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The Computer Scientist Who Builds Big Pictures From Small Details

October 7, 2024

To better understand machine learning algorithms, Lenka Zdeborová treats them like physical materials.

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Can Space-Time Be Saved?

September 25, 2024

Curious connections between physics and math suggest to Latham Boyle that space-time may survive the jump to the next theory of reality.

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The Logic That Must Lie Behind a New Physics

September 25, 2024

The philosopher Karen Crowther digs into how the space-time fabric could possibly emerge from something non-spatiotemporal.

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Perplexing the Web, One Probability Puzzle at a Time

August 29, 2024

The mathematician Daniel Litt has driven social media users to distraction with a series of simple-seeming but counterintuitive probability puzzles.

Amanda Randles sits at a desk using a laptop in a library reading room
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With ‘Digital Twins,’ The Doctor Will See You Now

By creating digital twins of patients, Amanda Randles wants to bring unprecedented precision to medical forecasts.

He Seeks Mystery Magnetic Fields With His Quantum Compass

May 17, 2024

Alex Sushkov is updating an old technology with new quantum tricks in hopes of sensing the magnetic influence of dark matter.

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Does AI Know What an Apple Is? She Aims to Find Out.

April 25, 2024

The computer scientist Ellie Pavlick is translating philosophical concepts such as “meaning” into concrete, testable ideas.

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Pleasure or Pain? He Maps the Neural Circuits That Decide.

April 16, 2024

The work of the neuroscientist Ishmail Abdus-Saboor has opened up a world of insights into precisely how much pleasure and pain animals experience during different forms of touch.

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The Researcher Who Explores Computation by Conjuring New Worlds

March 27, 2024

Russell Impagliazzo studies hard problems, the limits of cryptography, the nature of randomness and more.

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