NEW ORLEANS—In drab, windowless rooms strung along a tight corridor, migrants who have flooded into the United States in recent years trickle before immigration judges each weekday morning. These makeshift courtrooms are a far cry from the scorched border with Mexico and busy ports and airports through which these millions of immigrants have entered the… Continue reading The Rule of Law: A Visit to Immigration Court
New Quantum Algorithm Factors Numbers With One Qubit
In the past, researchers have tried to improve on Shor’s algorithm for factoring by simulating a qubit using a continuous system, with its expanded set of possible values. But even if your system computes with continuous qubits, it will still need a lot of them to factor numbers, and it won’t necessarily go any faster.… Continue reading New Quantum Algorithm Factors Numbers With One Qubit
James Madison’s Appeal to Reasonable Discourse
On June 8, 1789, James Madison rose before Congress and performed an about-face. The founder who had opposed the addition of a bill of rights to the Constitution conceded to pressure from advocates of adding amendments to protect Americans against abuses of government power. He gave a speech in which he defended amendments he never… Continue reading James Madison’s Appeal to Reasonable Discourse
Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill
Two blind spots torture physicists: the birth of the universe and the center of a black hole. The former may feel like a moment in time and the latter a point in space, but in both cases the normally interwoven threads of space and time seem to stop short. These mysterious points are known as… Continue reading Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill
Trump Fired the Heat Experts. Now He Might Kill Their Heat Rule
CLIMATEWIRE | When federal regulators were crafting a first-ever proposal to protect workers from extreme heat, they relied on government health experts who had been working on the deadly effects of high temperatures for years. Now that entire team is gone due to President Donald Trump’s personnel purges. It comes ahead of summertime heat waves… Continue reading Trump Fired the Heat Experts. Now He Might Kill Their Heat Rule
It’s Not Just You. Everything Really Is Getting More Complicated over Time
Whether we’re considering global trade, new technologies or scientific research, everything seems to become more complex over time. In the past, polymaths became well versed in various disciplines and made important contributions to each. But today it is far more difficult for a person to excel in multiple domains, in part because of greater specialization.… Continue reading It’s Not Just You. Everything Really Is Getting More Complicated over Time
NASA Is Approaching the Final Frontier of Mortality
In 2012 NASA stealthily slipped a morgue into orbit. No press release. No fanfare. Just a sealed, soft-sided pouch tucked in a cargo shipment to the International Space Station (ISS) alongside freeze-dried meals and scientific gear. Officially, it was called the Human Remains Containment Unit (HRCU). To the untrained eye it looked like a shipping… Continue reading NASA Is Approaching the Final Frontier of Mortality
Taking Sides: Wikipedia Advances Anti-Israel Narratives
Wikipedia, the world’s go-to site for information that professes to take a neutral point of view, is coming under fire for alleged anti-Israel bias in the sources it favors and content it delivers to millions of readers. The criticism is coming from several quarters, including a bipartisan group of 23 members of Congress who, in an April… Continue reading Taking Sides: Wikipedia Advances Anti-Israel Narratives
Buried Pirate Treasure and More Patron Questions
Podcast: Download MYS368: We regularly give Patrons the opportunity to ask Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli their mysterious questions and make them available exclusively to Patrons first and then later to the whole audience. This time first answers questions from Patrons’ children and then more from the Patrons themselves. Get all new episodes automatically and… Continue reading Buried Pirate Treasure and More Patron Questions
How Paradoxical Questions and Simple Wonder Lead to Great Science
We discovered that the cell has a beautiful buoyancy engine. It inflates like a hot air balloon and is a lot like a desalination plant. Aquaporins, [proteins that form pores in cell membranes], bring in fresh water that has a lower density, so it can suddenly skyrocket up 250 to 300 meters. It produces proteins… Continue reading How Paradoxical Questions and Simple Wonder Lead to Great Science