Category: Quantum Stuff

Giggling, sneaky, carrion-scavenging—and good for public health? Hyenas around the Ethiopian city of Mekelle often dine on livestock carcasses. In the process, a new study suggests, they may prevent infections of anthrax and bovine tuberculosis in nearby humans and animals. More than 300,000 people live in Mekelle, along with more than 100,000 head of livestock,… Continue reading Hungry Hyenas Can Help Human Health

You’re confronting a spider, up close, womano-a-womano. The tiny creature rears back on its hindmost legs and assumes a threatening posture, ridiculous given that you could easily squash it with your shoe. Yet everyone understands the gesture, even though to locate the most recent common ancestor shared by the two of you, you’d have to… Continue reading The Wild World of Threats

In late summer Candice Davis and her brother, Starr, returned to South Philadelphia from a trip to Mexico, and Davis quickly knew that something was wrong. Both she and Starr felt ill, and both subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. But Starr, who had been immunized, experienced only mild flulike symptoms and felt better within a… Continue reading Some COVID Patients Need Amputations to Survive

The world’s oceans reached their hottest levels on record in 2021. It’s the third year in a row it’s happened, and it’s driven almost entirely by human-caused climate change, scientists announced yesterday. The findings are presented in a paper published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. As excess heat accumulates in the atmosphere, caused by continued greenhouse… Continue reading Oceans Break Heat Record for Third Year in a Row

Explore Watching the short film Planktonium, the latest from Dutch filmmaker Jan van IJken, can feel like a meditation. The miniscule lifeforms he films under microscope mesmerize. Planktonium feels imbued with the spirit, you might say, of another Dutchman, one from the 17th century, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the father of microbiology. “Leeuwenhoek delighted most in… Continue reading The Little Miracles in the Invisible World of Plankton

Do we need artificial intelligence to tell us what’s right and wrong? The idea might strike you as repulsive. Many regard their morals, whatever the source, as central to who they are. This isn’t something to outsource to a machine. But everyone faces morally uncertain situations, and on occasion, we seek the input of others.… Continue reading AI Is Already Making Moral Choices for Us. Now What?

How do you know you’re not in a computer simulation right now? This idea is often known as the simulation hypothesis. The simulation hypothesis says simply: “We are living in a computer simulation.” What is it to be living in a simulation? As I understand this notion, it’s all about interacting with the simulation. When… Continue reading Can We Prove the World Isn’t a Simulation?

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has some rocks stuck in its throat. Perseverance drilled and collected its sixth Red Planet rock sample late last month, but the car-sized rover hasn’t been able to seal up the titanium tube containing the material yet. “I recently captured my sixth rock core and have encountered a new challenge. Seems some… Continue reading NASA’s Perseverance Rover Chokes on Mars Pebbles while Collecting a Rock Sample

Even if you’ve never seen the original Matrix movie, you probably know the central premise: Our hero, a computer programmer named Neo, discovers that reality is not as it seems. What he understood to be his world was a simulation; he eventually awakes in a liquid-filled pod, where his body had been languishing. That, of… Continue reading The Simulated World According to David Chalmers

Irene Valenzuela, a theoretical physicist at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the Autonomous University of Madrid, agreed. “One of the questions is if string theory is the unique theory of quantum gravity or not,” she said. “This goes along the lines that string theory is unique.” Other commentators saw that as too bold a… Continue reading In a Numerical Coincidence, Some See Evidence for String Theory