Since then, scientists have wrestled with one striking characteristic of lambda: Its estimated value of 10−122 in Planck units is “the smallest measured parameter in physics,” said Cumrun Vafa, a physicist at Harvard University. In 2022, while considering that almost unfathomable smallness with two members of his research team — Miguel Montero, now at Madrid’s… Continue reading In a ‘Dark Dimension,’ Physicists Search for Missing Matter
Tag: Quantum Stuff
The Quest for Simple Rules to Build a Microbial Community
Then he found something more surprising. Ignoring the actual gene sequences, he looked directly at the molecular breakdown of a strain’s DNA. In the double helix of DNA, the four types of bases in the opposing strands are paired, with guanine (G) bound to cytosine (C) and thymine (T) bound to adenine (A). Unexpectedly, the… Continue reading The Quest for Simple Rules to Build a Microbial Community
Math’s ‘Game of Life’ Reveals Long-Sought Repeating Patterns
In 1969, the British mathematician John Conway devised a beguilingly simple set of rules for creating complex behavior. His Game of Life, often referred to simply as Life, unfolds on an infinite square grid of cells. Each cell can be either “alive” or “dead.” The grid evolves over a series of turns (or “generations”), with… Continue reading Math’s ‘Game of Life’ Reveals Long-Sought Repeating Patterns
Clashing Cosmic Numbers Challenge Our Best Theory of the Universe
What might they be? Perhaps a new fundamental force field, Hill said, or interactions among dark matter particles that we don’t yet understand, or new ingredients that aren’t yet part of our description of the universe. Some new physics models tweak dark energy, adding a surge of cosmic acceleration in the early moments of the… Continue reading Clashing Cosmic Numbers Challenge Our Best Theory of the Universe
Tiny Fossils Reveal Dinosaurs’ Lost Worlds
Enter the fossil gallery of a natural history museum, and you’re likely to encounter spectacular skeletons of some of the most manifestly awesome creatures ever to have walked our planet: dinosaurs. From towering sauropods and fearsome tyrannosaurs to tanklike ankylosaurs and horned ceratopsians, dinosaurs dominate our conceptions of the past. But to understand these animals… Continue reading Tiny Fossils Reveal Dinosaurs’ Lost Worlds
New Theory Suggests Chatbots Can Understand Text
Artificial intelligence seems more powerful than ever, with chatbots like Bard and ChatGPT capable of producing uncannily humanlike text. But for all their talents, these bots still leave researchers wondering: Do such models actually understand what they are saying? “Clearly, some people believe they do,” said the AI pioneer Geoff Hinton in a recent conversation… Continue reading New Theory Suggests Chatbots Can Understand Text
New ‘Chicken from Hell’ Discovered
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Were dinosaurs already on their way out when an asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago, ending the Cretaceous, the geologic period that started about 145 million years ago? It’s a question that has vexed paleontologists like us for more than 40… Continue reading New ‘Chicken from Hell’ Discovered
Syphilislike Diseases Have Plagued Humans for 14,000 Years
January 26, 2024 3 min read Ancient DNA recovered from Brazilian remains shows that syphilis and other treponemal diseases originated some 10,000 years earlier than previously thought By Ewen Callaway & Nature magazine The spiral-shaped bacterium Treponema pallidum (artificially coloured) causes not only venereal syphilis but also the infectious diseases yaws and bejel. Remains of… Continue reading Syphilislike Diseases Have Plagued Humans for 14,000 Years
Climate Disasters Prompt Another Home Insurance Company to Leave a State
January 26, 2024 3 min read The Hartford Financial Services Group is the latest insurer to say it won’t offer new policies to homeowners in California By Avery Ellfeldt & E&E News A home burns during the Dixie fire on July 24, 2021, in the Indian Falls neighborhood of unincorporated Plumas County, California. CLIMATEWIRE | Another… Continue reading Climate Disasters Prompt Another Home Insurance Company to Leave a State
Cats Can Hide Their Pain–But Not from AI
Household cats are a secretive species. Unlike dogs, they are masters at masking their feelings and intentions—possibly because of their evolutionary history as solitary hunters. This built-in stoicism makes it hard for cat owners and veterinarians to read signs of pain in a cat’s facial expressions and behaviors, but new artificial intelligence programs may be… Continue reading Cats Can Hide Their Pain–But Not from AI