Podcast: Download MYS312: Sometimes, near death, a person with dementia will suddenly regain clarity and lucidity and give loved ones a chance to say goodbye. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss the phenomenon called terminal lucidity, what could cause it, and whether it tells us anything new about the brain, soul, and consciousness. Get all… Continue reading Terminal Lucidity (Sudden Awakenings, Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Near-Death)
To Change the World, Protest Less, Study More
Congratulations class of 2024! Today we celebrate your high school graduation. High school graduation is America’s national “coming of age” tradition. Today, you are adults. Your future is finally yours. Gen Z is America’s most educated generation ever. Your strong political opinions surely account for the “generation gap” between you and your parents and, especially… Continue reading To Change the World, Protest Less, Study More
Computer Scientists Invent an Efficient New Way to Count
Let’s return to Hamlet, but this time your working memory — consisting of a whiteboard — has room for just 100 words. Once the play starts, you write down the first 100 words you hear, again skipping any repeats. When the space is full, press pause and flip a coin for each word. Heads, and… Continue reading Computer Scientists Invent an Efficient New Way to Count
Scientists Find a Fast Way to Describe Quantum Systems
The new result is the fruit of several years’ worth of scientific labor. Prior research by Anshu and others got part of the way there. Those researchers developed an algorithm that could deduce a system’s Hamiltonian using a reasonable amount of sample data: The amount needed increased only as a polynomial function of the number… Continue reading Scientists Find a Fast Way to Describe Quantum Systems
Should You Believe Faulty U.S. Crime Stats or Your Own Lying Eyes? It’s a Tough Call
Car theft, above, might be a better barometer of the state of crime than other measures. Unlike other crimes, they tend to be logged accurately — and have risen markedly. By James Varney, RealClearInvestigationsMay 14, 2024 Americans can be forgiven for suffering from whiplash regarding law and order. In recent weeks the Biden administration and… Continue reading Should You Believe Faulty U.S. Crime Stats or Your Own Lying Eyes? It’s a Tough Call
How Do Chemicals in Plastics Impact Your Endocrine System?
The translucent exterior of a plastic soda bottle hides a secret in plain sight: hundreds of synthetic chemicals embedded in its seemingly innocuous material. These chemicals give the plastic its structure, flexibility and durability, among other qualities—the same traits that also make plastic last for centuries, causing it to accumulate and endure in nature. Before… Continue reading How Do Chemicals in Plastics Impact Your Endocrine System?
The Mystery of the Missing Multicellular Prokaryotes
The genomes of prokaryotes, however, tend to collapse in size in the face of genetic drift, as suggested by work done by Howard Ochman of the University of Texas, Austin and Louis-Marie Bobay, now at North Carolina State University. It’s not clear why, but it may be because gene regulation in prokaryotes is much less… Continue reading The Mystery of the Missing Multicellular Prokaryotes
COVID-19 Leaves Its Mark on the Brain. Significant Drops in IQ Scores Are Noted.
COVID-19 Leaves Its Mark on the Brain. Significant Drops in IQ Scores Are Noted Research shows that even mild COVID-19 can lead to the equivalent of seven years of brain aging By Ziyad Al-Aly & The Conversation US Eva Almqvist/Alamy Stock Vector The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication… Continue reading COVID-19 Leaves Its Mark on the Brain. Significant Drops in IQ Scores Are Noted.
Entrepreneurs Face Major Headwinds Due to Big Government Policies
The specter of stagflation has returned. On April 25th, The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that GDP only grew by 1.6% in the first quarter of this year, well below expectations. Consumer spending on goods actually declined in the quarter as ordinary Americans are financially tapped out. The report also showed inflation remains stubbornly high, continuing a recent… Continue reading Entrepreneurs Face Major Headwinds Due to Big Government Policies
A Rosetta Stone for Mathematics
In 1940, from a jailhouse in Rouen, France, André Weil wrote one of the most consequential letters of 20th-century mathematics. He was serving time for refusing to join the French army, and he filled his days in part by writing letters to his sister, Simone, an accomplished philosopher living in London. In a previous letter,… Continue reading A Rosetta Stone for Mathematics