Computer Scientists Invent an Efficient New Way to Count

Let’s return to Hamlet, but this time your working memory — consisting of a whiteboard — has room for just 100 words. Once the play starts, you write down the first 100 words you hear, again skipping any repeats. When the space is full, press pause and flip a coin for each word. Heads, and… Continue reading Computer Scientists Invent an Efficient New Way to Count

Scientists Find a Fast Way to Describe Quantum Systems

The new result is the fruit of several years’ worth of scientific labor. Prior research by Anshu and others got part of the way there. Those researchers developed an algorithm that could deduce a system’s Hamiltonian using a reasonable amount of sample data: The amount needed increased only as a polynomial function of the number… Continue reading Scientists Find a Fast Way to Describe Quantum Systems

How Do Chemicals in Plastics Impact Your Endocrine System?

The translucent exterior of a plastic soda bottle hides a secret in plain sight: hundreds of synthetic chemicals embedded in its seemingly innocuous material. These chemicals give the plastic its structure, flexibility and durability, among other qualities—the same traits that also make plastic last for centuries, causing it to accumulate and endure in nature. Before… Continue reading How Do Chemicals in Plastics Impact Your Endocrine System?

The Mystery of the Missing Multicellular Prokaryotes

The genomes of prokaryotes, however, tend to collapse in size in the face of genetic drift, as suggested by work done by Howard Ochman of the University of Texas, Austin and Louis-Marie Bobay, now at North Carolina State University. It’s not clear why, but it may be because gene regulation in prokaryotes is much less… Continue reading The Mystery of the Missing Multicellular Prokaryotes

COVID-19 Leaves Its Mark on the Brain. Significant Drops in IQ Scores Are Noted.

COVID-19 Leaves Its Mark on the Brain. Significant Drops in IQ Scores Are Noted Research shows that even mild COVID-19 can lead to the equivalent of seven years of brain aging By Ziyad Al-Aly & The Conversation US Eva Almqvist/Alamy Stock Vector The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication… Continue reading COVID-19 Leaves Its Mark on the Brain. Significant Drops in IQ Scores Are Noted.

Dogged Dark Matter Hunters Find New Hiding Places to Check

If or when SLAC’s planned project, the Light Dark Matter Experiment (LDMX), receives funding — a decision from the Department of Energy is expected in the next year or so — it will scan for light dark matter. The experiment is designed to accelerate electrons toward a target made of tungsten in End Station A.… Continue reading Dogged Dark Matter Hunters Find New Hiding Places to Check

New AI Tools Predict How Life’s Building Blocks Assemble

They’ll be especially useful for creating rough predictions that can then be tested out computationally or experimentally. The biochemist Frank Uhlmann had the opportunity to pretest AlphaFold3 after running into a Google employee in a hallway of the Francis Crick Institute in London, where he works. He decided to look up a protein-DNA interaction that… Continue reading New AI Tools Predict How Life’s Building Blocks Assemble

What Does Milk Do for Babies?

Milk is more than just a food for babies. Breast milk has evolved to deliver thousands of diverse molecules including growth factors, hormones and antibodies, as well as microbes. Elizabeth Johnson, a molecular nutritionist at Cornell University, studies the effects of infants’ diet on the gut microbiome. These studies could hold clues to hard questions… Continue reading What Does Milk Do for Babies?

How the Solar Eclipse Will Impact Electricity Supplies

This article is part of a special report on the total solar eclipse that will be visible from parts of the U.S., Mexico and Canada on April 8, 2024. The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. During the most recent total solar eclipse visible in… Continue reading How the Solar Eclipse Will Impact Electricity Supplies