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Biologists Rethink the Logic Behind Cells' Molecular Signals
The molecular signaling systems of complex cells are nothing like simple electronic circuits. The logic governing their operation is riotously comple…
4 years, 2 months ago
A Massive Subterranean ‘Tree’ Is Moving Magma to Earth’s Surface
Deep in the mantle, a branching plume of intensely hot material appears to be the engine powering vast volcanic activity.
The post A Massive Subterra…
4 years, 3 months ago
One Lab’s Quest to Build Space-Time Out of Quantum Particles
For over two decades, physicists have pondered how the fabric of space-time may emerge from some kind of quantum entanglement. In Monika Schleier-Smi…
4 years, 3 months ago
The New Thermodynamic Understanding of Clocks
Investigations of the simplest possible clocks have revealed their fundamental limitations — as well as insights into the nature of time itself.
The …
4 years, 3 months ago
The Brain Doesn’t Think the Way You Think It Does
Familiar categories of mental functions such as perception, memory and attention reflect our experience of ourselves, but they are misleading about h…
4 years, 4 months ago
Eternal Change for No Energy: A Time Crystal Finally Made Real
Like a perpetual motion machine, a time crystal forever cycles between states without consuming energy. Physicists claim to have built this new phase…
4 years, 4 months ago
How Many Numbers Exist? Infinity Proof Moves Math Closer to an Answer.
For 50 years, mathematicians have believed that the total number of real numbers is unknowable. A new proof suggests otherwise.
The post How Many Num…
4 years, 5 months ago
DNA Has Four Bases. Some Viruses Swap in a Fifth.
The DNA of some viruses doesn’t use the same four nucleotide bases found in all other life. New work shows how this exception is possible and hints t…
4 years, 5 months ago
The Mystery at the Heart of Physics That Only Math Can Solve
The accelerating effort to understand the mathematics of quantum field theory will have profound consequences for both math and physics.
The post The…
4 years, 6 months ago
Radioactivity May Fuel Life Deep Underground and Inside Other Worlds
New work suggests that the radiolytic splitting of water supports giant subsurface ecosystems of life on Earth — and could do it elsewhere, too.
The …
4 years, 6 months ago