Podcast: Download MYS283: Christianity has a long and fruitful history in Egypt, and when witnesses reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary at a Coptic church in Cairo suburb of Zeitoun in 1968, thousands of people came to see. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss what happened there and whether the apparitions were genuine. Get all… Continue reading Our Lady of Zeitoun (Egyptian Apparition, Coptic Church)
Icy Oceans Exist on Far-Off Moons. Why Aren’t They Frozen Solid?
They’d based their prediction on the orbital dance of Jupiter’s largest moons. For every four orbits that Io completes, Europa makes two and Ganymede one. This orbital configuration, known as a resonance, causes Io to wobble back and forth, making its orbit elliptical. When Io is closer to Jupiter, the planet’s gravity yanks on it… Continue reading Icy Oceans Exist on Far-Off Moons. Why Aren’t They Frozen Solid?
The Mathematician Who Shaped String Theory
Eugenio Calabi was known to his colleagues as an inventive mathematician — “transformatively original,” as his former student Xiuxiong Chen put it. In 1953, Calabi began to contemplate a class of shapes that nobody had ever envisioned before. Other mathematicians thought their existence was impossible. But a couple of decades later, these same shapes became… Continue reading The Mathematician Who Shaped String Theory
Untested Legal Imagination’s the Mother of Trump and Jan. 6 Prosecutions
Above, President Trump speaks to supporters from the Ellipse, near the White House, on Jan. 6, 2021, ahead of that day’s mayhem. He never set foot on the Capitol grounds. By Julie Kelly, RealClearInvestigationsNovember 1, 2023 Donald Trump doesn’t know Thomas Robertson. But the former president’s fate appears inextricably tied to that of the former… Continue reading Untested Legal Imagination’s the Mother of Trump and Jan. 6 Prosecutions
Thirty Years Later, a Speed Boost for Quantum Factoring
Finding Factors Quantum computers derive their power from the peculiar way they process information. Classical computers use bits, each of which must always be in one of two states, labeled 0 and 1. Quantum bits, or “qubits,” can additionally be in combinations of their 0 and 1 states — a phenomenon called superposition. It’s also… Continue reading Thirty Years Later, a Speed Boost for Quantum Factoring
More Terror Suspects Reaching the U.S.: Here Are the Known Unknowns of the Biden Border Crisis
Above, migrants heading for the U.S. border on Monday from Tapachula, Mexico. How many could be terrorists? Experts think it’s a virtual certainty that more are coming. By James Varney, RealClearInvestigationsOctober 31, 2023 Hundreds of people on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist have almost certainly slipped into the United States amid millions of other illegal immigrants… Continue reading More Terror Suspects Reaching the U.S.: Here Are the Known Unknowns of the Biden Border Crisis
These Cells Spark Electricity in the Brain. They’re Not Neurons.
A brain is nothing if not communicative. Neurons are the chatterboxes of this conversational organ, and they speak with one another by exchanging pulses of electricity using chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. By repeating this process billions of times per second, a brain converts clusters of chemicals into coordinated actions, memories and thoughts. Researchers study how… Continue reading These Cells Spark Electricity in the Brain. They’re Not Neurons.
Bed Bugs and Influencers Spark Pest Panic in Paris. Here’s What You Need to Know
It was hard to miss the dire headlines: bed bugs were reportedly all over Paris during the city’s Fashion Week, from the metro to a high-end restaurant. As fashionistas made their way home—and in light of the fact that Paris has been preparing to host the Olympics next summer—people asked, why did this happen all… Continue reading Bed Bugs and Influencers Spark Pest Panic in Paris. Here’s What You Need to Know
The Quest to Quantify Quantumness
In other words, he showed that an entanglement-free quantum circuit was easy to simulate on a classical computer. In a computational sense, the circuit wasn’t intrinsically quantum. The collection of all such non-entangling circuits (or, equivalently, all arrangements of qubits that might come out of these non-entangling circuits) formed something of a classically simulable island… Continue reading The Quest to Quantify Quantumness
Climate Change Is Making Saltwater Intrusion Worse in Coastal Areas
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Seawater intrusion is the movement of saline water from the ocean or estuaries into freshwater systems. The seawater that has crept up the Mississippi River in the summer and early fall of 2023 is a reminder that coastal communities teeter… Continue reading Climate Change Is Making Saltwater Intrusion Worse in Coastal Areas