Christopher Intagliata: We humans often navigate using road signs and GPS. Elephants, though? Connie Allen, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Exeter in the U.K., says they navigate over long distances using their incredible memories. (An elephant never forgets, right?) Connie Allen: But it’s also been suggested here and there that maybe olfaction and sense… Continue reading Elephants May Use Urine to Navigate
Category: Quantum Stuff
The Complex Truth About ‘Junk DNA’
Imagine the human genome as a string stretching out for the length of a football field, with all the genes that encode proteins clustered at the end near your feet. Take two big steps forward; all the protein information is now behind you. The human genome has three billion base pairs in its DNA, but… Continue reading The Complex Truth About ‘Junk DNA’
A Random Walk through the English Language
Here’s a game Claude Shannon, the founder of information theory, invented in 1948. He was trying to model the English language as a random process. Go to your bookshelf, pick up a random book, open it and point to a random spot on the page, and mark the first two letters you see. Say they’re… Continue reading A Random Walk through the English Language
How Computationally Complex Is a Single Neuron?
Our mushy brains seem a far cry from the solid silicon chips in computer processors, but scientists have a long history of comparing the two. As Alan Turing put it in 1952: “We are not interested in the fact that the brain has the consistency of cold porridge.” In other words, the medium doesn’t matter,… Continue reading How Computationally Complex Is a Single Neuron?
Venus Wins Stunning Third New Mission, This Time from Europe
Venus scientists have long complained that the planet wasn’t getting its due in robotic investigators. But those days are over: space agencies have announced three new missions to Earth’s mysterious twin in just over a week. On June 2, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced that the agency would pursue two new Venus missions dubbed DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, aiming… Continue reading Venus Wins Stunning Third New Mission, This Time from Europe
The “Lab Leak”: It’s Not Enough to Say Accidents Happen – Facts So Romantic
So far no one has come up with any clear account of how a coronavirus escaped biosafety level 4 barriers. Photograph by MihasLi / Shutterstock Disasters evoke a search for who to blame. Mishandled disasters make that search vital for anyone whose actions or inactions may have amplified the catastrophe’s damage. As the official United… Continue reading The “Lab Leak”: It’s Not Enough to Say Accidents Happen – Facts So Romantic
What is gravitational lensing? – Jarvis Blog
Everyone is already familiar with the real-life applications of gravity. Not only do we feel its effects every day, but also we are provided enough information from mass media. Gravity allows to keep our feet on the ground. Without gravity, we would simply float off into the atmosphere. Gravity is an essential force in the… Continue reading What is gravitational lensing? – Jarvis Blog
definition and the ways of calculation – Jarvis Blog
A common concept in physics, waves are described as disturbances that transmit energy through matters and space. Sometimes, they are associated with mass transport, sometimes, they are not. Waves are reported, in physics, at a fixed point, and consist of oscitations or vibrations of a physical field or medium. In physics, there are known two… Continue reading definition and the ways of calculation – Jarvis Blog
Mathematicians Identify Threshold at Which Shapes Give Way
For a long time, mathematicians thought that sharp folds were the only way to have both characteristics at once: a crumpled shape with lengths preserved. “If you allow corners to happen, then the problem is much easier,” said Tristan Buckmaster of Princeton University. But in 1954, John Nash identified a remarkably different type of isometric… Continue reading Mathematicians Identify Threshold at Which Shapes Give Way
Astronomers Find Secret Planet-Making Ingredient: Magnetic Fields
We like to think of ourselves as unique. That conceit may even be true when it comes to our cosmic neighborhood: Despite the fact that planets between the sizes of Earth and Neptune appear to be the most common in the cosmos, no such intermediate-mass planets can be found in the solar system. The problem… Continue reading Astronomers Find Secret Planet-Making Ingredient: Magnetic Fields