Tech
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Quanta Magazine
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4
hours ago
Is Particle Physics Dead, Dying, or Just Hard?
In July 2012, physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Europe triumphantly announced the discovery of the Higgs boson, the long-sought linchpin of the subatomic world. Interacting with Higgs bosons imbues other elementary particles with mass, making them slow down enough to assemble into atoms, which then clump together to make everything else. A couple of months later, I took a job as… Source
Tech
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Quanta Magazine
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3
days ago
Monster Neutrino Could Be a Messenger of Ancient Black Holes
Nearly three years ago, a particle from space slammed into the Mediterranean Sea and lit up the partially complete Cubic Kilometer Neutrino Telescope (KM3NET) detector off the coast of Sicily. The particle was a neutrino, a fundamental component of matter commonly known for its ability to slip through other matter unnoticed. The IceCube observatory in Antarctica, a comparable detector that has… Source
Tech
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Quanta Magazine
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5
days ago
How Animals Build a Sense of Direction
On a remote island in the Indian Ocean, six closely watched bats took to the star-draped skies. As they flew across the seven-acre speck of land, devices implanted in their brains pinged data back to a group of sleepy-eyed neuroscientists monitoring them from below. The researchers were working to understand how these flying mammals, who have brains not unlike our own, develop a sense of direction… Source
Tech
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Quanta Magazine
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6
days ago
Two Twisty Shapes Resolve a Centuries-Old Topology Puzzle
Imagine if our skies were always filled with a thick layer of opaque clouds. With no way to see the stars, or to view our planet from above, would we have ever discovered that the Earth is round? The answer is yes. By measuring particular distances and angles on the ground, we can determine that the Earth is a sphere and not, say, flat or doughnut-shaped — even without a satellite picture. Source
Tech
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Quanta Magazine
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10
days ago
Why There’s No Single Best Way To Store Information
Just as there’s no single best way to organize your bookshelf, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to storing information. Consider the simple situation where you create a new digital file. Your computer needs to rapidly find a place to put it. If you later want to delete it, the machine must quickly find the right bits to erase. Researchers aim to design storage systems… Source
Tech
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Quanta Magazine
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12
days ago
String Theory Can Now Describe a Universe That Has Dark Energy
In 1998, astronomers discovered dark energy. The finding, which transformed our conception of the cosmos, came with a little-known consequence: It threw a wrench into the already daunting task of finding a version of string theory that describes the universe we live in. Dark energy is a “positive” energy that causes our universe to expand at an accelerating rate. But the best-understood models… Source
Tech
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Quanta Magazine
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14
days ago
Cells Use ‘Bioelectricity’ To Coordinate and Make Group Decisions
We’re used to thinking of the brain as an electric organ. The rest of the body? Not so much. But it would be a mistake to dismiss your other tissues as dumb hunks of electrically inert flesh. Even the protective layers of cells that compose your skin and line your organs use electrical signals to make decisions, according to recent research. Results published in Nature show that cells use… Source
Tech
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Quanta Magazine
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17
days ago
Using AI, Mathematicians Find Hidden Glitches in Fluid Equations
Nearly 200 years ago, the physicists Claude-Louis Navier and George Gabriel Stokes put the finishing touches on a set of equations that describe how fluids swirl. And for nearly 200 years, the Navier-Stokes equations have served as an unimpeachable theory of how fluids in the real world behave — from ocean currents threading their way between the continents to air wrapping around an aircraft’s… Source
Tech
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Quanta Magazine
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19
days ago
Distinct AI Models Seem To Converge On How They Encode Reality
Read a story about dogs, and you may remember it the next time you see one bounding through a park. That’s only possible because you have a unified concept of “dog” that isn’t tied to words or images alone. Bulldog or border collie, barking or getting its belly rubbed, a dog can be many things while still remaining a dog. Artificial intelligence systems aren’t always so lucky. Source
Tech
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Quanta Magazine
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21
days ago
In Quantum Mechanics, Nothingness Is the Potential To Be Anything
Suppose you want to empty a box. Really, truly empty it. You remove all its visible contents, pump out any gases, and — applying some science-fiction technology — evacuate any unseeable material such as dark matter. According to quantum mechanics, what’s left inside? It sounds like a trick question. And in quantum mechanics, you know to expect a trick answer. Not only is the box still filled… Source
