#universal-laws-physics--mathematics

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#quantum-mechanics
Science
fromArs Technica
6 days ago

Getting formal about quantum mechanics' lack of causality

Superposition of temporal order is a fundamental feature of quantum mechanics, despite existing loopholes in current experiments.
Philosophy
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
2 weeks ago

A 100-year-old theory might explain what's wrong with quantum mechanics

Pilot wave theory, developed by Louis de Broglie a century ago, potentially resolves quantum mechanics' paradoxes by describing particles guided by attendant waves rather than existing in superposition.
Philosophy
fromBig Think
2 days ago

The flimsy case for evolving dark energy

Theoretical physicists risk falling into motivated reasoning by overly believing speculative ideas without sufficient supporting evidence.
Science
fromNature
2 days ago

Entanglement and electronic coherence in attosecond molecular photoionization - Nature

Attosecond pulses from high-harmonic generation create entangled ion-photoelectron systems, enabling observation of coherent dynamics in quantum states.
OMG science
fromArs Technica
2 days ago

Research roundup: 7 cool science stories we almost missed

Raccoons exhibit flexible problem-solving skills, thriving in human environments by successfully navigating complex puzzles.
Philosophy
fromThe Conversation
4 days ago

Are multiverses real? An astrophysicist explains why it depends on how you define 'real'

The existence of the multiverse remains hypothetical, with no direct sensory evidence but potential indirect effects.
#quantum-computing
Science
fromNature
4 days ago

Quantum simulations verified by experiments for the first time

Quantum computers can potentially solve complex tasks, but high error rates hinder their current capabilities.
OMG science
fromNature
1 month ago

Why 'quantum proteins' could be the next big thing in biology

Fluorescent proteins from crystal jellyfish are being transformed into quantum bits to create highly sensitive quantum sensors for biological applications.
#universe
OMG science
fromBig Think
3 days ago

The Universe has changed by the time you finish this sentence

The Universe undergoes profound changes over time, despite appearing static on human timescales.
OMG science
fromBig Think
1 week ago

Ask Ethan: Does dark energy curve the Universe over time?

The fate of the Universe is determined by the total energy present and its relation to the initial expansion rate.
#black-holes
fromMail Online
1 month ago
Science

Watch the moment a star collapses into a black hole

A supergiant star in Andromeda (M31-2014-DS1) collapsed directly into a black hole without a supernova, observed as gradual dimming between 2014 and 2017.
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
1 month ago
Science

How much energy is released when supermassive black holes collide?

Binary black hole mergers release enormous energy and involve complex interactions near event horizons; many pairs are too distant to merge within the universe's age.
OMG science
fromFuturism
2 weeks ago

Scientists Say Something Bizarre Is Hiding Inside Black Holes

Mathematicians and physicists propose that prime numbers could describe black hole interiors, offering a novel mathematical framework for understanding these cosmic mysteries.
OMG science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
1 week ago

We thought we knew the shape of the universe. We were wrong

The shape of the universe remains unknown, with three possible geometries and the cosmic microwave background as a key to understanding its topology.
fromFast Company
1 week ago

Top 'I told you so' moments in the history of science

During the pandemic, many researchers expressed reluctance to share their ideas for fear of professional repercussions, such as losing credibility or funding. This culture of silence is particularly detrimental in critical situations like a pandemic, where new ideas could save lives.
OMG science
Science
fromNature
2 weeks ago

Founders of quantum information win top prize in computer science

Gilles Brassard and Charles Bennett won the Turing Award for establishing quantum information science foundations and enabling secure quantum communication and computing.
Philosophy
fromBig Think
2 weeks ago

Einstein showed space can curve, but data reveals a flat Universe

The Universe has a flat spatial geometry, confirmed through cosmic microwave background observations, rather than the curved or spherical shape many physicists theoretically preferred.
Running
fromiRunFar
1 month ago

Time, the Great Unifier

Dylan Harris's film 'The Cutoff' explores how time functions as both constraint and possibility in ultramarathon running, revealing triumph and heartbreak among runners pursuing the Cocodona 250 Mile cutoffs.
fromBig Think
1 week ago

Gravity and quantum physics are fundamentally incompatible

General Relativity has yet to let us down. Its success rate is 100%, from tabletop experiments to gravitational lensing and the formation of the great cosmic web.
OMG science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
3 weeks ago

Mathematicians find one pi formula to rule them all

For more than two millennia, mathematicians have produced a growing heap of pi equations in their ongoing search for methods to calculate pi faster and faster. The pile of equations has now grown into the thousands, and algorithms now can generate an infinitude. Each discovery has arrived alone, as a fragment, with no obvious connection to the others. But now, for the first time, centuries of pi formulas have been shown to be part of a unified, formerly hidden structure.
Science
Science
fromBig Think
3 weeks ago

A quirk of relativity is the closest thing to achieving immortality

While immortality is impossible due to thermodynamic laws, relativity reveals physical scenarios that maximize lifespan relative to the universe by manipulating spacetime through motion and gravity.
#cosmic-evolution
OMG science
fromBig Think
2 weeks ago

Ask Ethan: Does nature need to obey laws at all?

The Universe's fundamental laws and constants remain unchanged across space and time, despite the variety of structures formed throughout cosmic evolution.
OMG science
fromBig Think
3 weeks ago

Ask Ethan: How dark will the Universe become?

The Universe will eventually become dark and sparse as stars exhaust their fuel and die, with approximately 95% of all stars already formed, allowing estimation of future cosmic dimming.
OMG science
fromBig Think
2 weeks ago

Ask Ethan: Does nature need to obey laws at all?

The Universe's fundamental laws and constants remain unchanged across space and time, despite the variety of structures formed throughout cosmic evolution.
OMG science
fromBig Think
3 weeks ago

Ask Ethan: How dark will the Universe become?

The Universe will eventually become dark and sparse as stars exhaust their fuel and die, with approximately 95% of all stars already formed, allowing estimation of future cosmic dimming.
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
3 weeks ago

Have astronomers found a runaway monster black hole or just a very weird galaxy?

Astronomers discovered RBH-1, a potentially runaway supermassive black hole traveling at over three million kilometers per hour, though ambiguous data makes its true nature uncertain.
OMG science
fromBig Think
2 weeks ago

The case for and against a 5th fundamental force of nature

Current physics theories cannot explain fundamental cosmic mysteries like matter-antimatter asymmetry, dark matter, dark energy, and cosmic inflation, suggesting undiscovered forces or phenomena remain.
Education
fromenglish.elpais.com
1 month ago

The more than 2,000year search for impossible geometries

Hyperbolic geometry allows familiar Euclidean facts, like triangle angle sums, to differ, and virtual reality enables immersive visualization of such non-Euclidean spaces.
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
3 weeks ago

The universe's brightest supernovae are turbocharged by newborn magnetars

Superluminous supernovae are powered by newly formed magnetars—highly magnetized, rapidly spinning neutron stars that emit intense radiation, marking the first direct observation of a magnetar's birth.
OMG science
fromBig Think
2 weeks ago

Why "CPT" is the Universe's most unbreakable symmetry

CPT symmetry is a fundamental, unbreakable symmetry that applies universally to all physical laws and phenomena in the Universe.
#gravitational-waves
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
2 weeks ago
OMG science

A boom in gravitational waves leaves scientists with more questions than answers

A global network of gravitational-wave observatories has detected 218 candidate events, revealing complex structures in cosmic mergers and providing unprecedented insights into the universe.
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
4 weeks ago
OMG science

Newly discovered ripples in spacetime put Einstein's general relativity to the test

A global network of gravitational wave observatories has more than doubled detections of cosmic collisions, revealing a universe filled with black holes, neutron stars, and their mergers with unprecedented variety and characteristics.
OMG science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
2 weeks ago

A boom in gravitational waves leaves scientists with more questions than answers

A global network of gravitational-wave observatories has detected 218 candidate events, revealing complex structures in cosmic mergers and providing unprecedented insights into the universe.
OMG science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
4 weeks ago

Newly discovered ripples in spacetime put Einstein's general relativity to the test

A global network of gravitational wave observatories has more than doubled detections of cosmic collisions, revealing a universe filled with black holes, neutron stars, and their mergers with unprecedented variety and characteristics.
Science
fromBig Think
3 weeks ago

The right way to be a scientific contrarian

Scientific advancement occurs through incremental improvements and revolutionary paradigm shifts that replace foundational understanding with entirely new conceptions of natural phenomena.
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 weeks ago

Please drive carefully: scientists plan to transport volatile antimatter for first time

A core question we want to understand is where did matter come from. And then, if you know about antimatter, it's natural to ask, why is that not here? The process is not understood and we are hunting for clues as to why it happened, says Dr Christian Smorra, a physicist on the Baryon Antibaryon Symmetry Experiment (Base) at Cern.
OMG science
fromNature
2 months ago

Forget formalism: mathematics was built on infighting and emotional turmoil

In the weeks leading up to September 1891, mathematician Georg Cantor prepared an ambush. For years he had sparred - philosophically, mathematically and emotionally - with his formidable rival Leopold Kronecker, one of Germany's most influential mathematicians. Kronecker thought that mathematics should deal only with whole numbers and proofs built from them and therefore rejected Cantor's study of infinity. "God made the integers," Kronecker once said. "All else is the work of man."
History
OMG science
fromMail Online
3 weeks ago

Astronomers watch the birth of a magnetar for the first time

Astronomers observed the birth of a magnetar, an extremely dense neutron star with the universe's most powerful magnetic fields, through a superluminous supernova's unusual flickering light pattern over 200 days.
fromBig Think
1 month ago

Ask Ethan: Can quantum entanglement survive a black hole?

According to Einstein's General Relativity, for every black hole that exists within the Universe, there are only three properties that go into it that matter in any way: the black hole's total mass, the black hole's net electric charge, and the black hole's intrinsic angular momentum, and that's it. It doesn't matter what type of matter went into the black hole in order to form it; all that matters is its mass, charge, and angular momentum.
Science
Science
fromArs Technica
1 month ago

Photons that aren't actually there influence superconductivity

Virtual photons from quantum fields can degrade superconductor performance, providing insights into quantum mechanics and superconductivity behavior.
fromBig Think
1 month ago

How Einstein revolutionized the meaning of "where" and "when"

We now recognize that even ideas like "when" and "where" are subject to the laws of Einstein's relativity, and that in relativity, space and time are not absolute quantities, but rather are relative to each and every unique observer.
Science
Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

A Commonsense Critique of A Priori Metaphysics

Claims that metaphysics, rather than science, is the necessary foundation for scientific knowledge are false and revive pre-Enlightenment mystic scholasticism.
OMG science
fromBig Think
4 weeks ago

No, particle physics colliders cannot ever destroy the Universe

Particle physics experiments at higher energies reveal fundamental Universe mysteries while carrying theoretical risks, but current and planned accelerators pose no actual danger to Earth.
#prime-numbers
#anyons
fromAeon
2 months ago
Philosophy

Anyons: the two-dimensional particles that reframe reality | Aeon Essays

fromAeon
1 month ago
Philosophy

Anyons: the two-dimensional particles that reframe reality | Aeon Essays

fromAeon
2 months ago
Philosophy

Anyons: the two-dimensional particles that reframe reality | Aeon Essays

fromAeon
1 month ago
Philosophy

Anyons: the two-dimensional particles that reframe reality | Aeon Essays

fromBig Think
1 month ago

Ask Ethan: Will anything persist when the Universe dies?

Star-formation will eventually end, and then the last shining stars will burn out. Galaxies will dissociate due to gravitational interactions, ejecting all masses and leaving only supermassive black holes behind. And then those black holes will decay via Hawking radiation, leaving only cold, stable, isolated bodies, from which no further energy can be extracted, all accelerating away from us within our dark energy-dominated Universe.
Science
fromAeon
2 months ago

Our Universe has light not by chance but by necessity | Aeon Videos

Light is one aspect of the Universe that, for most people, holds a deep and noticeable value in everyday life, helping them to navigate, learn from, and connect with the world around them. Yet it's not particularly difficult to imagine life without it. After all, many nonhuman animals live in lightless environments. However, as Gideon Koekoek, an associate professor of physics in the research group Gravitational Waves and Fundamental Physics
Philosophy
fromFuturism
1 month ago

Astronomers Spot Huge Microwave Laser Blasting Into Space

This system is truly extraordinary. We're seeing the radio equivalent of a laser halfway across the universe. Fundamentally, masers and lasers are focused beams of light in the same frequency. In the realm of astrophysics, these can arise from clouds of dust being excited into a higher energy state from the light emitted by other sources, like stars and black holes.
OMG science
#time
fromAeon
1 month ago
Philosophy

Time is real - if you view it through the lens of heat | Aeon Videos

fromAeon
1 month ago
Philosophy

Time is real - if you view it through the lens of heat | Aeon Videos

fromMail Online
1 month ago

Consciousness can connect you to the entire UNIVERSE, theory suggests

Your consciousness can connect you with the entire universe, a groundbreaking study suggests. Experts from Wellesley College in Massachusetts claim that traditional connections in the brain cannot fully explain how we are aware of our existence. Instead, they argue that quantum physics taking place within our skull is what generates awareness. This includes the idea that particles can exist in multiple states and locations at the same time.
Science
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

If Justice Doesn't Exist, Then Numbers Don't Either

A drawn circle is at least something physical. You can see it, touch it, erase it. The skeptic can still say, "Circles are grounded in physical reality. Justice is different; it's just an idea in your head." So let's talk about the number two. Point to it. Not two apples, not two fingers, not a numeral on a page-that's just a symbol.
Philosophy
#big-bang
fromBig Think
2 months ago

Zeno's Paradox resolved by physics, not by math alone

The fastest human in the world, according to the Ancient Greek legend, was the heroine Atalanta. Although she was a famous huntress who joined Jason and the Argonauts in the search for the golden fleece, she was most renowned for the one avenue in which she surpassed all other humans: her speed. While many boasted of how swift or fleet-footed they were, Atalanta outdid them all. No one possessed the capabilities to defeat her in a fair footrace.
Philosophy
Philosophy
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

What the Second Law of Thermodynamics Reveals About Being Human

Humans, as physical beings, seek significance; creating order from nature's chaos enables a good life even if complete happiness is unattainable.
Science
fromBig Think
2 months ago

The most underappreciated achievement in theoretical physics

Modern physics explains luminous matter, black holes, gravity, cosmic expansion, and particle interactions through the Standard Model, quantum field theory, and General Relativity.
Philosophy
fromThe Conversation
1 month ago

Is the whole universe just a simulation?

Reality could be an advanced artificial simulation; technological progress in computing, virtual reality, and AI makes such simulations increasingly conceivable.
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

What Physics Might Be If It Were Left to Psychologists

Recent integrative approaches suggest that physics cannot be adequately characterized by magnitude-based distinctions alone, such as those implied by Big-P, little-p, and mini-p physics. While these categories capture differences in scope and historical impact, they fail to address the heterogeneity of physical activity itself. To remedy this, I propose the Five Fs of physics: force, friction, flux, formulation, and foundational structure.
Science
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
2 months ago

String Theory May Have a New Neuroscientific Niche

Mathematical tools from string-theory contexts can model biological branching networks such as neuronal wiring without implying a fundamental link between string theory and consciousness.
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
1 month ago

Physicists trace particles back to the quantum vacuum

RHIC experiments traced virtual particle pairs evolving into real, spin-aligned particle pairs, indicating vacuum fluctuations can produce correlated spin descendants.
#quantum-superposition
Science
fromWIRED
2 months ago

A New Bridge Links the Strange Math of Infinity to Computer Science

Problems in descriptive set theory can be reformulated as equivalent problems about communication in distributed computer networks, linking infinite-set logic with finite algorithms.
Science
fromFuturism
1 month ago

Physicists Think They Saw a Black Hole Explode

Primordial black holes can evaporate via Hawking radiation and may explosively release particles, potentially explaining a powerful 2023 neutrino detection.
fromNature
1 month ago

Large-scale analogue quantum simulation using atom dot arrays - Nature

Analogue quantum simulations are a useful tool for investigating these systems, particularly in regimes in which the applicability of numerical techniques is limited. For different simulator platforms, figures of merit include the electron bandwidth and interaction strength, temperature and the number of simulated lattice sites. Their use is further underscored by the ability to realize distinct lattice geometries, on-site degrees of freedom and by the physical observables that are accessible to experimental measurement.
Science
Science
fromMail Online
1 month ago

Scientists discover black hole spewing more energy than the Death Star

A supermassive black hole has emitted an increasingly powerful radio jet for four years after shredding a star, reaching unprecedented energy levels.
Science
fromFuturism
1 month ago

The Object at the Core of the Milky Way Might Not Be a Black Hole at All, Scientists Say

A fermionic dark matter core could mimic Sagittarius A*'s gravitational effects, potentially replacing the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole.
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
2 months ago

The Schrodinger equation is getting a glow-up for its 100th birthday

Including observers within the Schrodinger equation reveals new perspectives and may redefine boundaries of quantum mechanics, addressing enduring mysteries about measurement and reality.
fromFuturism
2 months ago

Astronomers Intrigued By Impossible Structure Around Dead Star

A dead star 730 light years away appears to be forming a powerful structure around itself - and despite their best efforts, astronomers aren't sure how. The cosmic corpse, designated RXJ0528+2838, is an incredibly dense stellar remnant known as a white dwarf, with a Sun-like star orbiting around it. This binary arrangement isn't uncommon throughout the universe, but what is strange is the structure surrounding the former body: a highly energetic and luminescent cloud known as a nebula,
Science
Science
fromBig Think
2 months ago

Ask Ethan: What does "gravitationally bound" mean in the expanding Universe?

Gravitationally bound systems remain together when mutual gravity overcomes cosmic expansion; only stronger expansion or external influences can separate bound components.
Science
fromBig Think
1 month ago

The most important quantum advance of the 21st century

The Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph theorem supports an ontic interpretation of the quantum state and constrains hidden-variable and epistemic models of quantum reality.
fromBig Think
1 month ago

Einstein the "lone genius" is a complete myth

Perhaps the most commonly told myth in all of science is that of the lone genius. The blueprint for it goes something like this. Once upon a time in history, someone with a towering intellect but no formal training wades into a field that's new to them for the first time. Upon considering the field's issues, they immediately see things that no one else has ever seen before.
Science
fromNature
2 months ago

Quantum spinning effect observed in a levitating magnet

A supercooled microscopic ferromagnet proves the existence of gyroscopic magnetic behaviour that has been long sought by physicists.
Science
fromwww.npr.org
1 month ago

Have astronomers witnessed the birth of a black hole?

A bright star in a nearby galaxy has essentially vanished. Astronomers believe that it died and collapsed in on itself, transforming into the eerie cosmic phenomenon known as a black hole. "It used to be one of the brightest stars in the Andromeda galaxy," says Kishalay De, an astronomer with Columbia University and the Flatiron Institute. "Today, it is nowhere to be seen, even with the most sensitive telescopes."
Science
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