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Abstractions blog

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A glass object being shaped by a blowtorch.]
Abstractions blog

Why Is Glass Rigid? Signs of Its Secret Structure Emerge.

By John Pavlus
July 7, 2020
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At the molecular level, glass looks like a liquid. But an artificial neural network has picked up on hidden structure in its molecules that may explain why glass is rigid like a solid.

Simple line drawing of a beating human heart.
Abstractions blog

How Your Heart Influences What You Perceive and Fear

By Jordana Cepelewicz
July 6, 2020
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The heartbeat and other bodily processes play a surprising role in shaping perception and cognition.

Animated illustration showing vulnerable red shapes become “infected” and turn green, amid immune blue shapes.
Abstractions blog

The Tricky Math of Herd Immunity for COVID-19

By Kevin Hartnett
June 30, 2020
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Herd immunity differs from place to place, and many factors influence how it’s calculated.

A DNA double helix being struck by a cosmic ray.
Abstractions blog

Cosmic Rays May Explain Life’s Bias for Right-Handed DNA

By Charlie Wood
June 29, 2020
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Cosmic rays may have given right-handed genetic helixes an evolutionary edge at the beginning of life’s history.

Gif of a grid of arrows whose directions flip up and down.
Abstractions blog

The Cartoon Picture of Magnets That Has Transformed Science

By Charlie Wood
June 24, 2020
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One hundred years after it was proposed, the Ising model is used to understand everything from magnets to brains.

The XENON1T detector’s time projection chamber.
Abstractions blog

Dark Matter Experiment Finds Unexplained Signal

By Natalie Wolchover
June 17, 2020
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Researchers say there are three possible explanations for the anomalous data. One is mundane. Two would revolutionize physics.

A falling apple.
Abstractions blog

Why Gravity Is Not Like the Other Forces

By Natalie Wolchover
June 15, 2020
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We asked four physicists why gravity stands out among the forces of nature. We got four different answers.

Diagram showing a colorful visualization of the simple Lie group
Abstractions blog

The ‘Useless’ Perspective That Transformed Mathematics

By Kevin Hartnett
June 9, 2020
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Representation theory was initially dismissed. Today, it’s central to much of mathematics.

The skeletons of a man and woman, showing the difference in their heights.
Abstractions blog

Males Are the Taller Sex. Estrogen, Not Fights for Mates, May Be Why.

By Christie Wilcox
June 8, 2020
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To explain why men are on average taller than women, scientists theorized about competition for mates. But the effects of estrogen on bone growth may be answer enough.


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