A Popular Alien-Hunting Technique Is Increasingly in Doubt
Recent controversies bode ill for the effort to detect life on other planets by analyzing the gases in their atmospheres.
-
Read more: A Popular Alien-Hunting Technique Is Increasingly in Doubt -
Can You View a Round Solar Eclipse Through a Square Hole?
Read more: Can You View a Round Solar Eclipse Through a Square Hole?Here’s a cool way to watch the eclipse on Monday—and learn about the weird physics of light while you’re at it.
-
Artificial Intelligence, Business / Artificial Intelligence, Science, Science / Physics and Math, Tech Industry, Tech News
Large Language Models’ Emergent Abilities Are a Mirage
Read more: Large Language Models’ Emergent Abilities Are a MirageA new study suggests that sudden jumps in LLMs’ abilities are neither surprising nor unpredictable, but are actually the consequence of how we measure ability in AI.
-
Never-Repeating Patterns of Tiles Can Safeguard Quantum Information
Read more: Never-Repeating Patterns of Tiles Can Safeguard Quantum InformationTwo researchers have proved that Penrose tilings, famous patterns that never repeat, are mathematically equivalent to a kind of quantum error correction.
-
You Can Count on Pi
Read more: You Can Count on PiOn Pi Day we answer the burning question: Is there any world in which pi does not go on forever?
-
How Do Heat Pumps Work?
Read more: How Do Heat Pumps Work?Our in-house physics whiz explains how a heat pump can warm your home without burning fossil fuels.
-
There’s a New Theory About Where Dark Matter Is Hiding
Read more: There’s a New Theory About Where Dark Matter Is HidingAn idea derived from string theory suggests that dark matter is hidden in an as-yet-unseen extra dimension. Scientists are racing to test the theory to see if it holds up.
-
Is This New 50-Year Battery for Real?
Read more: Is This New 50-Year Battery for Real?BetaVolt’s nuclear battery lasts for decades, but you won’t see one in your next iPhone—powering a mobile device would require a cell the size of a yak.
-
Google’s Chess Experiments Reveal How to Boost the Power of AI
Read more: Google’s Chess Experiments Reveal How to Boost the Power of AIBy rewarding computers that combined different approaches to solve chess puzzles, Google created an enhanced AI that could defeat its existing champion, AlphaZero.
-
A Celebrated Cryptography-Breaking Algorithm Just Got an Upgrade
Read more: A Celebrated Cryptography-Breaking Algorithm Just Got an UpgradeTwo researchers have improved a well-known technique for lattice basis reduction, opening up new avenues for practical experiments in cryptography and mathematics.
