Category: Quantum Stuff

[CLIP: Theme music] Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners! For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, this is Rachel Feltman. We usually start off the week with a news roundup, but today we’re doing something a little different. On Friday we talked to a few Scientific American editors about how the upcoming election could impact issues of science… Continue reading The 2024 Election Will Change American Education and Set Global Climate Priorities

November 4, 2024 5 min read The Law Must Respond When Science Changes What was once fair under the law may become unfair when science changes. The law must react to uphold due process By David Faigman & Jeff Kukucka edited by Megha Satyanarayana Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón shakes hands with Joan… Continue reading The Law Must Respond When Science Changes

On December 17, 1962,  Life International published a logic puzzle consisting of 15 sentences describing five houses on a street. Each sentence was a clue, such as “The Englishman lives in the red house” or “Milk is drunk in the middle house.” Each house was a different color, with inhabitants of different nationalities, who owned… Continue reading Chatbot Software Begins to Face Fundamental Limitations

CLIMATEWIRE | ON NAVAJO LAND, Arizona — It was a solar panel array that finally gave Norma Toledo a place to call home. For nights at a time this year, Toledo slept outside a Walmart in the cab of her Toyota Tacoma. But on one milestone day last month, as temperatures dipped below freezing, Toledo… Continue reading Clean Energy Is Bringing Electricity to Many in the Navajo Nation

In higher dimensions, the problem gets harder. It has been solved in dimension four, as well as in dimensions 8 and 24, where mathematicians have been able to optimally pack spheres into gorgeously symmetrical lattice structures. But in all other dimensions, where more space appears between the spheres, the problem remains open. Mathematicians have instead… Continue reading Mathematicians Discover New Way for Spheres to ‘Kiss’

November 4, 2024 4 min read The Myth that Musicians Die at 27 Shows How Superstitions Are Made Famous people who die at age 27, such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse, get even more famous because of the mythology surrounding that number—an example of how modern folklore emerges By Rachel Nuwer edited… Continue reading The Myth that Musicians Die at 27 Shows How Superstitions Are Made

Sunlight melts snowflakes. Fire turns logs into soot and smoke. A hot oven will make a magnet lose its pull. Physicists know from countless examples that if you crank the temperature high enough, structures and patterns break down. Now, though, they’ve cooked up a striking exception. In a string of results over the past few… Continue reading Heat Destroys All Order. Except for in This One Special Case.

November 5, 2024 2 min read These Bird Nests Show Signs of an Architectural ‘Culture’ Culture may play a role in how birds build collectively in the Kalahari Desert By Gennaro Tomma edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier White-browed Sparrow-Weaver nests and roosts. Wolfgang Kaehler/Alamy Stock Photo From long and winding migration flights to intricate songs… Continue reading These Bird Nests Show Signs of an Architectural ‘Culture’

He knew that his observation of one neuron firing didn’t mean there was only one neuron for every concept. If that were true, “the chance of finding it would be close to zero,” he said. “I used to joke that, if this were the case, I should quit science and start gambling because I would… Continue reading Concept Cells Help Your Brain Abstract Information and Build Memories

Calculus is a powerful mathematical tool. But for hundreds of years after its invention in the 17th century, it stood on a shaky foundation. Its core concepts were rooted in intuition and informal arguments, rather than precise, formal definitions. Two schools of thought emerged in response, according to Michael Barany, a historian of math and… Continue reading The Jagged, Monstrous Function That Broke Calculus