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Abstractions blog

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Photo of man with gold-rimmed glasses and a pin-striped button-up shirt posing with his hand on an early hominid skeleton
Nobel Prize

Geneticist Awarded Nobel Prize for Studies of Extinct Human Ancestors

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
October 3, 2022
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Svante Pääbo has been awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for studying our extinct ancestors’ DNA.

synthetic biology

Biologists Use Genetic Circuits to Program Plant Roots

By Joanna Thompson
September 28, 2022
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Using inserted genetic circuitry, synthetic biologists controlled the growth of plant roots for the first time.

A spacecraft, laptop, QR code and CD
information theory

How Mathematical Curves Enable Advanced Communication

By Jordana Cepelewicz
September 19, 2022
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A simple geometric idea has been used to power advances in information theory, cryptography and even blockchain technology.

A video of a large chunk of ice breaking off of a glacier and crashing into the ocean.]
complex systems

Chaos Researchers Can Now Predict Perilous Points of No Return

By Ben Brubaker
September 15, 2022
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A custom-built machine learning algorithm can predict when a complex system is about to switch to a wildly different mode of behavior.

A transformer model is superimposed on a human brain with a red background
neural networks

How Transformers Seem to Mimic Parts of the Brain

By Stephen Ornes
September 12, 2022
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Neural networks originally designed for language processing turn out to be great models of how our brains understand places.

Illustration of thumbs flipping coins.
information theory

How Shannon Entropy Imposes Fundamental Limits on Communication

By Kevin Hartnett
September 6, 2022
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What’s a message, really? Claude Shannon recognized that the elemental ingredient is surprise.

A yellow and orange blob of light appears against a purple grainy background.
astronomy

Webb Space Telescope Snaps Its First Photo of an Exoplanet

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
September 1, 2022
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The grainy image of a “super-Jupiter” is a sign of what’s to come as the telescope’s exoplanet observations ramp up.

immunology

Bacteria’s Immune Sensors Reveal a Novel Way to Detect Viruses

By Annie Melchor
August 29, 2022
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A new study reveals that bacteria can fight viruses in a surprisingly elegant way that has no known counterpart in more complex life.

cryptography

‘Post-Quantum’ Cryptography Scheme Is Cracked on a Laptop

By Jordana Cepelewicz
August 24, 2022
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Two researchers have broken an encryption protocol that many saw as a promising defense against the power of quantum computing.


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