Pittsburgh’s transformation from Rust Belt phoenix to progressive tech stronghold was supposed to be the Democrats’ long-term ace in the hole for Pennsylvania. Instead, hubris might just hand the Keystone State to the GOP in 2024. As Allegheny County limps toward another election cycle, Republicans are eyeing an opportunity born not of their own strength,… Continue reading The Pittsburgh Paradox Could Hand PA to Trump
The Zodiac Killer Letters [or Codes? Games?]
Podcast: Download MYS330: We continue our examination of the Zodiac killer who terrorized California in the late 60s. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli look at this extensive correspondence with newspapers and his bizarre claims ask why he wanted so much attention. Get all new episodes automatically and for free: Follow by Email | Watch this… Continue reading The Zodiac Killer Letters [or Codes? Games?]
NASA May Spend $800 Million to Not Send This Revolutionary Rover to the Moon
In early June NASA engineers put the finishing touches on a technological marvel years in the making: a golf cart-sized rover designed to drive into the cold and darkness near the moon’s south pole, on the hunt for water ice. If successful, the $450-million rover—called the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER)—would at last provide… Continue reading NASA May Spend $800 Million to Not Send This Revolutionary Rover to the Moon
To Many, the Justice Dept. Is Honoring Political Neutrality in the Breach Again
By Julie Kelly, RealClearInvestigationsSeptember 18, 2024 Attorney General Merrick Garland broke precedent just weeks before the November election, delivering politically charged remarks at the U.S. Attorneys’ National Conference in Washington – pointedly speaking publicly rather than privately in a departure from his usual practice. Merrick Garland, Attorney General: “We will not allow this department to… Continue reading To Many, the Justice Dept. Is Honoring Political Neutrality in the Breach Again
How Student Athletes Can Avoid Heatstroke
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. High school sports teams start practices soon in what has been an extremely hot summer in much of the country. Now, before they hit the field, is the time for athletes to start slowly and safely building up… Continue reading How Student Athletes Can Avoid Heatstroke
Constitution Day Reflections on America’s Founding Documents
When it comes to celebrating Constitution Day, it may be considered atypical to think of the Declaration of Independence. After all, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were two separate documents authored 11 years apart, written for two very distinct reasons, and penned by different authors. Yet both documents were integral in creating the… Continue reading Constitution Day Reflections on America’s Founding Documents
The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea
By the time the molecular part of the project was set to begin, the pandemic had hit. So Winnikoff set up an experiment in his garage. Using a fluorescence spectrometer, he sent rays of ultraviolet light into test tubes filled with small globs of membrane material from the creatures they’d collected. The results puzzled him.… Continue reading The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea
Time to Launch Abraham Accords 2.0
Four years ago, the historic Abraham Accords between the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel were signed on the White House lawn. Morocco and Sudan soon followed. In the midst of the extremely challenging COVID-19 pandemic, a ray of light heralding a new era of peace, integration, and cooperation broke through the darkness. Hamas’ October 7 massacre… Continue reading Time to Launch Abraham Accords 2.0
Novel Architecture Makes Neural Networks More Understandable
Tegmark was familiar with Poggio’s paper and thought the effort would lead to another dead end. But Liu was undeterred, and Tegmark soon came around. They recognized that even if the single-value functions generated by the theorem were not smooth, the network could still approximate them with smooth functions. They further understood that most of… Continue reading Novel Architecture Makes Neural Networks More Understandable
Can Thermodynamics Go Quantum? | Quanta Magazine
The principles of thermodynamics are cornerstones of our understanding of physics. But they were discovered in the era of steam-driven technology, long before anyone dreamed of quantum mechanics. In this episode, the theoretical physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern talks to host Steven Strogatz about how physicists today are reinterpreting concepts such as work, energy and information… Continue reading Can Thermodynamics Go Quantum? | Quanta Magazine