Turing’s diagonalization proof is a version of this game where the questions run through the infinite list of possible algorithms, repeatedly asking, “Can this algorithm solve the problem we’d like to prove uncomputable?” “It’s sort of ‘infinity questions,’” Williams said. To win the game, Turing needed to craft a problem where the answer is no … Read more
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Science routinely puts forward theories, then batters them with data till only one is left standing. In the fledgling science of consciousness, a dominant theory has yet to emerge. More than 20 are still taken seriously. It’s not for want of data. Ever since Francis … Read more
Naaman and his team discovered that chiral molecules filter electrons based on the direction of their spin. Electrons with one spin orientation will move more efficiently across a chiral molecule in one direction than the other. Electrons with the opposite spin move more freely the other way. To understand why, imagine throwing a Frisbee that … Read more
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. To catch a glimpse of the subatomic world’s unimaginably fleet-footed particles, you need to produce unimaginably brief flashes of light. Anne L’Huillier, Pierre Agostini, and Ferenc Krausz have shared the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work in developing the ability to illuminate … Read more
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. On warm summer nights, green lacewings flutter around bright lanterns in backyards and at campsites. The insects, with their veil-like wings, are easily distracted from their natural preoccupation with sipping on flower nectar, avoiding predatory bats, and reproducing. Small clutches of the eggs they lay … Read more
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Scientists have come to realize that in the soil and rocks beneath our feet there lies a vast biosphere with a global volume nearly twice that of all the world’s oceans. Little is known about these underground organisms, who represent most of the planet’s microbial … Read more
The unique model of this story appeared in Quanta Journal. In 1917, the Japanese mathematician Sōichi Kakeya posed what at first appeared like nothing greater than a enjoyable train in geometry. Lay an infinitely skinny, inch-long needle on a flat floor, then rotate it in order that it factors in each path in flip. What’s … Read more
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The unique model of this story appeared in Quanta Journal. Of the 100 trillion neutrinos that cross via you each second, most come from the solar or Earth’s environment. However a smattering of the particles—these transferring a lot quicker than the remaining—traveled right here from highly effective sources farther away. For many years, astrophysicists have … Read more
What is obvious is that the mind should be capable of precisely regulate how robust a psychological picture is to keep away from confusion between fantasy and actuality. “The mind has this actually cautious balancing act that it has to carry out,” Naselaris stated. “In some sense it’ll interpret psychological imagery as actually because it … Read more
The unique model of this story appeared in Quanta Journal. Up to now this 12 months, Quanta has chronicled three main advances in Ramsey idea, the examine of learn how to keep away from creating mathematical patterns. The primary consequence put a brand new cap on how huge a set of integers might be with … Read more