Rachel Feltman: These days, science and magic are generally thought of as being diametrically opposed: fact versus fiction, reason versus fantasy, modern sensibilities versus archaic misconceptions. But that hasn’t always been the case. For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. My guest today is Larisa Grollemond, assistant curator in the Manuscripts Department at the… Continue reading In the Middle Ages, Your Zodiac Sign Decided Your Days
Tag: Quantum Stuff
Misinformation Really Does Spread like a Virus, Epidemiology Shows
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. We’re increasingly aware of how misinformation can influence elections. About 73% of Americans report seeing misleading election news, and about half struggle to discern what is true or false. When it comes to misinformation, “going viral” appears to… Continue reading Misinformation Really Does Spread like a Virus, Epidemiology Shows
Trump Victory Is a ‘Gut Punch’ to U.S. Climate Action
CLIMATEWIRE | President-elect Donald Trump won a second term Wednesday morning after promising to unleash fossil fuel development, slash pollution regulations and dismantle President Joe Biden’s climate agenda. Climate change was dwarfed by issues like the cost of living, immigration and the future of democracy during the campaign. But Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala… Continue reading Trump Victory Is a ‘Gut Punch’ to U.S. Climate Action
Election Grief Is Real. Here’s How to Cope
An impassioned election has come to an end, but the emotions of the past few months have not. One of the emotions a lot of people are experiencing is grief, more often associated with death than the voting process. Scientific American spoke with Pauline Boss, an emeritus professor at the University of Minnesota, who spent… Continue reading Election Grief Is Real. Here’s How to Cope
Earth Will Exceed 1.5 Degrees Celsius of Warming This Year
November 5, 2024 2 min read Earth Will Exceed 1.5 Degrees Celsius of Warming This Year This year won’t just be the hottest on record—it could be the first to surpass 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Paris climate accord aims to keep warming below that level when looking over multiple years By Andrea Thompson edited by… Continue reading Earth Will Exceed 1.5 Degrees Celsius of Warming This Year
We Need Scientific Brainstorming about Shared Global Dangers
November 7, 2024 4 min read We Need Scientific Brainstorming about Shared Global Dangers It is difficult to disentangle Russian and Chinese scientists from international science cooperation. That is a good thing By Frank N. von Hippel edited by Daniel Vergano In 1958 Soviet and Western scientists met in Geneva to discuss how to monitor… Continue reading We Need Scientific Brainstorming about Shared Global Dangers
Parents Labeling a Kid’s Friend a Bad Influence Can Backfire
November 7, 2024 4 min read Parents Labeling a Kid’s Friend a Bad Influence Can Backfire Is your kid in trouble? Blaming their friends is ill advised By Francine Russo edited by Gary Stix Olga Rolenko/Getty Images Parents have always blamed their teens’ misbehavior on their kids’ friends: they may say their kids “fell into… Continue reading Parents Labeling a Kid’s Friend a Bad Influence Can Backfire
Can AI Models Show Us How People Learn? Impossible Languages Point a Way.
Learning a language can’t be that hard — every baby in the world manages to do it in a few years. Figuring out how the process works is another story. Linguists have devised elaborate theories to explain it, but recent advances in machine learning have added a new wrinkle. When computer scientists began building the… Continue reading Can AI Models Show Us How People Learn? Impossible Languages Point a Way.
Rainwater Could Help Satisfy AI’s Water Demands
November 7, 2024 5 min read Rainwater Could Help Satisfy AI’s Water Demands A few dozen ChatGPT queries cost a bottle’s worth of water. Tech firms should consider simpler solutions, such as harvesting rainwater, to meet AI’s needs By Justin Talbot Zorn & Bettina Warburg edited by Ben Guarino In late September Microsoft announced that… Continue reading Rainwater Could Help Satisfy AI’s Water Demands
The Physicist Decoding the Nonbinary Nature of the Subatomic World
Many discoveries in physics flow from theory to experiment. Albert Einstein theorized that mass bends the fabric of space-time, and then Arthur Eddington observed the effects of this bending during a solar eclipse. Likewise, Peter Higgs first proposed the existence of the Higgs boson; nearly 50 years later, the particle was discovered at the Large… Continue reading The Physicist Decoding the Nonbinary Nature of the Subatomic World