November 4, 2024 4 min read The Myth that Musicians Die at 27 Shows How Superstitions Are Made Famous people who die at age 27, such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse, get even more famous because of the mythology surrounding that number—an example of how modern folklore emerges By Rachel Nuwer edited… Continue reading The Myth that Musicians Die at 27 Shows How Superstitions Are Made
The Rise of DeepSeek Is Unreservedly Bullish For the U.S.
Oil is the most important commodity in the world when it comes to human flourishing, and nothing else comes close. Stop and think about how intensely inconvenient and impoverished life would be without the goods and services made possible by oil, along with the remarkable advances in work productivity that never would have happened absent… Continue reading The Rise of DeepSeek Is Unreservedly Bullish For the U.S.
Heat Destroys All Order. Except for in This One Special Case.
Sunlight melts snowflakes. Fire turns logs into soot and smoke. A hot oven will make a magnet lose its pull. Physicists know from countless examples that if you crank the temperature high enough, structures and patterns break down. Now, though, they’ve cooked up a striking exception. In a string of results over the past few… Continue reading Heat Destroys All Order. Except for in This One Special Case.
Trump’s Fight Against Online Censorship Quickly Goes Global
Above, tech executives at Trump’s inaugural. Looking on at far left: Marco Rubio, who is taking the battle against online censorship global as the new Secretary of State. By Ben Weingarten, RealClearInvestigationsJanuary 28, 2025 Flanked by some of the Big Tech executives whose companies had suppressed the views of his supporters throughout his predecessor’s term,… Continue reading Trump’s Fight Against Online Censorship Quickly Goes Global
These Bird Nests Show Signs of an Architectural ‘Culture’
November 5, 2024 2 min read These Bird Nests Show Signs of an Architectural ‘Culture’ Culture may play a role in how birds build collectively in the Kalahari Desert By Gennaro Tomma edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier White-browed Sparrow-Weaver nests and roosts. Wolfgang Kaehler/Alamy Stock Photo From long and winding migration flights to intricate songs… Continue reading These Bird Nests Show Signs of an Architectural ‘Culture’
Concept Cells Help Your Brain Abstract Information and Build Memories
He knew that his observation of one neuron firing didn’t mean there was only one neuron for every concept. If that were true, “the chance of finding it would be close to zero,” he said. “I used to joke that, if this were the case, I should quit science and start gambling because I would… Continue reading Concept Cells Help Your Brain Abstract Information and Build Memories
The Jagged, Monstrous Function That Broke Calculus
Calculus is a powerful mathematical tool. But for hundreds of years after its invention in the 17th century, it stood on a shaky foundation. Its core concepts were rooted in intuition and informal arguments, rather than precise, formal definitions. Two schools of thought emerged in response, according to Michael Barany, a historian of math and… Continue reading The Jagged, Monstrous Function That Broke Calculus
New Book-Sorting Algorithm Almost Reaches Perfection
Computer scientists often deal with abstract problems that are hard to comprehend, but an exciting new algorithm matters to anyone who owns books and at least one shelf. The algorithm addresses something called the library sorting problem (more formally, the “list labeling” problem). The challenge is to devise a strategy for organizing books in some… Continue reading New Book-Sorting Algorithm Almost Reaches Perfection
Who Is More Noble: Tim Kaine or Pete Hegseth?
I was in Florida last week, the day Tim Kaine attacked Pete Hegseth during his confirmation hearings. Kaine is the type of guy who doesn’t know what a “first down” is. Hegseth is a bad ass, highly decorated Army officer who served in combat roles in Iraq and Afghanistan. My phone was blowing-up all day… Continue reading Who Is More Noble: Tim Kaine or Pete Hegseth?
The Kardashev Scale
The Kardashev Scale < !- end of Google Analytics Code Snippet by GA4WP–> // tabnab protection window.addEventListener(‘load’, function () { // make all links have rel=”noopener noreferrer” document.querySelectorAll(‘a[target=”_blank”]’).forEach(link => { link.setAttribute(‘rel’, ‘noopener noreferrer’); }); }); ]]> Podcast: Download MYS348: Humanity has come a long way in the last few thousand years, but we still have… Continue reading The Kardashev Scale