At first, zero caused confusion. “Its ability to represent ‘nothing’ and enable complex mathematical operations challenged deeply ingrained theological and philosophical ideas,” Nieder said. Particularly due to the influence of the church, philosophers and theologians associated “nothing” with chaos and disorder and were disinclined to accept it. Many even feared it, considering it “the devil’s… Continue reading How the Human Brain Contends With the Strangeness of Zero
Tag: Quantum Stuff
Meet the First U.S. Species to Go Extinct from Sea-Level Rise
Meet the First U.S. Species to Go Extinct from Sea-Level Rise A tall cactus found only in Florida’s Key Largo is the U.S.’s first species to go extinct from sea-level rise By Ayurella Horn-Muller & Grist The Key Largo tree cactus was initially found growing in the United States in 1992 at a single site.… Continue reading Meet the First U.S. Species to Go Extinct from Sea-Level Rise
Bizarre Mineral Clumps Make ‘Dark Oxygen’ on Deep Seafloor
The dark seabed of the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) is littered with what look like hunks of charcoal. These unassuming metal deposits, called polymetallic nodules, contain metals such as manganese and cobalt used to produce batteries, marking them as targets for deep-sea mining companies. Now researchers have discovered that the valuable nodules do something… Continue reading Bizarre Mineral Clumps Make ‘Dark Oxygen’ on Deep Seafloor
Kamala Harris’s Record on Abortion Rights Shows Strong Support
Throughout Joe Biden’s presidency, he leaned on the outspoken former prosecutor and senator he selected as his vice president, Kamala Harris, to be the White House’s voice of unflinching support for reproductive health rights. Now, as Democrats rebuild their presidential ticket just a few months before Election Day, Harris would widely be expected to take… Continue reading Kamala Harris’s Record on Abortion Rights Shows Strong Support
The ‘Beautiful Confusion’ of the First Billion Years Comes Into View
Susan Kassin, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, showed images from previous observatories compared to JWST’s. It was like having the optometrist flip a lens so that the last lines on an eye chart come into focus. “Thank you, Webb — it’s a $10 billion difference,” she said. People chuckled and nodded. JWST… Continue reading The ‘Beautiful Confusion’ of the First Billion Years Comes Into View
How Can Math Help Beat Cancer?
When we think about medicine’s war on cancer, treatments such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy spring to mind first. Now there is another potential weapon for defeating tumors: statistics and mathematical models that can optimize the selection, combination or timing of treatment. Building and feeding these models requires accounting for the complexity of the body,… Continue reading How Can Math Help Beat Cancer?
Even a Single Bacterial Cell Can Sense the Seasons Changing
Every year, in latitudes far enough north or south, a huge swath of life on Earth senses that winter is coming. Leaves fall from trees, sparrows fly to the tropics, raccoons grow thick winter coats, and we unpack our sweaters from storage. Now scientists have shown that this ability to anticipate shorter days and colder… Continue reading Even a Single Bacterial Cell Can Sense the Seasons Changing
Massive CrowdStrike Tech Outage Highlights Global Vulnerabilities
Massive CrowdStrike Tech Outage Highlights Global Vulnerabilities Companies and governments alike need to step up cybersecurity practices in the wake of massive technology failures associated with a CrowdStrike update By Richard Forno & The Conversation US The Microsoft Corp. Windows Recovery screen displayed at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York, US, on… Continue reading Massive CrowdStrike Tech Outage Highlights Global Vulnerabilities
What Can Cave Life Tell Us About Alien Ecosystems?
If instruments do someday detect evidence of life beyond Earth, whether it’s in this solar system or in the farther reaches of space, astrobiologists want to be ready. One of the best ways to learn how alien life might function can be to study the organisms called extremophiles, which live in incredibly challenging environments on or… Continue reading What Can Cave Life Tell Us About Alien Ecosystems?
The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology
As more evidence links static to survival, a story is emerging that evolution may fine-tune the capacity to sense or carry charge just like any other trait. “The fact that there’s such a diverse range of species with different ecologies is what makes it so interesting,” said Beth Harris, a graduate student in Robert’s lab.… Continue reading The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology