They looked exactly as expected: a wall of white, peppered with black specks for smaller integers. “We expected the black dots to peter out,” Stange said. Rickards added, “I thought maybe it would even be possible to prove they peter out.” He speculated that by looking at charts that synthesized many packings together, the team… Continue reading Two Students Unravel a Widely Believed Math Conjecture
Private Military Contractors, China’s Efforts to Imprison Tibetans, Truth Decay: RAND Weekly Recap
This week, we discuss how the U.S. and its allies can undermine Russia’s private military contractors; what nighttime lighting reveals about China’s efforts to imprison Tibetans; how “Truth Decay” is damaging U.S. national security; the evidence on stackable credentials; growing the film industry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and the Air Force’s fiscal shortfalls. Photo released by… Continue reading Private Military Contractors, China’s Efforts to Imprison Tibetans, Truth Decay: RAND Weekly Recap
Muon Mystery Deepens with Latest Measurements
Muons continue to confound physicists. These unstable subatomic particles are much like familiar electrons, only with 200 times the mass and a fleeting lifetime of just 2.2 microseconds. Unlike electrons, however, muons are at the center of a tangled inquiry into the prevailing theory of particle physics. For decades, physicists have puzzled over tantalizing hints… Continue reading Muon Mystery Deepens with Latest Measurements
Escaping Afghanistan
My 9-year-old daughter still remembers August 2021 as a “horrible time.” After the fall of Kabul that month, my husband and I, both Air Force officers who had served in Afghanistan, found ourselves pulled into a complex, unofficial operation to help evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghan allies. There were endless sleepless nights spent frantically sending… Continue reading Escaping Afghanistan
Maui’s Deadly Wildfires Are a Reminder of Growing Risks
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Wildfires, pushed by powerful winds, raced through Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 8 and 9, 2023, leaving a charred and smoldering landscape across the tourist town of about 13,000 residents that was once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii. At least 36… Continue reading Maui’s Deadly Wildfires Are a Reminder of Growing Risks
Why Biden Was Justified to Send Cluster Munitions to Ukraine
The recent White House announcement that it would send cluster munitions to Ukraine was met with both criticism and applause. The administration defended its decision, noting that Russia has been using these munitions to attack Ukraine and that Kyiv has been asking for these munitions for self-defense purposes. They have now begun to arrive. The… Continue reading Why Biden Was Justified to Send Cluster Munitions to Ukraine
Risky Giant Steps Can Solve Optimization Problems Faster
“It turns out that we did not have full understanding” of the theory behind gradient descent, said Shuvomoy Das Gupta, an optimization researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Now, he said, we’re “closer to understanding what gradient descent is doing.” The technique itself is deceptively simple. It uses something called a cost function, which… Continue reading Risky Giant Steps Can Solve Optimization Problems Faster
Miranda Devine, the Bidens’ Gadfly
Donald Trump has been indicted for a third time. Special counsel Jack Smith has charged the former president with four counts of conspiracy and obstruction for his actions leading up to the events of January 6, 2021. This indictment follows Alvin Bragg’s in New York—pertaining to Trump’s alleged campaign-finance violations in 2015 and 2016, as… Continue reading Miranda Devine, the Bidens’ Gadfly
The Cryptographer Who Ensures We Can Trust Our Computers
Quanta Magazine > 0; if (typeof predicate !== ‘function’) { throw new TypeError(‘predicate must be a function’); } var thisArg = arguments[1]; var k = 0; while (k We care about your data, and we’d like to use cookies to give you a smooth browsing experience. Please agree and read more about our privacy policy.Agree… Continue reading The Cryptographer Who Ensures We Can Trust Our Computers
How Genetic Surprises Complicate the Old Doctrine of DNA
Does an unseen force lurk within genetics? Biologists have made enormous strides over the past 100 years in understanding the role of the millions of parcels that convey our genetic information — DNA, RNA and proteins. But they have also learned about undetectable interactions between these biochemical agents, hiding in their midst like ghosts in… Continue reading How Genetic Surprises Complicate the Old Doctrine of DNA