But Freedman suspects that the Cepheid-based H0 measurement is not as trustworthy as the others. It is extremely sensitive to assumptions about, for example, the elemental composition of the Cepheids, and each star’s neighborhood. Dust in the galactic disks where Cepheids live can absorb their light and dim them. The Webb’s infrared vision pierces the… Continue reading The Webb Telescope Further Deepens the Biggest Controversy in Cosmology
Category: Quantum Stuff
Is Technology in the Olympics a Form of Doping or a Reality of Modern Sport?
Today’s Olympic Games are a technological marvel. Slow-motion cameras play back the milliseconds-long difference between first and second place. Wearable sensors detect clean hits in a bout of fencing or a round of tae kwon do. Olympic athletes use motion tracking, microcurrents and lactic acid monitors to improve form, speed up recovery and prevent injuries.… Continue reading Is Technology in the Olympics a Form of Doping or a Reality of Modern Sport?
Are Robots About to Level Up?
Within just a few years, artificial intelligence systems that sometimes seem to display almost human characteristics have gone from science fiction to apps on your phone. But there’s another AI-influenced frontier that is developing rapidly and remains untamed: robotics. Can the technologies that have helped computers get smarter now bring similar improvements to the robots… Continue reading Are Robots About to Level Up?
The Viral Paleontologist Who Unearths Pathogens’ Deep Histories
You aren’t worried about catching a virus from your samples? Not at all. Everything inside is dead. Every biological process has been disrupted by formalin. This is why the preparation is so amenable to preserving viral RNA: You put a complete stop to every enzymatic process, including the degradation of RNA. But humans carry respiratory… Continue reading The Viral Paleontologist Who Unearths Pathogens’ Deep Histories
JWST Images Freezing Giant Exoplanet 12 Light-Years Away
JWST Images Freezing Giant Exoplanet 12 Light-Years Away The Jupiter-like world Epsilon Indi Ab is one of the coldest—and closest—exoplanets that astronomers have ever seen By Davide Castelvecchi & Nature magazine The exoplanet Epsilon Indi Ab. Blue scalelike features are visible in the background, with the host star’s light being blocked by a black circle… Continue reading JWST Images Freezing Giant Exoplanet 12 Light-Years Away
How Does Math Keep Secrets?
Can you keep a secret? Modern techniques for maintaining the confidentiality of information are based on mathematical problems that are inherently too difficult for anyone to solve without the right hints. Yet what does that mean when quantum computers capable of solving many problems astronomically faster are on the horizon? In this episode, host Janna… Continue reading How Does Math Keep Secrets?
What Happens in a Mind That Can’t ‘See’ Mental Images
Two years ago, Sarah Shomstein realized she didn’t have a mind’s eye. The vision scientist was sitting in a seminar room, listening to a scientific talk, when the presenter asked the audience to imagine an apple. Shomstein closed her eyes and did so. Then, the presenter asked the crowd to open their eyes and rate… Continue reading What Happens in a Mind That Can’t ‘See’ Mental Images
What Is Analog Computing? | Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine > 0; if (typeof predicate !== ‘function’) { throw new TypeError(‘predicate must be a function’); } var thisArg = arguments[1]; var k = 0; while (k We care about your data, and we’d like to use cookies to give you a smooth browsing experience. Please agree and read more about our privacy policy.AgreeBy… Continue reading What Is Analog Computing? | Quanta Magazine
Catching Fish with Ancient Archaeology and Ocean Tides
[CLIP: Theme music] Rachel Feltman: What do you think of when you hear the word “archaeology”? Maybe your mind goes straight to Indiana Jones. Or perhaps you picture real-world academics in the field—ones who handle their dusty desert dig sites and crumbling artifacts with far more care. But studying how ancient humans lived and died… Continue reading Catching Fish with Ancient Archaeology and Ocean Tides
Grad Students Find Inevitable Patterns in Big Sets of Numbers
Forty years later, in 1975, a mathematician named Endre Szemerédi proved the conjecture. His work spawned multiple lines of research that mathematicians are still exploring today. “Many of the ideas from his proof grew into worlds of their own,” said Yufei Zhao, Sah and Sawhney’s doctoral adviser at MIT. Mathematicians have built on Szemerédi’s result… Continue reading Grad Students Find Inevitable Patterns in Big Sets of Numbers