When I asked ChatGPT to name the editor in chief of Spektrum der Wissenschaft, the German-language sister publication of Scientific American, the answer was, “I have the latest information until 2021, and at that time Dr. Florian Freistetter was the editor-in-chief of Spektrum der Wissenschaft. However, it is possible that the information has changed since… Continue reading New Tool Reveals How AI Makes Decisions
Category: Quantum Stuff
Useful Feedback, More Than Praise, Helps Students Flourish
“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” This proverb has become a cliché, but it remains a useful shorthand for self-sufficiency. If you want someone to succeed independently, give them the tools to do so. Within the realm… Continue reading Useful Feedback, More Than Praise, Helps Students Flourish
Here’s What the Supreme Court’s Clean Water Act Ruling Means to You
If you ever drank a glass of clean water, caught a freshwater fish, swam in a lake or even maybe avoided a flood, you have directly benefited from wetlands. But those benefits are drying up, thanks to a Supreme Court decision that has overturned five decades of wetland protections. The 1972 federal Clean Water Act… Continue reading Here’s What the Supreme Court’s Clean Water Act Ruling Means to You
Can Math and Physics Save an Arrhythmic Heart?
The heart’s electrical system keeps all its muscle cells beating in sync. A hard whack to the chest at the wrong moment, however, can set up unruly waves of abnormal electrical excitation that are potentially deadly. The resulting kind of arrhythmia may be what caused the football player Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills to… Continue reading Can Math and Physics Save an Arrhythmic Heart?
When Disaster Strikes, Is Climate Change to Blame?
Last November the spring weather in South America jumped from cold to searing. Usually at that time of year people would have been holding backyard barbecues, or asados, in the lingering evening light. But on December 7 the temperature in northern Argentina, near the borders of Bolivia and Paraguay, hit 115 degrees Fahrenheit, making it… Continue reading When Disaster Strikes, Is Climate Change to Blame?
How to Build a Big Prime Number
Over time, researchers developed the aforementioned approaches. The simplest way is just to guess. If you want a prime with 1,000 digits, for example, you could pick a 1,000-digit number at random and then check it. “If it’s not prime, you just try another one, and another, and so on until you find one,” said… Continue reading How to Build a Big Prime Number
World’s Largest Fusion Project Is in Big Trouble, New Documents Reveal
It could be a new world record, although no one involved wants to talk about it. In the south of France, a collaboration among 35 countries has been birthing one of the largest and most ambitious scientific experiments ever conceived: the giant fusion power machine known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). But the… Continue reading World’s Largest Fusion Project Is in Big Trouble, New Documents Reveal
There’s No Evidence for Claims That Environmentally Friendly Investments Are Bad for the Poor
CLIMATEWIRE | Conservatives are leveraging a new argument against ESG: It’s hurting poor families. Energy analysts say the criticism lacks any supporting evidence. But it builds on Republicans’ intensifying opposition to environmental, social and governance investing, which refers to the practice of considering risks like climate change when making financial decisions. Mandy Gunasekara, a former Trump… Continue reading There’s No Evidence for Claims That Environmentally Friendly Investments Are Bad for the Poor
The Key to Species Diversity May Be in Their Similarities
Back in 2001, the paradoxically high biodiversity on Barro Colorado Island inspired Hubbell to propose the groundbreaking neutral theory of ecology. Traditional ecology theory stressed the competition for niches between species. But Hubbell pointed out that species might not really matter in that equation because, in effect, individuals compete for resources with members of their… Continue reading The Key to Species Diversity May Be in Their Similarities
Recounting the History of Math’s Transcendental Numbers
It was not obvious that transcendental numbers should exist. Moreover, it’s challenging to prove that a given number is transcendental because it requires proving a negative: that it is not the root of any polynomial with integer coefficients. In 1844, Joseph Liouville found the first one by coming at the problem indirectly. He discovered that… Continue reading Recounting the History of Math’s Transcendental Numbers