Category: Quantum Stuff

There are slight variations in the CMB: Some spots on the last scattering surface (where the CMB photons originated) are a bit warmer than average, while others are a bit cooler. These patterns were created by sound waves propagating through the plasma of the early universe. The waves themselves were triggered by minute quantum fluctuations… Continue reading Cosmologists Try a New Way to Measure the Shape of the Universe

November 4, 2024 2 min read Epic Gravity Lens Lines Up Seven-Galaxy View A galaxy cluster bends light from seven background galaxies around it, letting astronomers peer into space and time By Tom Metcalfe edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier The Carousel Lens (center) bends the light of seven background galaxies. DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys/LBNL/DOE &… Continue reading Epic Gravity Lens Lines Up Seven-Galaxy View

Their estimate is a conservative one, he added, and it’s possible even fewer photons got through. “The ice cover is quite heterogeneous,” he explained. Because some parts of the sheet might allow more light through than others, the research team selected the upper thresholds of their light measurements. “In the end there’s some variety, and… Continue reading How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light?

[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.