Month: March 2022
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Spinosaurus had bones built for swimming
More than 90 million years ago, a dinosaur similar in size to T. rex cruised through shallow waters in search of prey, scientists reported today in the journal Nature. A number of ancient reptiles such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs are known to have had marine lifestyles, but dinosaurs have generally been considered landlubbers. However, an…
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What are Switchblade drones, and how do they work?
This story was first published on March 22, 2022. It has been updated since that time. American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan in the 2000s and early 2010s had a problem. The country’s terrain, with steep mountains, sharp hills, and deep valleys, made it easy for their enemies to hide, especially given their adversary’s local knowledge…
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Lawrence Udeigwe uses elegant math to understand complex systems of the brain | MIT News
It’s a tale familiar to many first-generation students: Neither of Lawrence Udeigwe’s parents had more than a sixth-grade education, and yet they were willing to sacrifice everything to educate their children. “My dad,” Udeigwe says, “would tell us, ‘I’m ready to sell everything for you guys to go to school.’” Udeigwe recounts that in Nigeria…
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Israel Joins the Quantum Computing Club – Space & Physics | Weizmann Wonder Wander
Building a working quantum computer is such a daunting venture that many believe it’s only for tech giants and superpowers, something on a scale beyond Israel’s reach. Prof. Roee Ozeri of the Weizmann Institute of Science begs to differ: “One of the world’s first computers, WEIZAC, was built here in the 1950s, when all Israel…
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How repairing DNA through gene therapy overcame high-profile failures
Gene therapy pioneer Richard Jude Samulski remembers when he avoided the words “gene therapy.” In the mid-2000s, he told people he worked on “biological nanoparticles,” even attempting to trademark the term. “We felt that was the disguise we were going to have to wear to go forward,” recalls Samulski, a professor of pharmacology at the…
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How the way we’re taught to round numbers in school falls short
Imagine needing to estimate the total cost of the items in your grocery basket to decide whether to put something back. So you round to the nearest dollar for each potential purchase, using the “round-to-nearest” technique commonly taught in school. That prompts you to round each item’s cost up if the change portion is at…
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How climbers help scientists study Utah’s famous red rock formations
As Kathryn Vollinger prepared to climb Castleton Tower, a 120-meter-tall sandstone formation in the desert near Moab, Utah, the outdoor guide assessed her gear. Ropes? Check. Helmet and harnesses? Check. Climbing rack? Check. That day in March 2018, Vollinger’s checklist also included an unusual piece of equipment: a seismometer. The excursion wasn’t solely for pleasure;…
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What is HDMI 2.1? | Popular Science
We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › HDMI 2.1 is the latest widely available version of HDMI, the high definition audio/video interface that’s been the gold standard for connecting media sources to your TV since the mid-2000s. Since then, there’s rarely been a…
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Mathematical paradoxes demonstrate the limits of AI — ScienceDaily
Humans are usually pretty good at recognising when they get things wrong, but artificial intelligence systems are not. According to a new study, AI generally suffers from inherent limitations due to a century-old mathematical paradox. Like some people, AI systems often have a degree of confidence that far exceeds their actual abilities. And like an…
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Even the sea has light pollution. These new maps show its extent
The first global atlas of ocean light pollution shows that large swaths of the sea are squinting in the glare of humans’ artificial lights at night. From urbanized coastlines along the Persian Gulf to offshore oil complexes in the North Sea, humans’ afterglow is powerful enough to penetrate deep into many coastal waters, potentially changing…