The traveling salesperson problem is one of the oldest known computational questions. It asks for the ideal route through a certain list of cities, minimizing mileage. Despite seeming simple, the problem is notoriously difficult. While you can use brute force to check all the possible routes until you find the shortest path, such a strategy… Continue reading Researchers Approach New Speed Limit for Seminal Problem
The Beast of Gevaudan (Cryptid)
Podcast: Download MYS297: France, 1764. A terrifying and unknown beast roams the countryside killing more than 100 men, women, and children, and injuring 200 more. A royal reward is even issued for its capture or death. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli ask what made the beast so ferocious, why it attacked so many people, and… Continue reading The Beast of Gevaudan (Cryptid)
Consciousness Is a Continuum, and Scientists Are Starting to Measure It
What does it mean to be conscious? People have been thinking and writing about this question for millennia. Yet many things about the conscious mind remain a mystery, including how to measure and assess it. What is a unit of consciousness? Are there different levels of consciousness? What happens to consciousness during sleep, coma and… Continue reading Consciousness Is a Continuum, and Scientists Are Starting to Measure It
Lawyers…Do Better | RealClearPolicy
“It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.” Those were Chief Justice John Roberts’ thoughts in a 2006 voting rights case alleging Texas legislators had redrawn voting districts illegally diluting the votes of racial minorities. That sentiment applies with even greater force when lawyers and judges are the ones doing the divvying up.… Continue reading Lawyers…Do Better | RealClearPolicy
Hospice Providers Must Be Better Regulated
February 1, 2024 4 min read Too many hospice providers in the U.S. are run by private equity and for-profit corporations. A lack of regulation allows them to provide abysmal end-of-life care By The Editors Everyone deserves a good death—a choice about how they spend their final days, a peaceful, pain-free exit. That is the… Continue reading Hospice Providers Must Be Better Regulated
U.S. Asset or U.S. Adversary? Why Qatar Looks Worryingly Like Both
Shown, the skyline of Doha, capital of energy-rich Qatar, financial sponsor of terrorists whose moneyed influence has helped it win bipartisan plaudits in Washington. By Ben Weingarten, RealClearInvestigationsFebruary 7, 2024 After Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, one of the terrorist organization’s chief financial sponsors, hosts of its leaders, and backers of its propaganda found… Continue reading U.S. Asset or U.S. Adversary? Why Qatar Looks Worryingly Like Both
How to Build an Origami Computer
In 1936, the British mathematician Alan Turing came up with an idea for a universal computer. It was a simple device: an infinite strip of tape covered in zeros and ones, together with a machine that could move back and forth along the tape, changing zeros to ones and vice versa according to some set… Continue reading How to Build an Origami Computer
Homeland Security Cited Inaccurate Allegation to Censor New York Times Journalist
Above, Reid J. Epstein of the New York Times, target of the first known instance of the Department of Homeland Security attempting to silence a social media account associated with a national newspaper. His employer did little to push back. By Lee Fang, RealClearInvestigations and LeeFang.comFebruary 5, 2024 As the 2020 Election Day count dragged… Continue reading Homeland Security Cited Inaccurate Allegation to Censor New York Times Journalist
Plants Find Light Using Gaps Between Their Cells
The wild Arabidopsis, like most plants, has air channels between its cells. These structures are like ventilation shafts woven around the sealed cellular compartments, and they are known to play important roles both in photosynthesis and in oxygenating cells. But the air channels of the mutant plant were flooded with water. The team tracked the… Continue reading Plants Find Light Using Gaps Between Their Cells
What Makes for ‘Good’ Mathematics?
We tend to think of mathematics as purely logical, but the teaching of math, its values, its usefulness and its workings are packed with nuance. So what is “good” mathematics? In 2007, the mathematician Terence Tao wrote an essay for the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society that sought to answer this question. Today, as… Continue reading What Makes for ‘Good’ Mathematics?