Birds flock. Locusts swarm. Fish school. Within assemblies of organisms that seem as though they could get chaotic, order somehow emerges. The collective behaviors of animals differ in their details from one species to another, but they largely adhere to principles of collective motion that physicists have worked out over centuries. Now, using technologies that… Continue reading How Is Flocking Like Computing?
Aileen Cannon: Portrait of a Judge in the Fractured Double Reality of American Justice
Above, U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the Trump classified documents trial in Florida and taking partisan heat for it. By Julie Kelly, RealClearInvestigationsApril 3, 2024 The residents of Fort Pierce, Florida, are not accustomed to seeing dark SUVs and flashing motorcycles speed down the town’s main thoroughfare bordering the shore… Continue reading Aileen Cannon: Portrait of a Judge in the Fractured Double Reality of American Justice
The Social Benefits of Getting Our Brains in Sync
When Dikker and her colleagues analyzed the results, published in 2021, they found that pairs who knew they were seeing neurofeedback grew more in sync over time — an effect driven by their motivation to stay focused on their partner, the researchers explained. More importantly, their heightened synchrony increased how socially connected the pair felt.… Continue reading The Social Benefits of Getting Our Brains in Sync
Kinkaid’s Cave (Egypt & the Grand Canyon)
Podcast: Download MYS305: In 1909, G.E. Kinkaid found a cave in the Grand Canyon containing Egyptian and Asian artifacts. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss the excavations that began at the time and then how the story vanished from the media. What is the truth of Kinkaid’s cave and what did it really contain? Get… Continue reading Kinkaid’s Cave (Egypt & the Grand Canyon)
Merging Fields, Mathematicians Go the Distance on Old Problem
In a way, the integer distance problem was a victim of its own early successes. The hyperbola proof, with its ingenious simplicity, is emblematic of the philosophy espoused by Erdős, a highly influential mathematician who often spoke of “The Book” — an imagined volume of the most elegant proofs in mathematics. The culture of simplicity… Continue reading Merging Fields, Mathematicians Go the Distance on Old Problem
Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of Shock Therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy has a public relations problem. The treatment, which sends electric currents through the brain to induce a brief seizure, has barbaric, inhumane connotations — for example, it was portrayed as a sadistic punishment in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. But for patients with depression that does not improve with medications,… Continue reading Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of Shock Therapy
Klingon Baptisms & More Weird Questions
Podcast: Download MYS304: It’s time for another set of weird questions posed by Cy Kellett of Catholic Answers to Jimmy Akin, including this time: should Elrond have killed Isildur?; reported time travelers; teleportation clones and confession; Klingon baptisms; Gulf War syndrome; and more. Get all new episodes automatically and for free: Follow by Email |… Continue reading Klingon Baptisms & More Weird Questions
First Comprehensive Plastics Database Tallies Staggering 16,000 Chemicals—And It’s Still Incomplete
First Comprehensive Plastics Database Tallies Staggering 16,000 Chemicals—And It’s Still Incomplete A massive new dataset highlights more than 4,200 plastic chemicals linked to health and environmental risks. But scientists say there are still large gaps in the scientific understanding of plastic ingredients By Katherine Bourzac Credit: Richard Drury/Getty Images Plastics are inescapable. That soda bottle… Continue reading First Comprehensive Plastics Database Tallies Staggering 16,000 Chemicals—And It’s Still Incomplete
Doubts Grow About the Biosignature Approach to Alien-Hunting
In 2020, scientists detected a gas called phosphine in the atmosphere of an Earth-size rocky planet. Knowing of no way that phosphine could be produced except through biological processes, “the scientists assert that something now alive is the only explanation for the chemical’s source,” the New York Times reported. As “biosignature gases” go, the phosphine… Continue reading Doubts Grow About the Biosignature Approach to Alien-Hunting
Michel Talagrand Wins Abel Prize for Work Wrangling Randomness
Random processes take place all around us. It rains one day but not the next; stocks and bonds gain and lose value; traffic jams coalesce and disappear. Because they’re governed by numerous factors that interact with one another in complicated ways, it’s impossible to predict the exact behavior of such systems. Instead, we think about… Continue reading Michel Talagrand Wins Abel Prize for Work Wrangling Randomness