In 2019, Noel and her colleagues began collaborating with two theorists who had come up with an easier way of doing the experiment. They had worked out a way of setting aside one qubit that, like a canary in a coal mine, could serve as a bellwether for the state of the entire chain. The… Continue reading Physicists Observe ‘Unobservable’ Quantum Phase Transition
ECOWAS: In Need of Help in Niger?
News reports indicate that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu sought the national legislature’s backing for a possible military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to turn back a coup that toppled the government of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum. An ECOWAS intervention would have a better chance of succeeding if other nations joined… Continue reading ECOWAS: In Need of Help in Niger?
The Usefulness of a Memory Guides Where the Brain Saves It
Scientists have recognized that memory formation is a multistage process since at least the early 1950s, in part from their studies of a patient named Henry Molaison — known for decades in the scientific literature only as H.M. Because he suffered from uncontrollable seizures that originated in his hippocampus, surgeons treated him by removing most… Continue reading The Usefulness of a Memory Guides Where the Brain Saves It
Five Charts That Tell Us About the State of Public Education Right Now
A lot happens every year in U.S. public schools, and it can be hard to keep track of it all. To monitor trends in public education, the RAND Corporation fields over a dozen surveys annually to teachers, principals, and superintendents who are members of the American Educator Panels. These five charts taught us the most… Continue reading Five Charts That Tell Us About the State of Public Education Right Now
Why Mathematical Proof Is a Social Compact
Now, with the use of not just computers but even AI, how is the notion of proof changing? We’ve moved to a different place, where computers can do some wild things. Now people say, oh, we’ve got this computer, it can do things people can’t. But can it? Can it actually do things people can’t?… Continue reading Why Mathematical Proof Is a Social Compact
Pandemics Don’t Really End—They Echo
The public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic officially ended on May 11, 2023. It was a purely administrative step. Viruses do not answer to government decrees. Reported numbers were declining, but then started coming up again during the summer. By August, hospital admissions climbed to more than 10,000 a week. This was nowhere… Continue reading Pandemics Don’t Really End—They Echo
Reincarnation Research (Ian Stevenson)
Podcast: Download MYS275: Belief in reincarnation is found in multiple world religions, but it is also studied from a scientific perspective today as well. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss what parapsychologists have found about cases of the reincarnation type and ask what could explain their findings. Get all new episodes automatically and for free:… Continue reading Reincarnation Research (Ian Stevenson)
Ruins of Emperor Nero’s Theater Discovered near Vatican
Ahead of construction of a luxury hotel, archaeologists working at a site near the Vatican unearthed the ruins of a private theater where the notoriously cruel Roman emperor Nero once prepared for his public appearances. The whereabouts of the first-century-C.E. theater, which is described in Roman writings, were unknown until now. The researchers who made… Continue reading Ruins of Emperor Nero’s Theater Discovered near Vatican
China Ponders Russia’s Logistical Challenges in the Ukraine War
A saying attributed to General Omar Bradley notes that “amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.” Any attempt by China to use military force to seize Taiwan would be an immense logistical undertaking requiring moving large quantities of troops and materiel across the Taiwan Strait. What then, are Chinese observers learning from the logistical realm of… Continue reading China Ponders Russia’s Logistical Challenges in the Ukraine War
Alan Turing and the Power of Negative Thinking
Algorithms have become ubiquitous. They optimize our commutes, process payments and coordinate the flow of internet traffic. It seems that for every problem that can be articulated in precise mathematical terms, there’s an algorithm that can solve it, at least in principle. But that’s not the case — some seemingly simple problems can never be… Continue reading Alan Turing and the Power of Negative Thinking