Pencils Down: Experiments in Education
Latest Articles
Is Particle Physics Dead, Dying, or Just Hard?
Columnist Natalie Wolchover checks in with particle physicists more than a decade after the field entered a profound crisis.
Monster Neutrino Could Be a Messenger of Ancient Black Holes
Primordial black holes could rewrite our understanding of dark matter and the early universe. A record-breaking detection at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea has some physicists wondering if we just spotted one.
How Animals Build a Sense of Direction
Researchers recorded the neurons that shape directional navigation as bats explored a remote island off the coast of Tanzania.
Two Twisty Shapes Resolve a Centuries-Old Topology Puzzle
The Bonnet problem asks when just a bit of information is enough to uniquely identify a whole surface.
Why There’s No Single Best Way To Store Information
The math of data structures helps us understand how different storage systems come with different trade-offs between resources such as time and memory.
String Theory Can Now Describe a Universe That Has Dark Energy
In an unprecedented step, researchers crafted a detailed model compatible with the universe’s accelerated expansion.
Cells Use ‘Bioelectricity’ To Coordinate and Make Group Decisions
The discovery that tissues use electricity to expel unhealthy cells is part of a surge of renewed interest in the currents flowing through our bodies.
Using AI, Mathematicians Find Hidden Glitches in Fluid Equations
A $1 million prize awaits anyone who can show where the math of fluid flow breaks down. With specially trained AI systems, researchers have found a slew of new candidates in simpler versions of the problem.
Distinct AI Models Seem To Converge On How They Encode Reality
Is the inside of a vision model at all like a language model? Researchers argue that as the models grow more powerful, they may be converging toward a singular “Platonic” way to represent the world.