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Abstractions blog
origins of life
Peptides on Stardust May Have Provided a Shortcut to Life
The discovery that short peptides can form spontaneously on cosmic dust hints at more of a role for them in the earliest stages of life’s origin, on Earth or elsewhere.
machine learning
In New Math Proofs, Artificial Intelligence Plays to Win
A new computer program fashioned after artificial intelligence systems like AlphaGo has solved several open problems in combinatorics and graph theory.
memory
Scientists Watch a Memory Form in a Living Brain
While watching a fearful memory take shape in the brain of a living fish, neuroscientists see an unexpected level of rewiring occur in the synaptic connections.
astronomy
Four Years On, New Experiment Sees No Sign of ‘Cosmic Dawn’
When astronomers tried to confirm a signal from the birth of the first stars after the Big Bang, they saw nothing.
computational biology
Most Complete Simulation of a Cell Probes Life’s Hidden Rules
A 3D digital model of a “minimal cell” leads scientists closer to understanding the barest requirements for life.
neural networks
AI Overcomes Stumbling Block on Brain-Inspired Hardware
Algorithms that use the brain’s communication signal can now work on analog neuromorphic chips, which closely mimic our energy-efficient brains.
particle physics
The Mysterious Forces Inside the Nucleus Grow a Little Less Strange
The strong force holds protons and neutrons together, but the theory behind it is largely inscrutable. Two new approaches show how it works.
artificial intelligence
Computer Scientists Prove Why Bigger Neural Networks Do Better
Two researchers show that for neural networks to be able to remember better, they need far more parameters than previously thought.
geometry
An Ancient Geometry Problem Falls to New Mathematical Techniques
Three mathematicians show, for the first time, how to form a square with the same area as a circle by cutting them into interchangeable pieces that can be visualized.