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Abstractions blog

Illustration of colorful flowchart using raised blocks against a black background
proofs

Proof Assistant Makes Jump to Big-League Math

By Kevin Hartnett
July 28, 2021
Read Later

Mathematicians using the computer program Lean have verified the accuracy of a difficult theorem at the cutting edge of research mathematics.

A complicated arrangement of orange and purple bands against a black background.
condensed matter physics

The ‘Weirdest’ Matter, Made of Partial Particles, Defies Description

By Thomas Lewton
July 26, 2021
Read Later

Theorists are in a frenzy over “fractons,” bizarre, but potentially useful, hypothetical particles that can only move in combination with one another.

Micrograph of archaeal cells.
genomics

Plasmid, Virus or Other? DNA ‘Borgs’ Blur Boundaries.

By Jordana Cepelewicz +1 authors
Allison Whitten
July 21, 2021
Read Later

Scientists have reported large DNA structures in some archaea that defy easy categorization.

An illustration of far-apart particles connected by an aura.
explainers

How Bell’s Theorem Proved ‘Spooky Action at a Distance’ Is Real

By Ben Brubaker
July 20, 2021
Read Later

The root of today’s quantum revolution was John Stewart Bell’s 1964 theorem showing that quantum mechanics really permits instantaneous connections between far-apart locations.

Electron microscopy of T4 bacteriophages.
molecular biology

DNA Has Four Bases. Some Viruses Swap in a Fifth.

By Jordana Cepelewicz
July 12, 2021
Read Later

The DNA of some viruses doesn’t use the same four nucleotide bases found in all other life. New work shows how this exception is possible and hints that it could be more common than we think.

An illustration of a network of neurons, each one equipped with its own stopwatch.
neuroscience

Neurons Unexpectedly Encode Information in the Timing of Their Firing

By Elena Renken
July 7, 2021
Read Later

A temporal pattern of activity observed in human brains may explain how we can learn so quickly.

A large telescope with many segmented hexagonal mirrors.
astrophysics

Brighter Than a Billion Billion Suns: Gamma-Ray Bursts Continue to Surprise

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
June 30, 2021
Read Later

These ultrabright flashes have recently been tracked for days, upending ideas about the cataclysms that create them.

An array of blocky orange objects of all different shapes, with a single blue blob in one of the rows and columns.
artificial intelligence

Same or Different? The Question Flummoxes Neural Networks.

By John Pavlus
June 23, 2021
Read Later

For all their triumphs, AI systems can’t seem to generalize the concepts of “same” and “different.” Without that, researchers worry, the quest to create truly intelligent machines may be hopeless.

Photo of the blue-winged leafbird of Southeast Asia.
explainers

How Animals Color Themselves With Nanoscale Structures

By Viviane Callier
June 16, 2021
Read Later

Animals sculpt the optical properties of their tissues at the nanoscale to give themselves “structural colors.” New work is piecing together how they do it.


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