In 1896, the Swedish physicist Svante Arrhenius realized that carbon dioxide (CO2) traps heat in Earth’s atmosphere — the phenomenon now called the greenhouse effect. Since then, increasingly sophisticated modern climate models have verified Arrhenius’ central conclusion: that every time the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere doubles, Earth’s temperature will rise between 2 and 5… Continue reading Physicists Pinpoint the Quantum Origin of the Greenhouse Effect
Category: Quantum Stuff
Will AI Ever Have Common Sense?
Ask a question of ChatGPT and other, similar chatbots and there’s a good chance you’ll be impressed at how adeptly it comes up with a good answer — unless it spits out unrealistic nonsense instead. Part of what’s mystifying about these kinds of machine learning systems is that they are fundamentally black boxes. No one… Continue reading Will AI Ever Have Common Sense?
Taylor Swift and Bach Can Thank Ancient Temples for Modern Music
Where did Western music come from? Most historical accounts credit composers with the first formations of simple tunes, which eventually led to “early music” and later classical music and the many popular forms that have since sprung up. But acoustic ecologists and musicologists have been talking lately about a different foundation: the earliest temples and… Continue reading Taylor Swift and Bach Can Thank Ancient Temples for Modern Music
How to See Stars, Satellites, and More in the Daytime Sky
How to See Stars, Satellites, and More in the Daytime Sky It’s possible to see celestial objects during the day, but it’s not always easy By Phil Plait It seems pretty obvious that you can’t see any stars in the daytime. If you were to say that to me, however, I would gently take you… Continue reading How to See Stars, Satellites, and More in the Daytime Sky
Honeybees Will Literally Slap Ants That Try to Invade Their Hive
Honeybees Wing-Slap Ants That Try to Invade Their Hive Japanese honeybees use their wings to slap back ants trying to invade their hive By Gennaro Tomma A Japanese honeybee uses its wing to slap a way an ant attempting to invade its hive. “Wing-Slapping: A Defensive Behavior by Honey Bees against Ants,” by Yugo Seko… Continue reading Honeybees Will Literally Slap Ants That Try to Invade Their Hive
Extreme Heat Kills Hundreds of Thousands Worldwide Each Year
Extreme Heat Is the Deadliest Weather Disaster Hundreds of thousands of people die from extreme temperatures every year, more than any other type of weather disaster By Chelsea Harvey & E&E News People cool off at a fountain in the Madrid Rio park amid heatwave conditions in Madrid on July 23, 2024. July 21, 2024… Continue reading Extreme Heat Kills Hundreds of Thousands Worldwide Each Year
The CDC’s Test for Bird Flu Works, but It Has Issues
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a glitch in its bird flu test hasn’t harmed the agency’s outbreak response. But it has ignited scrutiny of its go-it-alone approach in testing for emerging pathogens. The agency has quietly worked since April to resolve a nagging issue with the test it developed, even as the… Continue reading The CDC’s Test for Bird Flu Works, but It Has Issues
What Are Sheaves? | Quanta Magazine
In 1940, the French mathematician and artillery officer Jean Leray was taken prisoner by the Germans. He told his captors that he was a topologist, fearful that if they discovered his true area of expertise, hydrodynamics, they would force him to aid the German war effort. For the nearly five years of his imprisonment, Leray… Continue reading What Are Sheaves? | Quanta Magazine
Signs of Ancient Alien Life May Lurk within This Newfound Martian Rock
In a dry river valley on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover may at last have found its reason for being: evidence of ancient alien life—and with it, a lifeline for the space agency’s grand but troubled plan to bring Red Planet materials to Earth. This potentially cosmos-quaking evidence may look like merely a humble rock, but… Continue reading Signs of Ancient Alien Life May Lurk within This Newfound Martian Rock
Monumental Proof Settles Geometric Langlands Conjecture
In classical signal processing, sound waves get built up out of sine waves whose frequencies correspond to the pitches contained in the sound. It’s not enough to know which pitches the sound contains — you must also know how loud each pitch is. That information allows you to write your sound as a combination of… Continue reading Monumental Proof Settles Geometric Langlands Conjecture