AIEE had decided to conduct a live national meeting...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Licensing and Credentialing Nonsense with Assured | Out-Of-Pocket
a week ago
NeuroLogica Blog
911 Conspiracy Theories Persist
On September 11, 2001, as part of a planned terrorist attack, commercial planes were hijacked and...
a week ago
On September 11, 2001, as part of a planned terrorist attack, commercial planes were hijacked and flown into each of the two towers at the World Trade Center in New York. A third plane was flown into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed after the passengers fought back. This, of...
Quanta Magazine
New Elliptic Curve Breaks 18-Year-Old Record
Two mathematicians have renewed a debate about the fundamental nature of some of math’s most...
a week ago
Two mathematicians have renewed a debate about the fundamental nature of some of math’s most important equations.
The post New Elliptic Curve Breaks 18-Year-Old Record first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Probably...
Zipf’s Law
Elements of Data Science is in print now, available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. To...
a week ago
Elements of Data Science is in print now, available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. To celebrate, I’ll post some excerpts here, starting with one of my favorite examples, Zipf’s Law. You can read the complete chapter here, or run the Jupyter notebook on Colab. In almost any...
The Works in...
The ultra-selfish gene
Genetically modifying malaria-carrying mosquitoes could allow us to wipe out humanity’s most deadly...
a week ago
Genetically modifying malaria-carrying mosquitoes could allow us to wipe out humanity’s most deadly killer.
Quanta Magazine
Debate May Help AI Models Converge on Truth
How do we know if a large language model is lying? Letting AI systems argue with each other may help...
a week ago
How do we know if a large language model is lying? Letting AI systems argue with each other may help expose the truth.
The post Debate May Help AI Models Converge on Truth first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
The Social Media Dilemma
Australia is planning a total ban on social media for children under 16 years old. Prime Minister...
a week ago
Australia is planning a total ban on social media for children under 16 years old. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese argues that it is the only way to protect vulnerable children from the demonstrable harm that social media can do. This has sparked another round of debates about...
Quanta Magazine
How Is AI Changing the Science of Prediction?
With lots of data, a strong model and statistical thinking, scientists can make predictions about...
a week ago
With lots of data, a strong model and statistical thinking, scientists can make predictions about all sorts of complex phenomena. Today, this practice is evolving to harness the power of machine learning and massive datasets. In this episode, co-host Steven Strogatz speaks with...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Weird health insurance concepts | Out-Of-Pocket
Intercompany eliminations, copay shenanigans, and reference-based pricing
2 weeks ago
Intercompany eliminations, copay shenanigans, and reference-based pricing
Quanta Magazine
Physicists Spot Quantum Tornadoes Twirling in a ‘Supersolid’
New observations of microscopic vortices confirm the existence of a paradoxical phase of matter that...
2 weeks ago
New observations of microscopic vortices confirm the existence of a paradoxical phase of matter that may also arise inside neutron stars.
The post Physicists Spot Quantum Tornadoes Twirling in a ‘Supersolid’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Blog - Practical...
Why Are Cooling Towers Shaped Like That?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is not smoke. And this...
2 weeks ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is not smoke. And this isn’t a smoke stack (at least not the kind we normally think of). It serves a totally different purpose at a power plant than smoke stacks whose job is moving combustion products...
The Works in...
Links in Progress: Expanding the Mediterranean's busiest port
Plus: New tunnels, monorails, canals, small modular reactors, and horseless carriages
2 weeks ago
Plus: New tunnels, monorails, canals, small modular reactors, and horseless carriages
nanoscale views
Recent papers to distract....
Time for blogging has continued to be scarce, but here are a few papers to distract (and for readers...
2 weeks ago
Time for blogging has continued to be scarce, but here are a few papers to distract (and for readers who are US citizens: vote if you have not already done so!).
Reaching back, this preprint by Aharonov, Collins, Popescu talks about a thought experiment in which angular...
NeuroLogica Blog
A Discussion about Biological Sex
At CSICON this year I gave talk about topics over which skeptics have and continue to disagree with...
2 weeks ago
At CSICON this year I gave talk about topics over which skeptics have and continue to disagree with each other. My core theme was that these are the topics we absolutely should be discussing with each other, especially at skeptical conferences. Nothing should be taboo or too...
Quanta Magazine
He’s Gleaning the Design Rules of Life to Re-Create It
Yizhi “Patrick” Cai is coordinating a global effort to write a complete synthetic yeast genome. If...
2 weeks ago
Yizhi “Patrick” Cai is coordinating a global effort to write a complete synthetic yeast genome. If he succeeds, the resulting cell will be the artificial life most closely related to humans to date.
The post He’s Gleaning the Design Rules of Life to Re-Create It first...
NeuroLogica Blog
AC vs DC and other Power Questions
I was away last week, first at CSICON and then at a conference in Dubai. I was invited to give a 9...
2 weeks ago
I was away last week, first at CSICON and then at a conference in Dubai. I was invited to give a 9 hour seminar on scientific skepticism for the Dubai Future Foundation. That sounds like a lot of time, but it isn’t. It was a good reminder of the vast body of knowledge that is...
Explorations of an...
Borneo 2024: Introduction And Pre-Tour Birding
About a month ago, I returned to Sabah in east Malaysia for my fourth tour of duty as a guide for...
2 weeks ago
About a month ago, I returned to Sabah in east Malaysia for my fourth tour of duty as a guide for Quest Nature Tours. I've always said that Borneo is one of my favourite tours that I run and even after three previous trips I was looking forward to returning. One of the main...
IEEE Spectrum
Touchscreens Are Out, and Tactile Controls Are Back
Tactile controls are back in vogue. Apple added two new buttons to the iPhone 16, home appliances...
2 weeks ago
Tactile controls are back in vogue. Apple added two new buttons to the iPhone 16, home appliances like stoves and washing machines are returning to knobs, and several car manufacturers are reintroducing buttons and dials to dashboards and steering wheels.
With this...
Quanta Magazine
Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’ Has Been Debunked
It was intuitive, even obvious. It was also wrong.
The post Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’...
2 weeks ago
It was intuitive, even obvious. It was also wrong.
The post Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’ Has Been Debunked first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
Why the Art of Invention Is Always Being Reinvented
Every invention begins with a problem—and the creative act of seeing a problem where others might...
2 weeks ago
Every invention begins with a problem—and the creative act of seeing a problem where others might just see unchangeable reality. For one 5-year-old, the problem was simple: She liked to have her tummy rubbed as she fell asleep. But her mom, exhausted from working two jobs, often...
Quanta Magazine
It Might Be Possible to Detect Gravitons After All
A new experimental proposal suggests detecting a particle of gravity is far easier than anyone...
3 weeks ago
A new experimental proposal suggests detecting a particle of gravity is far easier than anyone imagined. Now physicists are debating what it would really prove.
The post It Might Be Possible to Detect Gravitons After All first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
The Unlikely Inventor of the Automatic Rice Cooker
How the automatic rice cooker was invented
It isn’t often that housewives get credit in the annals...
3 weeks ago
How the automatic rice cooker was invented
It isn’t often that housewives get credit in the annals of invention, but in the story of the automatic rice cooker, a woman takes center stage. That happened only after the first attempts at electrifying rice cooking, starting in the...
Quanta Magazine
Meet the Eukaryote, the First Cell to Get Organized
All modern multicellular life — all life that any of us regularly see — is made of cells with a...
3 weeks ago
All modern multicellular life — all life that any of us regularly see — is made of cells with a knack for compartmentalization. Recent discoveries are revealing how the first eukaryote got its start.
The post Meet the Eukaryote, the First Cell to Get Organized first...
Quantum Frontiers
Sculpting quantum steampunk
In 2020, many of us logged experiences that we’d never anticipated. I wrote a nonfiction book and...
3 weeks ago
In 2020, many of us logged experiences that we’d never anticipated. I wrote a nonfiction book and got married outside the Harvard Faculty Club (because nobody was around to shoo us away). Equally unexpectedly, I received an invitation to collaborate … Continue reading →
Quanta Magazine
Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph
Dijkstra’s algorithm was long thought to be the most efficient way to find a graph’s best routes....
3 weeks ago
Dijkstra’s algorithm was long thought to be the most efficient way to find a graph’s best routes. Researchers have now proved that it’s “universally optimal.”
The post Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
What does longevity medicine actually mean? | Out-Of-Pocket
An interview with a practicing longevity medicine doctor
3 weeks ago
An interview with a practicing longevity medicine doctor
Quanta Magazine
How Do Merging Supermassive Black Holes Pass the Final Parsec?
The giant holes in galaxies’ centers shouldn’t be able to merge, yet merge they do. Scientists...
4 weeks ago
The giant holes in galaxies’ centers shouldn’t be able to merge, yet merge they do. Scientists suggest that an unusual form of dark matter may be the solution.
The post How Do Merging Supermassive Black Holes Pass the Final Parsec? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
This Engineer Became a Star in Technology Publishing
Donald Christiansen, who transformed IEEE Spectrum from a promising but erratic technology magazine...
4 weeks ago
Donald Christiansen, who transformed IEEE Spectrum from a promising but erratic technology magazine into a repeat National Magazine Award winner, died on 2 October 2024, at the age of 97, in Huntington, N.Y.
served aboard the aircraft carrier San Jacinto, an experience that led...
Probably...
Think Stats 3rd Edition
I am excited to announce that I have started work on a third edition of Think Stats, to be published...
4 weeks ago
I am excited to announce that I have started work on a third edition of Think Stats, to be published by O’Reilly Media in 2025. At this point the content is mostly settled, and I am revising chapters to get them ready for technical review. If you want to start reading now, the...
NeuroLogica Blog
Electronic Noses
I am always sniffing around (pun intended) for new and interesting technology, especially anything...
4 weeks ago
I am always sniffing around (pun intended) for new and interesting technology, especially anything that I think is currently flying under the radar of public awareness but has the potential to transform our world in some way. I think electronic nose technology fits into this...
Eukaryote Writes...
I got dysentery so you don’t have to
On turning 30 in a human challenge trial ward.
a month ago
On turning 30 in a human challenge trial ward.
Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still Catching Up to the Mysterious Genius of Srinivasa Ramanujan
Born poor in colonial India and dead at 32, Ramanujan had fantastical, out-of-nowhere visions that...
a month ago
Born poor in colonial India and dead at 32, Ramanujan had fantastical, out-of-nowhere visions that continue to shape the field today.
The post Math Is Still Catching Up to the Mysterious Genius of Srinivasa Ramanujan first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Tesla Demonstrated its Optimus Robot
At a recent event Tesla showcased the capabilities of its humanoid autonomous robot, Optimus. The...
a month ago
At a recent event Tesla showcased the capabilities of its humanoid autonomous robot, Optimus. The demonstration has come under some criticism, however, for not being fully transparent about the nature of the demonstration. We interviewed robotics expert, Christian Hubicki, on the...
nanoscale views
Guide to faculty searches, 2024 edition
As you can tell from my posting frequency lately, I have been unusually busy. I hope to be writing...
a month ago
As you can tell from my posting frequency lately, I have been unusually busy. I hope to be writing about more condensed matter and nano science soon. In the meantime, I realized that I have not re-posted or updated my primer on how tenure-track faculty searches work in physics...
The Works in...
Unending World
A foretaste of Ch. 11 of Stewart Brand’s Maintenance on Books in Progress
a month ago
A foretaste of Ch. 11 of Stewart Brand’s Maintenance on Books in Progress
Quanta Magazine
How the Human Brain Contends With the Strangeness of Zero
Zero, which was invented late in history, is special among numbers. New studies are uncovering how...
a month ago
Zero, which was invented late in history, is special among numbers. New studies are uncovering how the brain creates something out of nothing.
The post How the Human Brain Contends With the Strangeness of Zero first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Anemia and Malaria
In malaria endemic regions, being anemic could be keeping children safe
a month ago
In malaria endemic regions, being anemic could be keeping children safe
NeuroLogica Blog
The Clipper Europa Mission
I wrote earlier this week about the latest successful test of Starship and the capture of the Super...
a month ago
I wrote earlier this week about the latest successful test of Starship and the capture of the Super Heavy booster by grabbing arms of the landing tower. This was quite a feat, but it should not eclipse what was perhaps even bigger space news this week – the launch of NASAs...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
23andMe, a healthcare fund idea, and the NHS | Out-Of-Pocket
Some random musings coming from London
a month ago
Some random musings coming from London
Quanta Magazine
‘Quantum Memory’ Proves Exponentially Powerful
Researchers are exploring new ways that quantum computers will be able to reveal the secrets of...
a month ago
Researchers are exploring new ways that quantum computers will be able to reveal the secrets of complex quantum systems.
The post ‘Quantum Memory’ Proves Exponentially Powerful first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Andrew Fraknoi –...
A Comet Visible in Our Evening Sky
A newly discovered comet is now faintly visible in our skies soon after sunset, if you have clear...
a month ago
A newly discovered comet is now faintly visible in our skies soon after sunset, if you have clear skies and a view low toward the west-southwest horizon. See our diagram from Sky & Telescope magazine, in which the yellow numbers show you the comet’s location in the evening sky...
Blog - Practical...
The Wild Story of the Taum Sauk Dam Failure
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Early in the morning of...
a month ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Early in the morning of December 14, 2005, pumps were nearly finished filling the upper reservoir at the Taum Sauk power station, marking the end of the daily cycle. Water rose to the top of the rockfill...
The Works in...
Cheap ornament and status games
Was modernism originally a way to signal taste instead of wealth?
a month ago
Was modernism originally a way to signal taste instead of wealth?
Probably...
Bootstrapping a Proportion
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
a month ago
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous installments are available from the Data Q&A landing page. Here’s a question from the Reddit statistics forum. How do I use bootstrapping to generate confidence intervals for a...
Eukaryote Writes...
Eukaryote writes for Asterisk Magazine
See my piece on the history of microbiology and the vast, invisible worlds that come into focus...
a month ago
See my piece on the history of microbiology and the vast, invisible worlds that come into focus every time we figure out how to look closer: Through the Looking Glass, and What Zheludev et al. (2024) Found There at Asterisk Magazine I’ve written for Asterisk before: What I won’t...
Quanta Magazine
Big Advance on Simple-Sounding Math Problem Was a Century in the Making
A new proof about prime numbers illuminates the subtle relationship between addition and...
a month ago
A new proof about prime numbers illuminates the subtle relationship between addition and multiplication — and raises hopes for progress on the famous abc conjecture.
The post Big Advance on Simple-Sounding Math Problem Was a Century in the Making first appeared on...
NeuroLogica Blog
Latest Starship Launch
SpaceX has conducted their most successful test launch of a Starship system to date. The system they...
a month ago
SpaceX has conducted their most successful test launch of a Starship system to date. The system they tested has three basic components – the Super Heavy first stage rocket booster, the Starship second stage (which is the actual space ship that will go places), and the...
The Works in...
Links in Progress: rising incomes do not always mean fewer births
And how having a baby can make you believe in the future
a month ago
And how having a baby can make you believe in the future
Quanta Magazine
Even a Single Bacterial Cell Can Sense the Seasons Changing
Though they live only a few hours before dividing, bacteria can anticipate the approach of cold...
a month ago
Though they live only a few hours before dividing, bacteria can anticipate the approach of cold weather and prepare for it. The discovery suggests that seasonal tracking is fundamental to life.
The post Even a Single Bacterial Cell Can Sense the Seasons Changing first...
NeuroLogica Blog
Spider-Man’s Web Shooter
I have to admit that my favorite superhero as a kid, and still today, is Spider-Man (and yes, that’s...
a month ago
I have to admit that my favorite superhero as a kid, and still today, is Spider-Man (and yes, that’s the correct spelling). There are a number of narrative reasons for this that I grew to appreciate more as I aged. First, Spider-Man is in the sweet spot of super abilities – he is...
Quanta Magazine
How Can Math Help Beat Cancer?
Cancer treatment has come a long way in recent decades. But finding the best course of treatment for...
a month ago
Cancer treatment has come a long way in recent decades. But finding the best course of treatment for each case of this diverse, dynamic disease remains a challenge. In this episode, co-host Steven Strogatz speaks with computational biologist Franziska Michor about how math,...
NeuroLogica Blog
Confidently Wrong
How certain are you of anything that you believe? Do you even think about your confidence level, and...
a month ago
How certain are you of anything that you believe? Do you even think about your confidence level, and do you have a process for determining what your confidence level should be or do you just follow your gut feelings? Thinking about confidence is a form of metacognition – thinking...
Quanta Magazine
The ‘Beautiful Confusion’ of the First Billion Years Comes Into View
Astronomers are reveling in the James Webb Space Telescope’s discoveries about the formative epoch...
a month ago
Astronomers are reveling in the James Webb Space Telescope’s discoveries about the formative epoch of cosmic history.
The post The ‘Beautiful Confusion’ of the First Billion Years Comes Into View first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
AI Copilots Are Coming
I’m going to do something I rarely do and make a straight-up prediction – I think we are close to...
a month ago
I’m going to do something I rarely do and make a straight-up prediction – I think we are close to having AI apps that will function as our all-purpose digital assistants. That’s not really a tough call, we already have digital assistants and they are progressing rapidly. So I am...
Quanta Magazine
The Computer Scientist Who Builds Big Pictures From Small Details
To better understand machine learning algorithms, Lenka Zdeborová treats them like physical...
a month ago
To better understand machine learning algorithms, Lenka Zdeborová treats them like physical materials.
The post The Computer Scientist Who Builds Big Pictures From Small Details first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Fruit Fly Connectome Completed
Scientists have just published in Nature that they have completed the entire connectome of a fruit...
a month ago
Scientists have just published in Nature that they have completed the entire connectome of a fruit fly: Network statistics of the whole-brain connectome of Drosophila. The map includes 140,000 neurons and more than 50 million connections. This is an incredible achievement that...
wadertales
How do wader chicks respond to being handled?
Every wader researcher knows that their actions can have negative consequences for the birds they...
a month ago
Every wader researcher knows that their actions can have negative consequences for the birds they are studying. Given that most shorebird species are in trouble or causing concern, conservation science is a tricky balancing act between ‘need to understand’ and ‘disturbance’. In...
Drew Ex Machina
First Pictures: Color View of the Earth & A Tropical Depression from Space – October 5, 1954
While today we are inundated with color images of the Earth, our earliest views from space were...
a month ago
While today we are inundated with color images of the Earth, our earliest views from space were confined to monochromatic or black and white images (see […]
Quanta Magazine
Computer Scientists Combine Two ‘Beautiful’ Proof Methods
Three researchers have figured out how to craft a proof that spreads out information while keeping...
a month ago
Three researchers have figured out how to craft a proof that spreads out information while keeping it perfectly secret.
The post Computer Scientists Combine Two ‘Beautiful’ Proof Methods first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Nadir Crater – A Double Tap for Dinosaurs?
It is now generally accepted that 66 million years ago a large asteroid smacked into the Earth,...
a month ago
It is now generally accepted that 66 million years ago a large asteroid smacked into the Earth, causing the large Chicxulub crater off the coast of Mexico. This was a catastrophic event, affecting the entire globe. Fire rained down causing forest fires across much of the globe,...
The Works in...
The San Diego infinite housing glitch
How a bonus ADU program allows 'granny towers' in gardens
a month ago
How a bonus ADU program allows 'granny towers' in gardens
Quanta Magazine
When Data Is Missing, Scientists Guess. Then Guess Again.
Across the social and biological sciences, statisticians use a technique that leverages randomness...
a month ago
Across the social and biological sciences, statisticians use a technique that leverages randomness to deal with the unknown.
The post When Data Is Missing, Scientists Guess. Then Guess Again. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Blog - Practical...
Is the World Really Running Out of Sand?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
If you have to know the answer...
a month ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
If you have to know the answer right away, it’s no; or at least, my goal with this video is to convince you that the world is not running out of sand. But if it were that simple, I wouldn’t be here (right?) and...
nanoscale views
CHIPS and Science - the reality vs the aspiration
I already wrote about this issue here back in August, but I wanted to highlight a policy statement...
a month ago
I already wrote about this issue here back in August, but I wanted to highlight a policy statement that I wrote with colleagues as part of Rice's Baker Institute's Election 2024: Policy Playbook, which "delivers nonpartisan, expert insights into key issues at stake on the 2024...
NeuroLogica Blog
What Is Orbitronics
You have definitely heard of electronics. You may (if you are a tech nerd like me) have heard of...
a month ago
You have definitely heard of electronics. You may (if you are a tech nerd like me) have heard of spintronics and photonics. Now there is also the possibility of orbitronics. What do these cool-sounding words mean? Electronic technology is one of those core technologies that has...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Weird issues in value-based care | Out-Of-Pocket
Thoughts on value-based care from people actually building in it
a month ago
Thoughts on value-based care from people actually building in it
wadertales
Flexible nesting behaviour
In April and May, tens of thousands of Black-tailed Godwits return to Iceland, having spent the...
a month ago
In April and May, tens of thousands of Black-tailed Godwits return to Iceland, having spent the summer in Western Europe, particularly Britain & Ireland but also France, Portugal and Spain. For early arrivals, the conditions they encounter vary markedly between years. In a cold...
Quanta Magazine
The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology
Invisibly to us, insects and other tiny creatures use static electricity to travel, avoid predators,...
a month ago
Invisibly to us, insects and other tiny creatures use static electricity to travel, avoid predators, collect pollen and more. New experiments explore how evolution may have influenced this phenomenon.
The post The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology first appeared...
IEEE Spectrum
The Incredible Story Behind the First Transistor Radio
But that’s pretty much what Pat Haggerty, vice president of Texas Instruments, did in 1954. The...
a month ago
But that’s pretty much what Pat Haggerty, vice president of Texas Instruments, did in 1954. The result was the
Regency TR-1, the world’s first commercial transistor radio, which debuted 70 years ago this month. The engineers delivered on Haggerty’s audacious goal, and I...
Explorations of an...
Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 5: Portal Back To Phoenix
September 4, 2024
Our day began with coffee and breakfast on the deck, watching the bird feeders hum...
a month ago
September 4, 2024
Our day began with coffee and breakfast on the deck, watching the bird feeders hum with activity. It was, sadly, our final morning in this region and we packed up and headed out. It would have been nice to have an extra night or two here, though you could say...
NeuroLogica Blog
Wood Vaulting for Carbon Sequestration
I can’t resist a good science story involving technology that we can possibly use to stabilize our...
a month ago
I can’t resist a good science story involving technology that we can possibly use to stabilize our climate in the face of anthropogenic global warming. This one is a fun story and an interesting, and potentially useful, idea. As we map out potential carbon pathways into the...
nanoscale views
Annual Nobel speculation thread
Not that prizes are the be-all and end-all, but this has become an annual tradition. Who are your...
a month ago
Not that prizes are the be-all and end-all, but this has become an annual tradition. Who are your speculative laureates this year for physics and chemistry? As I did last year and for several years before, I will put forward my usual thought that the physics prize could...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Coming Up: Einstein without Tears; Religion and Extraterrestrial Life
Two upcoming events that may be of interest to you (please pass on to others who may like them): The...
a month ago
Two upcoming events that may be of interest to you (please pass on to others who may like them): The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State Presents: A non-technical, 6-week class with Professor Andrew Fraknoi Einstein without Tears Tuesdays from 12:30 to 2:30...
Explorations of an...
Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 4: The Chiricahuas
September 3, 2024
It was another beautiful day in paradise, and all of us were up early to watch the...
a month ago
September 3, 2024
It was another beautiful day in paradise, and all of us were up early to watch the sun rise over the desert. The active bird feeders gave us something to study while we drank our coffee and ate our egg sandwiches that Nikki had crafted for us.
Black-throated...
Quantum Frontiers
Now published: Building Quantum Computers
Building Quantum Computers: A Practical Introduction by Shayan Majidy, Christopher Wilson, and...
a month ago
Building Quantum Computers: A Practical Introduction by Shayan Majidy, Christopher Wilson, and Raymond Laflamme has been published by Cambridge University Press and will be released in the US on September 30. The authors invited me to write a Foreword for … Continue reading →
Light from Space
Andromeda: Our Galactic Neighbor
Many things have been said about the Andromeda Galaxy, arguably the most majestic galaxy that...
a month ago
Many things have been said about the Andromeda Galaxy, arguably the most majestic galaxy that amateur astronomers can image due to it's sheer size in the sky—many times larger than the Moon appears to us, but also many times dimmer.
With the naked eye, even in
Explorations of an...
Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 2: The Huachucas
September 1, 2024
For the first and only time in the trip I managed a much-needed seven hours of...
a month ago
September 1, 2024
For the first and only time in the trip I managed a much-needed seven hours of sleep. Unfortunately, some of the others were woken up earlier than they would have liked. The owner of Beatty's Guest Ranch (he lives in a different building on the property) owns a...
Quanta Magazine
What Can Cave Life Tell Us About Alien Ecosystems?
Extremophiles, or microbes that live in the most seemingly hostile environments, are the darlings of...
a month ago
Extremophiles, or microbes that live in the most seemingly hostile environments, are the darlings of astrobiologists, who study the potential for life beyond Earth. In this episode, co-host Janna Levin speaks with astrobiologist and cave explorer Penelope Boston about how life...
NeuroLogica Blog
What Happened to the Atmosphere on Mars
Of every world known to humans outside the Earth, Mars is likely the most habitable. We have not...
a month ago
Of every world known to humans outside the Earth, Mars is likely the most habitable. We have not found any genuinely Earth-like exoplanets. They are almost sure to exist, but we just haven’t found any yet. The closest so far is Kepler 452-b, which is a super Earth, specifically...
wadertales
How successful are headstarted waders
We know that headstarting (hatching eggs in captivity and rearing chicks through to fledging) can...
a month ago
We know that headstarting (hatching eggs in captivity and rearing chicks through to fledging) can boost the number of young waders in a population. However, the sustainability of this intervention is dependent upon several factors that apply after the point of release. A paper in...
Quanta Magazine
Physicists Reveal a Quantum Geometry That Exists Outside of Space and Time
A decade after the discovery of the “amplituhedron,” physicists have excavated more of the timeless...
a month ago
A decade after the discovery of the “amplituhedron,” physicists have excavated more of the timeless geometry underlying the standard picture of how particles move.
The post Physicists Reveal a Quantum Geometry That Exists Outside of Space and Time first appeared on...
NeuroLogica Blog
Decarbonizing Aviation and Agriculture
When we talk about reducing carbon release in order to slow down and hopefully stop anthropogenic...
a month ago
When we talk about reducing carbon release in order to slow down and hopefully stop anthropogenic global warming much of the focus is on the energy and transportation sectors. There is a good reason for this – the energy sector is responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas (GHG)...
IEEE Spectrum
What It Takes To Let People Play With the Past
Media Archaeology Lab is one of the largest public collections in the world of obsolete, yet...
a month ago
Media Archaeology Lab is one of the largest public collections in the world of obsolete, yet functional, technology. Located on the University of Colorado Boulder campus, the MAL is where you can watch a magic lantern show, play Star Castle on a Vectrex games console, or check...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Thinking beyond value-based care | Out-Of-Pocket
Maybe there’s more to life than shared savings
a month ago
Maybe there’s more to life than shared savings
nanoscale views
Lots to read, including fab for quantum and "Immaterial Science"
Sometimes there are upticks in the rate of fun reading material. In the last few days:
A...
a month ago
Sometimes there are upticks in the rate of fun reading material. In the last few days:
A Nature paper has been published by a group of authors predominantly from IMEC in Belgium, in which they demonstrate CMOS-compatible manufacturing of superconducting qubit hardware...
Explorations of an...
Monsoon Season In Arizona, Part 1: Introduction, Phoenix to Miller Canyon
Earlier this summer, Laura and I were trying to determine where we would visit for a couple of mini...
a month ago
Earlier this summer, Laura and I were trying to determine where we would visit for a couple of mini vacations. Due to the variations in her work schedule, Laura had two blocks of time - a five-day chunk in early August, and six days in early September - and we wanted to make the...
Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians Discover New Shapes to Solve Decades-Old Geometry Problem
Mathematicians have long wondered how “shapes of constant width” behave in higher dimensions. A...
2 months ago
Mathematicians have long wondered how “shapes of constant width” behave in higher dimensions. A surprisingly simple construction has given them an answer.
The post Mathematicians Discover New Shapes to Solve Decades-Old Geometry Problem first appeared on Quanta...
NeuroLogica Blog
Subjective Neurological Experience
On the SGU we recently talked about aphantasia, the condition in which some people have a decreased...
2 months ago
On the SGU we recently talked about aphantasia, the condition in which some people have a decreased or entirely absent ability to imagine things. The term was coined recently, in 2015, by neurologist Adam Zeman, who described the condition of “congenital aphantasia,” that he...
The Works in...
The duplication crisis: the other replication crisis
How bad publishing incentives hinder long-term thinking in computational biology research
2 months ago
How bad publishing incentives hinder long-term thinking in computational biology research
Quantum Frontiers
Announcing the quantum-steampunk creative-writing course!
Why not run a quantum-steampunk creative-writing course? Quantum steampunk, as Quantum Frontiers...
2 months ago
Why not run a quantum-steampunk creative-writing course? Quantum steampunk, as Quantum Frontiers regulars know, is the aesthetic and spirit of a growing scientific field. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction. In it, futuristic technologies invade Victorian-era settings:...
Quanta Magazine
How ‘Embeddings’ Encode What Words Mean — Sort Of
Machines work with words by embedding their relationships with other words in a string of numbers. ...
2 months ago
Machines work with words by embedding their relationships with other words in a string of numbers.
The post How ‘Embeddings’ Encode What Words Mean — Sort Of first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Blog - Practical...
When Infrastructure Gets Hacked
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is a water tower, or as...
2 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is a water tower, or as the pros would say, an elevated storage tank. Pretty common here in the US, especially in flatter areas where there’s no nearby hillside to build a ground-level tank. I have a whole...
Beautiful Public...
Visualizing Ship Movements with AIS Data
Explore the beautiful, intricate paths of ships over a year—tracked from America's busiest ports to...
2 months ago
Explore the beautiful, intricate paths of ships over a year—tracked from America's busiest ports to the open ocean via AIS marine tracking data.
NeuroLogica Blog
The Potential of AI + CRISPR
In my book, which I will now shamelessly promote – The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future – my coauthors...
2 months ago
In my book, which I will now shamelessly promote – The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future – my coauthors and I discuss the incredible potential of information-based technologies. As we increasingly transition to digital technology, we can leverage the increasing power of computer...
Quanta Magazine
Cells Across the Tree of Life Exchange ‘Text Messages’ Using RNA
Cells across the tree of life can swap short-lived messages encoded by RNA — missives that resemble...
2 months ago
Cells across the tree of life can swap short-lived messages encoded by RNA — missives that resemble a quick text rather than a formal memo on letterhead.
The post Cells Across the Tree of Life Exchange ‘Text Messages’ Using RNA first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Probably...
Ears Are Weird
In a previous article, I looked at 93 measurements from the ANSUR-II dataset and found that ear...
2 months ago
In a previous article, I looked at 93 measurements from the ANSUR-II dataset and found that ear protrusion is not correlated with any other measurement. In a followup article, I used principle component analysis to explore the correlation structure of the measurements, and found...
IEEE Spectrum
In 1926, TV Was Mechanical
John Logie Baird had a lot of ingenious ideas, not all of which caught on. His phonovision was an...
2 months ago
John Logie Baird had a lot of ingenious ideas, not all of which caught on. His phonovision was an early attempt at video recording, with the signals preserved on phonograph records. His noctovision used infrared light to see objects in the dark, which some experts claim was a...
nanoscale views
Fiber optics + a different approach to fab
Two very brief items of interest:
This article is a nice popular discussion of the history of...
2 months ago
Two very brief items of interest:
This article is a nice popular discussion of the history of fiber optics and the remarkable progress it's made for telecommunications. If you're interested in a more expansive but very accessible take on this, I highly recommend City of...
NeuroLogica Blog
Flooding is Increasing
Last month my flight home from Chicago was canceled because of an intense rainstorm. In CT the storm...
2 months ago
Last month my flight home from Chicago was canceled because of an intense rainstorm. In CT the storm was intense enough to cause flash flooding, which washed out roads and bridges and shut down traffic in many areas. The epicenter of the rainfall was in Oxford, CT (where my...
IEEE Spectrum
From Punch Cards to Python
In today’s digital world, it’s easy for just about anyone to create a mobile app or write software,...
2 months ago
In today’s digital world, it’s easy for just about anyone to create a mobile app or write software, thanks to Java, JavaScript, Python, and other programming languages.
But that wasn’t always the case. Because the primary language of computers is binary code, early programmers...
Quanta Magazine
The Search for What Shook the Earth for Nine Days Straight
Last year, an immense but brief outburst of seismic energy was soon followed by a long hum that made...
2 months ago
Last year, an immense but brief outburst of seismic energy was soon followed by a long hum that made the world ring. Finding its cause took 68 scientists and an assist by the Danish military.
The post The Search for What Shook the Earth for Nine Days Straight first...
wadertales
Juvenile settlement in Black-tailed Godwits
Adult waders tend to be exceptionally consistent in their use of time and space, with marked...
2 months ago
Adult waders tend to be exceptionally consistent in their use of time and space, with marked individuals turning up on the same estuaries at the same time year after year, as discussed in the Whimbrel blog ‘Whimbrel: time to leave’. How do these patterns become established? Do...
Quanta Magazine
Can Thermodynamics Go Quantum?
The Industrial Revolution brought us the laws of thermodynamics, and new ideas about work, energy...
2 months ago
The Industrial Revolution brought us the laws of thermodynamics, and new ideas about work, energy and efficiency. In this episode, co-host Steven Strogatz speaks with theoretical physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern about what these concepts might mean in the age of quantum mechanics....
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Two new courses! And ~*fun*~ Out-Of-Pocket updates | Out-Of-Pocket
2 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Carbon Fiber Structural Battery
I have written previously about the concept of structural batteries, such as this recent post on a...
2 months ago
I have written previously about the concept of structural batteries, such as this recent post on a concrete battery. The basic idea is a battery made out of material that is strong enough that it can bare a load. Essentially we’re asking the material to do two things at once – be...
Quanta Magazine
Novel Architecture Makes Neural Networks More Understandable
By tapping into a decades-old mathematical principle, researchers are hoping that Kolmogorov-Arnold...
2 months ago
By tapping into a decades-old mathematical principle, researchers are hoping that Kolmogorov-Arnold networks will facilitate scientific discovery.
The post Novel Architecture Makes Neural Networks More Understandable first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Artificial Robotic Muscles
By now we have all seen the impressive robot videos, such as the ones from Boston Dynamics, in which...
2 months ago
By now we have all seen the impressive robot videos, such as the ones from Boston Dynamics, in which robots show incredible flexibility and agility. These are amazing, but I understand they are a bit like trick-shot videos – we are being shown the ones that worked, which may not...
Quanta Magazine
The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea
Cell membranes from comb jellies reveal a new kind of adaptation to the deep sea: curvy lipids that...
2 months ago
Cell membranes from comb jellies reveal a new kind of adaptation to the deep sea: curvy lipids that conform to an ideal shape under pressure.
The post The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Curious Case of Professional Employer Organizations | Out-Of-Pocket
A tale about complexity, risk skimming, and what counts as an “employee” or “company”
2 months ago
A tale about complexity, risk skimming, and what counts as an “employee” or “company”
nanoscale views
Seeing through tissue and Kramers-Kronig
There is a paper in Science this week that is just a great piece of work. The authors find that by...
2 months ago
There is a paper in Science this week that is just a great piece of work. The authors find that by dyeing living tissue with a particular biocompatible dye molecule, they can make that tissue effectively transparent, so you can see through it. The paper includes images (and...
Quanta Magazine
‘Groups’ Underpin Modern Math. Here’s How They Work.
What do the integers have in common with the symmetries of a triangle? In the 19th century,...
2 months ago
What do the integers have in common with the symmetries of a triangle? In the 19th century, mathematicians invented groups as an answer to this question.
The post ‘Groups’ Underpin Modern Math. Here’s How They Work. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Probably...
Rip-off ETF?
An article in a recent issue of The Economist suggests, right in the title, “Investors should avoid...
2 months ago
An article in a recent issue of The Economist suggests, right in the title, “Investors should avoid a new generation of rip-off ETFs”. An ETF is an exchange-traded fund, which holds a collection of assets and trades on an exchange like a single stock. For example, the SPDR S&P...
Quanta Magazine
The First Nuclear Clock Will Test if Fundamental Constants Change
An ultra-precise measurement of a transition in the hearts of thorium atoms gives physicists a tool...
2 months ago
An ultra-precise measurement of a transition in the hearts of thorium atoms gives physicists a tool to probe the forces that bind the universe.
The post The First Nuclear Clock Will Test if Fundamental Constants Change first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wanderingspace
Mars Express is Still Making Great Images 20 Years Later
Mars Express was launched by the European Space Agency in 2003, and is ESA’s first Mars mission. In...
2 months ago
Mars Express was launched by the European Space Agency in 2003, and is ESA’s first Mars mission. In one shot, you can see Mars as a half-lit disk, with Phobos, its tiny moon, hovering above. Right below Phobos is Olympus Mons, the solar system's largest volcano, towering 22 km...
Blog - Practical...
The Hidden Engineering of Landfills
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Puente Hills...
2 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Puente Hills Landfill outside of Los Angeles, California. The first truckload of trash was dumped here in 1957, and the trucks just kept coming. For more than five decades, if you threw something...
The Works in...
Issue 16: I dream of genes
Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and...
2 months ago
Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and how America's favourite type of coffee got really, really good.
Quanta Magazine
How the Higgs Field (Actually) Gives Mass to Elementary Particles
In this article adapted from his new book, "Waves in an Impossible Sea," physicist Matt Strassler...
2 months ago
In this article adapted from his new book, "Waves in an Impossible Sea," physicist Matt Strassler explains that the origin of mass in the universe has a lot to do with music.
The post How the Higgs Field (Actually) Gives Mass to Elementary Particles first appeared on...
NeuroLogica Blog
Marmosets Call Each Other By Name
Humans identify and call each other by specific names. So far this advanced cognitive behavior has...
2 months ago
Humans identify and call each other by specific names. So far this advanced cognitive behavior has only been identified in a few other species, dolphins, elephants, and some parrots. Interestingly, it has never been documented in our closest relatives, non-human primates – that...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Engineering Behind Healthcare LLMs with Abridge | Out-Of-Pocket
What kinds of challenges come up with creating a speech-to-text gen AI product?
2 months ago
What kinds of challenges come up with creating a speech-to-text gen AI product?
IEEE Spectrum
How the Designer of the First Hydrogen Bomb Got the Gig
Richard Garwin is one of the most decorated and successful engineers of the 20th century. The IEEE...
2 months ago
Richard Garwin is one of the most decorated and successful engineers of the 20th century. The IEEE Life Fellow has won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, France’s La Grande Médaille de l’Académie des Sciences, and is one of just a handful of people...
nanoscale views
Items of interest
The start of the semester has been very busy, but here are some items that seem interesting:
As...
2 months ago
The start of the semester has been very busy, but here are some items that seem interesting:
As many know, there has been a lot of controversy in recent years about high pressure measurements of superconductivity. Here is a first-hand take by one of the people who helped bring...
NeuroLogica Blog
Accusation of Mental Illness as a Political Strategy
I am not the first to say this but it bears repeating – it is wrong to use the accusation of a...
2 months ago
I am not the first to say this but it bears repeating – it is wrong to use the accusation of a mental illness as a political strategy. It is unfair, stigmatizing, and dismissive. Thomas Szasz (let me say straight up – I am not a Szaszian) was a psychiatrist who made it his...
Quanta Magazine
Perplexing the Web, One Probability Puzzle at a Time
The mathematician Daniel Litt has driven social media users to distraction with a series of...
2 months ago
The mathematician Daniel Litt has driven social media users to distraction with a series of simple-seeming but counterintuitive probability puzzles.
The post Perplexing the Web, One Probability Puzzle at a Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Dog Soundboards
I am a lifelong dog owner, and like many dog owners am often impressed with how smart my dogs have...
2 months ago
I am a lifelong dog owner, and like many dog owners am often impressed with how smart my dogs have been. They pick up on subtle body language and non-verbal cues, they seem to understand specific words, and they are capable of successfully communicating their wants and desires....
Quanta Magazine
Computer Scientists Prove That Heat Destroys Quantum Entanglement
While devising a new quantum algorithm, four researchers accidentally established a hard limit on...
2 months ago
While devising a new quantum algorithm, four researchers accidentally established a hard limit on entanglement.
The post Computer Scientists Prove That Heat Destroys Quantum Entanglement first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
More thoughts consumerization in healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket
tales from other countries, industries, and more
2 months ago
tales from other countries, industries, and more
NeuroLogica Blog
Roleplaying Games May Help Autistic People
Gotta love the title of this paper: “A critical hit: Dungeons and Dragons as a buff for autistic...
2 months ago
Gotta love the title of this paper: “A critical hit: Dungeons and Dragons as a buff for autistic people“. Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a tabletop roleplaying game where a small group of people each play characters adventuring in an imaginary world run by the dungeon master (DM)....
Quanta Magazine
How Our Longest Nerve Orchestrates the Mind-Body Connection
Like a highway system, the vagus nerve branches profusely from your brain through your organs to...
2 months ago
Like a highway system, the vagus nerve branches profusely from your brain through your organs to marshal bodily functions, including aspects of mind such as mood, pleasure and fear.
The post How Our Longest Nerve Orchestrates the Mind-Body Connection first appeared on...
NeuroLogica Blog
Superconducting Kagome Metals
Superconductivity is an extremely interesting, and potentially extremely useful, physical...
2 months ago
Superconductivity is an extremely interesting, and potentially extremely useful, physical phenomenon. It refers to a state in which current flows through a material without resistance, and therefore without any loss of energy or waste heat. As our civilization is increasingly run...
Quanta Magazine
How Colorful Ribbon Diagrams Became the Face of Proteins
Proteins are often visualized as cascades of curled ribbons and twisted strings, which both reveal...
2 months ago
Proteins are often visualized as cascades of curled ribbons and twisted strings, which both reveal and conceal the mess of atoms that make up these impossibly complex molecules.
The post How Colorful Ribbon Diagrams Became the Face of Proteins first appeared on Quanta...
Probably...
Probably the Book
Last week I had the pleasure of presenting a keynote at posit::conf(2024). When the video is...
2 months ago
Last week I had the pleasure of presenting a keynote at posit::conf(2024). When the video is available, I will post it here. In the meantime, you can read the slides, if you don’t mind spoilers. For people at the conference who don’t know me, this might be a good time to...
NeuroLogica Blog
Collapsars and Gravitational Waves
The state of modern science and technology is truly amazing, much more so than the fake stuff that...
2 months ago
The state of modern science and technology is truly amazing, much more so than the fake stuff that people like to spread around. Gravitational waves have opened up an entirely new type of astronomy, a way to explore the universe through very subtle ripples in spacetime produce by...
Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians Prove Hawking Wrong About the Most Extreme Black Holes
For decades, extremal black holes were considered mathematically impossible. A new proof reveals...
3 months ago
For decades, extremal black holes were considered mathematically impossible. A new proof reveals otherwise.
The post Mathematicians Prove Hawking Wrong About the Most Extreme Black Holes first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Blog - Practical...
Why Are Texas Interchanges Texas So Tall?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Dallas High Five,...
3 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Dallas High Five, one of the tallest highway interchanges in the world. It gets its name from the fact that there are five different levels of roadways crossing each other in this one spot. In some...
NeuroLogica Blog
Luminescent Solar Concentrators for Solar Power
Solar power is on the upswing. In 2023, 407–446 GW of solar power was installed globally, bringing...
3 months ago
Solar power is on the upswing. In 2023, 407–446 GW of solar power was installed globally, bringing the total to 1.6 TWdc. To put this into perspective, this was 55% of new power capacity added to energy production. For the first time, a renewable energy source contributed the...
Quanta Magazine
Diminishing Dark Energy May Evade the ‘Swampland’ of Impossible Universes
The largest-ever 3D map of the cosmos hints that the dark energy that’s fueling the universe’s...
3 months ago
The largest-ever 3D map of the cosmos hints that the dark energy that’s fueling the universe’s expansion may be weakening. One community of theoretical physicists expected as much.
The post Diminishing Dark Energy May Evade the ‘Swampland’ of Impossible Universes...
Chris Grossack's...
Finiteness in Sheaf Topoi
The notion of “finiteness” is constructively subtle in ways that can be
tricky for people new to...
3 months ago
The notion of “finiteness” is constructively subtle in ways that can be
tricky for people new to the subject to understand. For a while now I’ve
wanted to figure out what’s going on with the different versions of “finite”
in a way that felt concrete and obvious (I mentioned...
Probably...
Too many bronze medals?
In a recent video, Hank Green nerd-sniped me by asking a question I couldn’t not answer. At one...
3 months ago
In a recent video, Hank Green nerd-sniped me by asking a question I couldn’t not answer. At one point in the video, he shows “a graph of the last 20 years of Olympic games showing the gold, silver, and bronze medals from continental Europe. And it “shows continental Europe having...
nanoscale views
Experimental techniques: bridge measurements
When we teach undergraduates about materials and measuring electrical resistance, we tend to gloss...
3 months ago
When we teach undergraduates about materials and measuring electrical resistance, we tend to gloss over the fact that there are specialized techniques for this - it's more than just hooking up a battery and an ammeter. If you want to get high precision results, such as measuring...
Quanta Magazine
The Viral Paleontologist Who Unearths Pathogens’ Deep Histories
Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer searches museum jars for genetic traces of flu, measles and other...
3 months ago
Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer searches museum jars for genetic traces of flu, measles and other viruses. Their evolutionary stories can help treat modern outbreaks and prepare for future ones.
The post The Viral Paleontologist Who Unearths Pathogens’ Deep Histories...
Drew Ex Machina
First Pictures: View of the Earth from NASA’s Explorer 6 – August 14, 1959
Today we take for granted that we can instantly access images of almost any part of the Earth taken...
3 months ago
Today we take for granted that we can instantly access images of almost any part of the Earth taken from space using an ever growing collection […]
NeuroLogica Blog
Framing and Global Warming
When we talk publicly about the effects of human activity on the climate should we refer to “global...
3 months ago
When we talk publicly about the effects of human activity on the climate should we refer to “global warming”, “climate change”, the “climate crisis” or to “climate justice”? Perhaps we should also be more technical and say specifically, “anthropogenic climate change”. This kind...
Quanta Magazine
The Webb Telescope Further Deepens the Biggest Controversy in Cosmology
A long-awaited study of the cosmic expansion rate suggests that when it comes to the Hubble tension,...
3 months ago
A long-awaited study of the cosmic expansion rate suggests that when it comes to the Hubble tension, cosmologists are still missing something.
The post The Webb Telescope Further Deepens the Biggest Controversy in Cosmology first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Living a Hybrid Life
The cultural effects of the COVID pandemic can still be felt reverberating through society. One of...
3 months ago
The cultural effects of the COVID pandemic can still be felt reverberating through society. One of the positive effects, in my opinion, was the sudden boost to remote technology – connecting remotely for meetings and other uses through Zoom or a similar application. This...
Quantum Frontiers
Always appropriate
I met boatloads of physicists as a master’s student at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical...
3 months ago
I met boatloads of physicists as a master’s student at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada. Researchers pass through Perimeter like diplomats through my current neighborhood—the Washington, DC area—except that Perimeter’s visitors speak math...
Quanta Magazine
How Base 3 Computing Beats Binary
Long explored but infrequently embraced, base 3 computing may yet find a home in cybersecurity. ...
3 months ago
Long explored but infrequently embraced, base 3 computing may yet find a home in cybersecurity.
The post How Base 3 Computing Beats Binary first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
New York’s long road to congestion pricing
The decades of work that went into getting the policy very, very close to the finish line
3 months ago
The decades of work that went into getting the policy very, very close to the finish line
NeuroLogica Blog
The Gender Boxing Hubub
Both Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan and Imane Khelif of Algeria earned medals in female boxing competition at...
3 months ago
Both Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan and Imane Khelif of Algeria earned medals in female boxing competition at the 2024 Olympics. This has caused a controversy because both boxers, according to reports, have some form of DSD – difference of sex development. This means they have been caught...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Can patients be good healthcare shoppers? | Out-Of-Pocket
Should their be limits to patient agency?
3 months ago
Should their be limits to patient agency?
NeuroLogica Blog
AI and User Manuals
About half of Americans, when asked, report that they don’t read the user manual for new technical...
3 months ago
About half of Americans, when asked, report that they don’t read the user manual for new technical devices they acquire. Although I suspect that many people are like me – I read them sometimes, and then only partly. If there is a “quick user guide” I will often look at that....
Quanta Magazine
Physicists Pinpoint the Quantum Origin of the Greenhouse Effect
Carbon dioxide’s powerful heat-trapping effect has been traced to a quirk of its quantum structure....
3 months ago
Carbon dioxide’s powerful heat-trapping effect has been traced to a quirk of its quantum structure. The finding may explain climate change better than any computer model.
The post Physicists Pinpoint the Quantum Origin of the Greenhouse Effect first appeared on Quanta...
Blog - Practical...
How French Drains Work
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In February of 2017, one of...
3 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In February of 2017, one of the largest spillways in the world, the one at Oroville Dam in northern California, was severely damaged during releases from heavy rain. You might remember this. I made a video...
Quantum Frontiers
Building a Visceral Understanding of Quantum Phenomena
A great childhood memory that I have comes from first playing “The Incredible Machine” on PC in the...
3 months ago
A great childhood memory that I have comes from first playing “The Incredible Machine” on PC in the early 90’s. For those not in the know, this is a physics-based puzzle game about building Rube Goldberg style contraptions to achieve … Continue reading →
The Works in...
Communities of Practice: The Soul of Maintaining a New Machine
The first section of Ch. 3 of Stewart Brand’s Maintenance on Books in Progress
3 months ago
The first section of Ch. 3 of Stewart Brand’s Maintenance on Books in Progress
Sean Carroll
George B. Field, 1929-2024
George Field, brilliant theoretical astrophysicist and truly great human being, passed away on the...
3 months ago
George Field, brilliant theoretical astrophysicist and truly great human being, passed away on the morning of July 31. He was my Ph.D. thesis advisor and one of my favorite people in the world. I often tell my own students that the two most important people in your life who you...
Quanta Magazine
Grad Students Find Inevitable Patterns in Big Sets of Numbers
A new proof marks the first progress in decades on a problem about how order emerges from disorder. ...
3 months ago
A new proof marks the first progress in decades on a problem about how order emerges from disorder.
The post Grad Students Find Inevitable Patterns in Big Sets of Numbers first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
CHIP and Science, NSF support, and hypocrisy
Note: this post is a semi-rant about US funding for science education; if this isn't your cup of...
3 months ago
Note: this post is a semi-rant about US funding for science education; if this isn't your cup of tea, read no further.
Two years ago, the CHIPS and Science Act (link goes to the full text of the bill, via the excellent congress.gov service of the Library of Congress) was signed...
Quanta Magazine
What Is Analog Computing?
You don’t need 0s and 1s to perform computations, and in some cases it’s better to avoid them. ...
3 months ago
You don’t need 0s and 1s to perform computations, and in some cases it’s better to avoid them.
The post What Is Analog Computing? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
The Saga of AD-X2, the Battery Additive That Roiled the NBS
Senate hearings, a post office ban, the resignation of the director of the National Bureau of...
3 months ago
Senate hearings, a post office ban, the resignation of the director of the National Bureau of Standards, and his reinstatement after more than 400 scientists threatened to resign. Who knew a little box of salt could stir up such drama?
What was AD-X2?
It all started in 1947 when...
Quanta Magazine
How Does Math Keep Secrets?
Cryptography is the thread that connects Julius Caesar, World War II and quantum computing, and it...
3 months ago
Cryptography is the thread that connects Julius Caesar, World War II and quantum computing, and it now lies under nearly every part of modern life. In this week’s episode, computer scientist Boaz Barak and co-host Janna Levin discuss the past and future of secrecy. ...
The Works in...
Escape to the country
What makes a successful New Town?
3 months ago
What makes a successful New Town?
NeuroLogica Blog
Was Jesus a Con Artist?
Let me start out by saying that I think the answer to that question is no – but this requires lots...
3 months ago
Let me start out by saying that I think the answer to that question is no – but this requires lots of clarification. This was, however, the discussion here, while although poorly informed, does raise some interesting questions. This is a Tik Tok video of a popular podcast which...
Eukaryote Writes...
Recommendation: reports on the search for missing hiker Bill Ewasko
How to find someone who has died in the wilderness.
3 months ago
How to find someone who has died in the wilderness.
Drew Ex Machina
An ISS Success Story: CyMISS (Tropical Cyclone Intensity Measurements from the ISS) to the Hurricane...
The team at Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA), where this author is the Chief Scientist, had the...
3 months ago
The team at Tropical Weather Analytics (TWA), where this author is the Chief Scientist, had the honor of having our poster about our previous work on […]
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Some cool AI healthcare projects | Out-Of-Pocket
What was built at the OOP hackathon?
3 months ago
What was built at the OOP hackathon?
Quanta Magazine
‘Metaphysical Experiments’ Probe Our Hidden Assumptions About Reality
Experiments that test physics and philosophy "as a single whole" may be our only route to surefire...
3 months ago
Experiments that test physics and philosophy "as a single whole" may be our only route to surefire knowledge about the universe.
The post ‘Metaphysical Experiments’ Probe Our Hidden Assumptions About Reality first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
GMOs – Ask a Farmer
The topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a great target for science communication...
3 months ago
The topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a great target for science communication because public attitudes have largely been shaped by deliberate misinformation, and the research suggests that those attitudes can change in response to more accurate information. It is...
nanoscale views
Items of interest
A couple of interesting papers that I came across this week:
There is long been an interest in...
3 months ago
A couple of interesting papers that I came across this week:
There is long been an interest in purely electronic cooling techniques (no moving parts!) that would work at cryogenic temperatures. You're familiar with ordinary evaporative cooling - that's what helps cool down...
Drew Ex Machina
Epsilon Indi’s Super Jovian Exoplanet – Background & New Observations by JWST
On July 24, 2024, an international team of scientists, headed by Dr. Elisabeth Matthews of the Max...
3 months ago
On July 24, 2024, an international team of scientists, headed by Dr. Elisabeth Matthews of the Max Plank Institute for Astronomy, announced that they had used […]
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Good Meteor Shower Coming August 11-12
The Perseid Meteor Shower is one of the best of the year for the untrained observer
The post Good...
3 months ago
The Perseid Meteor Shower is one of the best of the year for the untrained observer
The post Good Meteor Shower Coming August 11-12 appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
Quanta Magazine
With ‘Digital Twins,’ The Doctor Will See You Now
By creating digital twins of patients, Amanda Randles wants to bring unprecedented precision to...
3 months ago
By creating digital twins of patients, Amanda Randles wants to bring unprecedented precision to medical forecasts.
The post With ‘Digital Twins,’ The Doctor Will See You Now first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Probably...
Where’s My Train?
Yesterday I presented a webinar for PyMC Labs where I solved one of the exercises from Think Bayes,...
3 months ago
Yesterday I presented a webinar for PyMC Labs where I solved one of the exercises from Think Bayes, called “The Red Line Problem”. Here’s the scenario: The Red Line is a subway that connects Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts. When I was working in Cambridge I took the Red Line...
NeuroLogica Blog
Latest Gallup Creationism Poll
Surveys are always tricky because how you ask a question can have a dramatic impact on how people...
3 months ago
Surveys are always tricky because how you ask a question can have a dramatic impact on how people answer. But it is useful to ask the exact same question over a long period of time, because that can indicate how public attitudes are changing. This is one of the benefits of...
IEEE Spectrum
The Rise of Groupware
A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the...
3 months ago
A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, Ernie Smith’s newsletter, which hunts for the end of the long tail.
These days, computer users take collaboration software for granted. Google Docs, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Salesforce, and so on, are such a big part of many...
Quanta Magazine
The Physics of Cold Water May Have Jump-Started Complex Life
When seawater gets cold, it gets viscous. This fact could explain how single-celled ocean creatures...
3 months ago
When seawater gets cold, it gets viscous. This fact could explain how single-celled ocean creatures became multicellular when the planet was frozen during “Snowball Earth,” according to experiments.
The post The Physics of Cold Water May Have Jump-Started Complex Life...
NeuroLogica Blog
AI Companions – Good or Bad?
Often times the answer to a binary question is “yes”. Is artificial intelligence (AI) a powerful and...
4 months ago
Often times the answer to a binary question is “yes”. Is artificial intelligence (AI) a powerful and quickly advancing tool or is it overhyped? Yes. Are opiates useful medicines or dangerous drugs? Yes. Is Elon Musk a technological visionary or an eccentric opportunist? This is...
brr
Brr Wants A Job
8 months post-ice, it's time for something new!
4 months ago
8 months post-ice, it's time for something new!
Quanta Magazine
Vacuum of Space to Decay Sooner Than Expected (but Still Not Soon)
One of the quantum fields that fills the universe is special because its default value seems poised...
4 months ago
One of the quantum fields that fills the universe is special because its default value seems poised to eventually change, changing everything.
The post Vacuum of Space to Decay Sooner Than Expected (but Still Not Soon) first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
How to write for Works in Progress
We're looking for new authors and article pitches.
4 months ago
We're looking for new authors and article pitches.
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 10: The Owlet Lodge (February 11 and 12, 2024)
February 11, 2024
Laura and I were looking forward to our one-night visit to the Owlet Lodge. Up to...
4 months ago
February 11, 2024
Laura and I were looking forward to our one-night visit to the Owlet Lodge. Up to this point we had only stayed at cheap hotels, while we had also eaten simply, with at least two meals each day consisting of sandwiches/snacks that we prepared. For once, someone...
nanoscale views
The physics of squeaky shoes
In these unsettling and trying times, I wanted to write about the physics of a challenge I'm facing...
4 months ago
In these unsettling and trying times, I wanted to write about the physics of a challenge I'm facing in my professional life: super squeaky shoes. When I wear a particularly comfortable pair of shoes at work, when I walk in some hallways in my building (but not all), my shoes...
Drew Ex Machina
Recollections of NASA’s Apollo 11 Mission
Like a lot of kids who grew up during the ‘60s and ‘70s, I had a fascination with spaceflight. This...
4 months ago
Like a lot of kids who grew up during the ‘60s and ‘70s, I had a fascination with spaceflight. This interest started honestly enough back around […]
Quanta Magazine
Monumental Proof Settles Geometric Langlands Conjecture
In work that has been 30 years in the making, mathematicians have proved a major part of a profound...
4 months ago
In work that has been 30 years in the making, mathematicians have proved a major part of a profound mathematical vision called the Langlands program.
The post Monumental Proof Settles Geometric Langlands Conjecture first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Deepfake Doctor Endorsements
This kind of abuse of deepfake endorsements was entirely predictable, so it’s not surprising that a...
4 months ago
This kind of abuse of deepfake endorsements was entirely predictable, so it’s not surprising that a recent BMJ study documents the scale of this fraud. The study focused on the UK, detailing instances of deepfakes of celebrity doctors endorsing dubious products. For example,...
Quanta Magazine
Will AI Ever Have Common Sense?
Common sense has been viewed as one of the hardest challenges in AI. That said, ChatGPT4 has...
4 months ago
Common sense has been viewed as one of the hardest challenges in AI. That said, ChatGPT4 has acquired what some believe is an impressive sense of humanity. How is this possible? Listen to this week’s “The Joy of Why” with co-host Steven Strogatz.
The post Will AI Ever...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How Data Transformed Small Group Underwriting | Out-Of-Pocket
Paper forms be gone, now we anonymize and risk it all (literally).
4 months ago
Paper forms be gone, now we anonymize and risk it all (literally).
Quanta Magazine
Tight-Knit Microbes Live Together to Make a Vital Nutrient
At sea, biologists discovered microbial partners that together produce nitrogen, a nutrient...
4 months ago
At sea, biologists discovered microbial partners that together produce nitrogen, a nutrient essential for life. The pair are in the process of merging into a single organism.
The post Tight-Knit Microbes Live Together to Make a Vital Nutrient first appeared on Quanta...
Probably...
Elements of Data Science
I’m excited to announce the launch of my newest book, Elements of Data Science. As the subtitle...
4 months ago
I’m excited to announce the launch of my newest book, Elements of Data Science. As the subtitle suggests, it is about “Getting started with Data Science and Python”. Order now from Lulu.com and get 20% off! I am publishing this book myself, which has one big advantage: I can...
The Works in...
Gentrification as a housing problem
The root cause of displacement is inflexible supply
4 months ago
The root cause of displacement is inflexible supply
Blog - Practical...
When Natural Gas Had No Smell
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Excitement and hope permeated...
4 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Excitement and hope permeated the crowds gathered in a dusty farm carved from the piney woods in east Texas. The rumor was that Columbus Joiner had struck oil. At 70 years old, Joiner had already won and lost...
NeuroLogica Blog
Evidence Suggests Lunar Cave
Astronomers have discovered multiple “pits” on the surface of the moon – these look superficially...
4 months ago
Astronomers have discovered multiple “pits” on the surface of the moon – these look superficially like craters, but on closer inspection are actually vertical pits. There has been considerable speculation that these pits might be cave openings. Now, an analysis of data from the...
Quanta Magazine
‘Sensational’ Proof Delivers New Insights Into Prime Numbers
The proof creates stricter limits on potential exceptions to the famous Riemann hypothesis. ...
4 months ago
The proof creates stricter limits on potential exceptions to the famous Riemann hypothesis.
The post ‘Sensational’ Proof Delivers New Insights Into Prime Numbers first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
World Events and the Conspiracy Instinct
By now most people have heard that on Saturday there was a failed assassination attempt on candidate...
4 months ago
By now most people have heard that on Saturday there was a failed assassination attempt on candidate Trump at a rally. While it has only been a few days, preliminary investigation has found that 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, using a AR style rifle purchased legally by his...
nanoscale views
Brief items - light-driven diamagnetism, nuclear recoil, spin transport in VO2
Real life continues to make itself felt in various ways this summer (and that's not even an allusion...
4 months ago
Real life continues to make itself felt in various ways this summer (and that's not even an allusion to political madness), but here are three papers (two from others and a self-indulgent plug for our work) you might find interesting.
There has been a lot of work in recent...
IEEE Spectrum
Inside the Three-Way Race to Create the Most Widely Used Laser
The semiconductor laser, invented more than 60 years ago, is the foundation of many of today’s...
4 months ago
The semiconductor laser, invented more than 60 years ago, is the foundation of many of today’s technologies including barcode scanners, fiber-optic communications, medical imaging, and remote controls. The tiny, versatile device is now an IEEE Milestone.
The possibilities of...
Probably...
Density and Likelihood
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
4 months ago
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous installments are available from the Data Q&A landing page. If you get this post by email, the formatting might be broken — if so, you might want to read it on the site. likelihood Density and...
Quanta Magazine
What Could Explain the Gallium Anomaly?
Physicists have ruled out a mundane explanation for the strange findings of an old Soviet...
4 months ago
Physicists have ruled out a mundane explanation for the strange findings of an old Soviet experiment, leaving open the possibility that the results point to a new fundamental particle.
The post What Could Explain the Gallium Anomaly? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
Heat waves
Why a hotter world might be a more dangerous, violent, and less productive one
4 months ago
Why a hotter world might be a more dangerous, violent, and less productive one
NeuroLogica Blog
The Neolithic Revolution
What was the greatest invention of human civilization? Arguably it was agriculture, which allowed...
4 months ago
What was the greatest invention of human civilization? Arguably it was agriculture, which allowed for civilization itself. Prior to agriculture humans were some combination of hunters, gatherers, scavengers, and fishers. We lived off the land, which was a full-time job. Many...
IEEE Spectrum
Edith Clarke: Architect of Modern Power Distribution
Edith Clarke was a powerhouse in practically every sense of the word. From the start of her career...
4 months ago
Edith Clarke was a powerhouse in practically every sense of the word. From the start of her career at General Electric in 1922, she was determined to develop stable, more reliable power grids.
During her first years at GE she invented what came to be known as the Clarke...
Quanta Magazine
How America’s Fastest Swimmers Use Math to Win Gold
Number theorist Ken Ono is teaching Olympians to swim more efficiently.
The post How...
4 months ago
Number theorist Ken Ono is teaching Olympians to swim more efficiently.
The post How America’s Fastest Swimmers Use Math to Win Gold first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Trust in New Technology
In an optimally rational person, what should govern their perception of risk? Of course, people are...
4 months ago
In an optimally rational person, what should govern their perception of risk? Of course, people are generally not “optimally rational”. It’s therefore an interesting thought experiment – what would be optimal, and how does that differ from how people actually assess risk? Risk is...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New Wave of Concierge Medicine | Out-Of-Pocket
This episode of Out-Of-Pocket is brought to you by…
4 months ago
This episode of Out-Of-Pocket is brought to you by…
Quanta Magazine
What Is Machine Learning?
Neural networks and other forms of machine learning ultimately learn by trial and error, one...
4 months ago
Neural networks and other forms of machine learning ultimately learn by trial and error, one improvement at a time.
The post What Is Machine Learning? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Some Thoughts on Aging
If either of the two presumptive nominees for the major political parties in the US are elected in...
4 months ago
If either of the two presumptive nominees for the major political parties in the US are elected in November they will be the oldest person ever to be inaugerated as president. What implications does this have? As a neurologist who sees patients every workday of various ages,...
Quantum Frontiers
My favorite rocket scientist
Whenever someone protests, “I’m not a rocket scientist,” I think of my friend Jamie Rankin. Jamie is...
4 months ago
Whenever someone protests, “I’m not a rocket scientist,” I think of my friend Jamie Rankin. Jamie is a researcher at Princeton University, and she showed me her lab this June. When I first met Jamie, she was testing instruments to … Continue reading →
nanoscale views
What is a Wigner crystal?
Last week I was at the every-2-years Gordon Research Conference on Correlated Electron Systems at...
4 months ago
Last week I was at the every-2-years Gordon Research Conference on Correlated Electron Systems at lovely Mt. Holyoke. It was very fun, but one key aspect of the culture of the GRCs is that attendees are not supposed to post about them on social media, thus encouraging presenters...
Probably...
PMFs and PDFs
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
4 months ago
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous installments are available from the Data Q&A landing page. If you get this post by email, the formatting is not good — you might want to read it on the site. pmf_and_pdf PMFs and PDFs¶ Here’s...
Quanta Magazine
What Can Tiling Patterns Teach Us?
If you cover a surface with tiles, repetitive patterns always emerge — or do they? In this week’s...
4 months ago
If you cover a surface with tiles, repetitive patterns always emerge — or do they? In this week’s episode, mathematician Natalie Priebe Frank and co-host Janna Levin discuss how recent breakthroughs in tiling can unlock structural secrets in the natural world.
The...
Chris Grossack's...
Life in Johnstone's Topological Topos 3 -- Bonus Axioms
In the first post of the series, we talked about what the topological
topos is, and how we can...
4 months ago
In the first post of the series, we talked about what the topological
topos is, and how we can think about its objects (and, importantly,
how we can relate computations in the topos $\mathcal{T}$ to
computations with topological spaces in “the real world”). In part two,
we...
Blog - Practical...
Why Bridges Don't Sink
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
The essence of a bridge is not...
4 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
The essence of a bridge is not just that it goes over something, but that there’s clear space underneath for a river, railway, or road. Maybe this is already obvious to you, but bridges present a unique...
Beautiful Public...
Design for the People: The US Web Design System and the Public Sans Typeface
The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface that belongs to the...
4 months ago
The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface that belongs to the people. This thoughtful public design system aims to make government websites not only look good, but to make them accessible and functional for all.
Quanta Magazine
With Fifth Busy Beaver, Researchers Approach Computation’s Limits
After decades of uncertainty, a motley team of programmers has proved precisely how complicated...
4 months ago
After decades of uncertainty, a motley team of programmers has proved precisely how complicated simple computer programs can get.
The post With Fifth Busy Beaver, Researchers Approach Computation’s Limits first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
DNA Nanorobot Kill Switch for Cancer
How’s that for a provocative title? But it is technically accurate. The title of the paper in...
4 months ago
How’s that for a provocative title? But it is technically accurate. The title of the paper in question is: “A DNA robotic switch with regulated autonomous display of cytotoxic ligand nanopatterns.” The study is a proof of concept in an animal model, so we are still years away...
Quanta Magazine
Tracing the Hidden Hand of Magnetism in the Galaxy
Susan Clark is helping to unravel the mysterious workings of the Milky Way’s magnetic field, a...
4 months ago
Susan Clark is helping to unravel the mysterious workings of the Milky Way’s magnetic field, a critical missing piece of the galactic puzzle.
The post Tracing the Hidden Hand of Magnetism in the Galaxy first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Probably...
Regrets and Regression
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
4 months ago
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous installments are available from the Data Q&A landing page. standardize Standardization and Normalization¶ Here’s a question from the Reddit statistics forum. I want to write a research...
NeuroLogica Blog
BBC Gets Into UFOs
Paranormal phenomena tend to wax and wane in the public interest. Typically a generation will become...
4 months ago
Paranormal phenomena tend to wax and wane in the public interest. Typically a generation will become fascinated with a topic, but eventually the novelty will wear thin and interest will fade. But the flame will be kept alive by the hardcore believers. Wait long enough, and...
IEEE Spectrum
This Wearable Computer Made a Fashion Statement
Google Glass debuted, the artist Lisa Krohn designed a prototype wearable computer that looked like...
4 months ago
Google Glass debuted, the artist Lisa Krohn designed a prototype wearable computer that looked like no other. The Cyberdesk was an experiment in augmented reality. At a time when computers were mostly beige and boxy, Krohn envisioned a pliable, high-tech garment that fused...
Probably...
Have the Nones Leveled Off?
Last month Ryan Burge published “The Nones Have Hit a Ceiling“, using data from the 2023 Cooperative...
4 months ago
Last month Ryan Burge published “The Nones Have Hit a Ceiling“, using data from the 2023 Cooperative Election Study to show that the increase in the number of Americans with no religious affiliation has hit a plateau. Comparing the number of Atheists, Agnostics, and “Nothing in...
Quanta Magazine
Why Is This Shape So Terrible to Pack?
Two mathematicians have proved a long-standing conjecture that is a step on the way toward finding...
4 months ago
Two mathematicians have proved a long-standing conjecture that is a step on the way toward finding the worst shape for packing the plane.
The post Why Is This Shape So Terrible to Pack? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 9: Tinamous In the Amazon To Rare Montane Monkeys (February 11, 2024)
February 11, 2024
Our alarm went off at 4:30 AM and at 5:00 AM we began the long, windy drive in the...
4 months ago
February 11, 2024
Our alarm went off at 4:30 AM and at 5:00 AM we began the long, windy drive in the dark across the Andes. The reason for our early start is that we had a date with tinamous and wood-quails at a small family-run reserve called Arena Blanca. Our contact at the...
NeuroLogica Blog
Cities on Fire
Most major cities in the US experienced a major fire sometime between 1860 and 1920. Actually these...
4 months ago
Most major cities in the US experienced a major fire sometime between 1860 and 1920. Actually these fires, called conflagrations, have been occurring since colonial times and into the middle of the 20th century, but saw a peak in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many cities...
Quanta Magazine
How AI Revolutionized Protein Science, but Didn’t End It
Three years ago, Google’s AlphaFold pulled off the biggest artificial intelligence breakthrough in...
4 months ago
Three years ago, Google’s AlphaFold pulled off the biggest artificial intelligence breakthrough in science to date, accelerating molecular research and kindling deep questions about why we do science.
The post How AI Revolutionized Protein Science, but Didn’t End It...
NeuroLogica Blog
Concrete Battery
I know it’s only been a couple of weeks since I wrote about cement, but now I need to write about...
4 months ago
I know it’s only been a couple of weeks since I wrote about cement, but now I need to write about concrete, or potential version of concrete that is able to function as a battery. If we can get the technology to work this could an extremely useful item for a future of green...
nanoscale views
What is turbulence? (And why are helicopters never quiet?)
Fluid mechanics is very often left out of the undergraduate physics curriculum. This is a shame, as...
5 months ago
Fluid mechanics is very often left out of the undergraduate physics curriculum. This is a shame, as it's very interesting and directly relevant to many broad topics (atmospheric science, climate, plasma physics, parts of astrophysics). Fluid mechanics is a great example of how...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How do hospitals spend money? | Out-Of-Pocket
it's time to look at a financial statement
5 months ago
it's time to look at a financial statement
Quanta Magazine
How the Square Root of 2 Became a Number
Useful mathematical concepts, like the number line, can linger for millennia before they are...
5 months ago
Useful mathematical concepts, like the number line, can linger for millennia before they are rigorously defined.
The post How the Square Root of 2 Became a Number first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Works in...
To change a norm
How the war on drunk driving was won
5 months ago
How the war on drunk driving was won
Quanta Magazine
How Is Science Even Possible?
How are scientists able to crack fundamental questions about nature and life? How does math make the...
5 months ago
How are scientists able to crack fundamental questions about nature and life? How does math make the complex cosmos understandable? In this episode, the physicist Nigel Goldenfeld and co-host Steven Strogatz explore the deep foundations of the scientific process.
The...
Blog - Practical...
This Bridge Should Have Been Closed Years Before It Collapsed
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
On January 28, 2022, about an...
5 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
On January 28, 2022, about an hour before dawn, the four-lane Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, collapsed without warning. Five vehicles, including an articulating bus, fell with the bridge, and...
Beautiful Public...
Aerial Glacier Photographs
A collection of 100,000 striking high-resolution aerial photos of glaciers, photographed over 40...
5 months ago
A collection of 100,000 striking high-resolution aerial photos of glaciers, photographed over 40 years with a 63-pound WW II surveillance camera.
Quanta Magazine
Across a Continent, Trees Sync Their Fruiting to the Sun
European beech trees more than 1,500 kilometers apart all drop their fruit at the same time in a...
5 months ago
European beech trees more than 1,500 kilometers apart all drop their fruit at the same time in a grand synchronization event now linked to the summer solstice.
The post Across a Continent, Trees Sync Their Fruiting to the Sun first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Rats!
What killed off the dodo? Humans first arrived at Mauritius island in the late 1500s. They found on...
5 months ago
What killed off the dodo? Humans first arrived at Mauritius island in the late 1500s. They found on this island fat flightless birds who nested on the ground and were a convenient way to restock their ship’s food supply. Within 80 years the dodo went extinct. But hunting was not...
IEEE Spectrum
How Vannevar Bush Engineered the 20th Century
In the summer of 1945, Robert J. Oppenheimer and other key members of the Manhattan Project gathered...
5 months ago
In the summer of 1945, Robert J. Oppenheimer and other key members of the Manhattan Project gathered in New Mexico to witness the first atomic bomb test. Among the observers was Vannevar Bush, who had overseen the Manhattan Project and served as the sole liaison to U.S. President...
Quanta Magazine
The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes
Making ice requires more than subzero temperatures. The unpredictable process takes microscopic...
5 months ago
Making ice requires more than subzero temperatures. The unpredictable process takes microscopic scaffolding, random jiggling and often a little bit of bacteria.
The post The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Are Animals Conscious?
This is a great scientific question because it challenges how we ask and answer scientific...
5 months ago
This is a great scientific question because it challenges how we ask and answer scientific questions. Are animals conscious? This is a question discussed in a recent BBC article that peaked my interest. They eventually get to a question that they should have opened with – how do...
nanoscale views
Artificial intelligence, extrapolation, and physical constraints
Disclaimer and disclosure: The "arrogant physicist declaims about some topic far outside their...
5 months ago
Disclaimer and disclosure: The "arrogant physicist declaims about some topic far outside their domain expertise (like climate change or epidemiology or economics or geopolitics or....) like everyone actually in the field is clueless" trope is very overplayed at this point, and...
Probably...
Should divorce be more difficult?
“The Christian right is coming for divorce next,” according to this recent Vox article, and “Some...
5 months ago
“The Christian right is coming for divorce next,” according to this recent Vox article, and “Some conservatives want to make it a lot harder to dissolve a marriage.” As always when I read an article like this, I want to see data — and the General Social Survey has just the data I...
Quanta Magazine
The Brainstem Fine-Tunes Inflammation Throughout the Body
The evolutionarily ancient part of the brain that controls breathing and heart rate also regulates...
5 months ago
The evolutionarily ancient part of the brain that controls breathing and heart rate also regulates the immune system — a discovery about the brain-body axis made by experts on taste.
The post The Brainstem Fine-Tunes Inflammation Throughout the Body first appeared on...
NeuroLogica Blog
Bill Gates Backs Nuclear
No one ever said that nuclear power is simple or easy. It’s a tricky and expensive technology. But...
5 months ago
No one ever said that nuclear power is simple or easy. It’s a tricky and expensive technology. But it also has tremendous potential to create large amounts of reliable green low carbon energy, and many believe that we cannot ignore this potential if we are going to tackle climate...
Quanta Magazine
Computation Is All Around Us, and You Can See It if You Try
Computer scientist Lance Fortnow writes that by embracing the computations that surround us, we can...
5 months ago
Computer scientist Lance Fortnow writes that by embracing the computations that surround us, we can begin to understand and tame our seemingly random world.
The post Computation Is All Around Us, and You Can See It if You Try first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Light and Distance in an Expanding Universe
Commenter Lal asks in the topic suggestions: “Media reports that light has been travelling from that...
5 months ago
Commenter Lal asks in the topic suggestions: “Media reports that light has been travelling from that distant galaxy for 13 and a half billion years, which I assume is true, but this neither represents the original nor the current distance to that galaxy in terms of light years. I...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
More weird rules in healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket
3 liters of blood, sequential billing, COBRA, and more
5 months ago
3 liters of blood, sequential billing, COBRA, and more
Quanta Magazine
The New Math of How Large-Scale Order Emerges
The puzzle of emergence asks how regularities emerge on macro scales out of uncountable constituent...
5 months ago
The puzzle of emergence asks how regularities emerge on macro scales out of uncountable constituent parts. A new framework has researchers hopeful that a solution is near.
The post The New Math of How Large-Scale Order Emerges first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
The Moon Race is On
Back in the 1960 there was a race to land people on the Moon between the US and the Soviet Union....
5 months ago
Back in the 1960 there was a race to land people on the Moon between the US and the Soviet Union. This was very much a part of the cold war, with each country interested in showing off its technical prowess to the world with a technology closely related to that needed to deliver...
Quantum Frontiers
Quantum Frontiers salutes an English teacher
If I ever mention a crazy high-school English teacher to you, I might be referring to Mr. Lukacs....
5 months ago
If I ever mention a crazy high-school English teacher to you, I might be referring to Mr. Lukacs. One morning, before the first bell rang, I found him wandering among the lockers, wearing a white beard and a mischievous grin. … Continue reading →
Probably...
Which Standard Deviation?
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
5 months ago
It’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous installments are available from the Data Q&A landing page. standard_dev Which Standard Deviation¶ Here’s a question from the Reddit statistics forum. When do we use N and when N-1 for...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 8: Pale-billed Antpittas In The Elfin Forest (February 10, 2024)
February 10, 2024
The Pale-billed Antpitta is a large, fancy-looking Grallaria antpitta only found...
5 months ago
February 10, 2024
The Pale-billed Antpitta is a large, fancy-looking Grallaria antpitta only found in the high Andes of northern Peru. Because of its proclivity towards dense forest with an abundance of bamboo, there are few places where this species can be easily found. These...
brr
South Pole Water Infrastructure
Fresh water from snow, at 70 below!
5 months ago
Fresh water from snow, at 70 below!
Quanta Magazine
In Highly Connected Networks, There’s Always a Loop
Mathematicians show that graphs of a certain common type must contain a route that visits each point...
5 months ago
Mathematicians show that graphs of a certain common type must contain a route that visits each point exactly once.
The post In Highly Connected Networks, There’s Always a Loop first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Choosing our Representatives
As we are in an election year in the US, there seems to be only one thing on which there is broad...
5 months ago
As we are in an election year in the US, there seems to be only one thing on which there is broad agreement – this upcoming election will be consequential. So allow me to share some of my musings about the process of electing our political representatives. Let me start by laying...
Probably...
Migration and Population Growth
On a recent run I was talking with a friend from Spain about immigration in Europe. We speculated...
5 months ago
On a recent run I was talking with a friend from Spain about immigration in Europe. We speculated about whether the population of Spain would be growing or shrinking if there were no international migration. I thought it might be shrinking, but we were not sure. Fortunately, Our...
Quantum Frontiers
Watch out for geese! My summer in Waterloo
It’s the beginning of another summer, and I’m looking forward to outdoor barbecues, swimming in...
5 months ago
It’s the beginning of another summer, and I’m looking forward to outdoor barbecues, swimming in lakes and pools, and sharing my home-made ice cream with friends and family. One thing that I won’t encounter this summer, but I did last … Continue reading →
Quanta Magazine
Can Psychedelics Improve Mental Health?
Research suggests that psychedelic drugs can reopen critical periods of brain development to create...
5 months ago
Research suggests that psychedelic drugs can reopen critical periods of brain development to create opportunities for re-learning and psychological healing. In this episode, co-host Janna Levin speaks with Gül Dölen, a neuroscientist studying the therapeutic potential of...
NeuroLogica Blog
Let’s Talk About Cement
Industry is responsible for 23% of carbon emissions, close to the amount of electricity production...
5 months ago
Industry is responsible for 23% of carbon emissions, close to the amount of electricity production (25%) and transportation (28%). We talk a lot about transportation and energy, but industrial carbon is a harder nut to crack. Also, the 23% is direct carbon release from industrial...
The Works in...
Fixing retail with land value capture
How to create beautiful shopping streets everywhere
5 months ago
How to create beautiful shopping streets everywhere
Quanta Magazine
Most Life on Earth is Dormant, After Pulling an ‘Emergency Brake’
Many microbes and cells are in deep sleep, waiting for the right moment to activate. Biologists...
5 months ago
Many microbes and cells are in deep sleep, waiting for the right moment to activate. Biologists discovered a widespread protein that abruptly shuts down a cell’s activity — and turns it back on just as fast.
The post Most Life on Earth is Dormant, After Pulling an...
Blog - Practical...
The Most Confusing Part of the Power Grid
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In March of 1989, Earth...
5 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In March of 1989, Earth experienced one of its strongest geomagnetic storms in modern history. It all started when scientists observed a cluster of sunspots—active, magnetic areas on the sun's surface—emerging...
Quanta Magazine
Cryptographers Discover a New Foundation for Quantum Secrecy
Researchers have proved that secure quantum encryption is possible in a world without hard problems....
5 months ago
Researchers have proved that secure quantum encryption is possible in a world without hard problems.
The post Cryptographers Discover a New Foundation for Quantum Secrecy first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Silly little rules in healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket
The industry is chock full of ‘em, here's 3
5 months ago
The industry is chock full of ‘em, here's 3
NeuroLogica Blog
Clickbait and Misinformation
Which is worse – clickbaity headlines for news articles that are factually correct, but may be...
5 months ago
Which is worse – clickbaity headlines for news articles that are factually correct, but may be playing up a sensational angle, or straight-up misinformation? It depends on what you mean by “worse”. A new study tries to address this information, with some interesting findings....
nanoscale views
Materials families: Halide perovskites
Looking back, I realized that I haven't written much about halide perovskites, which is quite an...
5 months ago
Looking back, I realized that I haven't written much about halide perovskites, which is quite an oversight given how much research impact they're having. I'm not an expert, and there are multiple extensive review articles out there (e.g. here, here, here, here, here), so this...
IEEE Spectrum
Lord Kelvin and His Analog Computer
William Thomson, mourning the death of his wife and flush with cash from various patents related to...
5 months ago
William Thomson, mourning the death of his wife and flush with cash from various patents related to the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable, decided to buy a yacht. His schooner, the Lalla Rookh, became Thomson’s summer home and his base for hosting scientific...
Probably...
What is a percentile rank?
Here’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous...
5 months ago
Here’s another installment in Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. Previous installments are available from the Data Q&A landing page. percentile_rank What is a Percentile Rank?¶ Here’s a question from the Reddit statistics forum. What’s the difference between...
The Works in...
How to start an advance market commitment
A practical guide from the founders of Frontier
5 months ago
A practical guide from the founders of Frontier
Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians Attempt to Glimpse Past the Big Bang
By studying the geometry of model space-times, researchers offer alternative views of the universe’s...
5 months ago
By studying the geometry of model space-times, researchers offer alternative views of the universe’s first moments.
The post Mathematicians Attempt to Glimpse Past the Big Bang first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Eukaryote Writes...
Web-surfing tips for strange times
Meditations on what's bad about the internet lately and how to use it anyhow.
5 months ago
Meditations on what's bad about the internet lately and how to use it anyhow.
brr
Engineering for Slow Internet
How to minimize user frustration in Antarctica.
5 months ago
How to minimize user frustration in Antarctica.
NeuroLogica Blog
Non-Invasive Deep Brain Stimulation
We are rapidly entering the era of neuromodulation – using electrical and magnetic fields in order...
5 months ago
We are rapidly entering the era of neuromodulation – using electrical and magnetic fields in order to increase or decrease the activity of specific regions and circuits in the brain. Such treatments are already shown to be effective in treating some Parkinson’s symptoms,...
nanoscale views
Interesting reading - resonators, quantum geometry w/ phonons, and fractional quantum anomalous Hall
Real life continues to be busy, but I wanted to point out three recent articles that I found...
5 months ago
Real life continues to be busy, but I wanted to point out three recent articles that I found interesting:
Mechanical resonators are a topic with a long history, going back to the first bells and the tuning fork. I've written about micromachined resonators before, and the quest...
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