How Big Can the Quantum World Be?

 Physicists Probe the Limits.

Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine View this email in your browser QUANTUM PHYSICS | ALL TOPICS How Big Can the Quantum World Be? Physicists Probe the Limits. By PHILIP BALL By showing that even large objects can exhibit bizarre quantum behaviors, physicists hope to illuminate the mystery of quantum collapse, identify the quantum nature of gravity, and perhaps even make Schrödinger's cat a reality. Read the article GRAPH THEORY   How Big Data Carried Graph Theory Into New Dimensions By STEPHEN ORNES How would you represent peer pressure on a graph with edges and vertices? New tools are emerging to help researchers better model intricate relationships. Read the article Related:  Mathematicians Solve Decades-Old Classification Problem by Steve Nadis EVOLUTION   How Do New Organs Evolve? A Beetle Gland Shows the Way. By VIVIANE CALLIER The evolution of a defensive gland in beetles shows how organs can arise from novel cells carving out new functional niches for their neighbors. Read the article Related:  Insects Conquered a Watery Realm With Just Two New Genes by Vivane Callier (2017) COMPUTATIONAL COMPLEXITY   Computer Scientists Discover Limits of Major Research Algorithm By NICK THIEME The most widely used technique for finding the largest or smallest values of a math function turns out to be a fundamentally difficult computational problem. Read the blog Related:  Mathematician Measures the Repulsive Force Within Polynomials by Kevin Hartnett (2020) QUANTA SCIENCE PODCAST   Radioactivity May Fuel Life Deep Underground and Inside Other Worlds Podcast hosted by SUSAN VALOT; Story by JORDANA CEPELEWICZ New work suggests that the radiolytic splitting of water supports giant subsurface ecosystems of life on Earth — and could do it elsewhere, too. Listen to the podcast Read the article Around the Web Skewed Representations As politicians redraw the voting maps, mathematicians will be watching and analyzing the results with sophisticated new tools, Siobhan Roberts reports for MIT Tech Review. The Supreme Court has ruled against partisan map-drawing — but it hasn't defined what counts as partisanship or how to recognize it. In 2017, Erica Klarreich wrote for Quanta about the mathematicians developing ways to fix that problem. Fresh Pi A supercomputer has calculated pi to record accuracy with record speed, The Guardian reports. The last digit crunched — some 62.8 trillion places after the decimal — is a 4. Pi never ends, so even that result is rough. In 2019, mathematicians proved an idea for testing when it's possible to find fractions that approximate irrational numbers, as Kevin Hartnett reported at the time for Quanta. Follow Quanta Simons Foundation 160 5th Avenue, 7th Floor New York, NY 10010 Unsubscribe | About Quanta Privacy Policy | Terms | Contact Us   Copyright © 2021 Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent division of the Simons Foundation