Mass and Angular Momentum, Left Ambiguous by Einstein, Finally Get Defined By STEVE NADIS Surprising as it may sound, 107 years after the introduction of general relativity, the meanings of basic concepts are still being worked out.
Read the article | | | | |  | Hypergraphs Reveal Solution to 50-Year-Old Problem By LEILA SLOMAN In 1973, Paul Erdős asked if it was possible to assemble sets of "triples" — three points on a graph — so that they abide by two seemingly incompatible rules. A new proof shows it can always be done.
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Coloring Conjecture
by Kelsey Houston-Edwards (2021) |  | Quantum Algorithms Conquer a New Kind of Challenge By MORDECHAI RORVIG Computer scientists have found a new type of problem that quantum computers can solve dramatically faster than their classical counterparts. Is it the first in a new frontier of computational accomplishments?
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Correct Their Errors
by Katie McCormick (2021) | |  | Embryo Cells Set Patterns for Growth by Pushing and Pulling By MONIQUE BROUILLETTE Patterns that guide the development of feathers and other features can be set by mechanical forces in the embryo, not just by gradients of chemicals.
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Feathers, Hair — and Now, Shark Skin
by Jonathan Lambert (2019) |  | How Do Mathematicians Know Their Proofs Are Correct? Podcast hosted by STEVEN STROGATZ What does evidence look like in the realm of mathematical abstraction? Hear the mathematician Melanie Matchett Wood explain how probability helps to guide number theorists toward certainty.
Listen to the podcast
Read the transcript | | Platonic Reasoning
A new model of artificial intelligence called PLATO has taken a step closer to having common-sense knowledge of how objects behave. It does so by focusing on whole objects rather than pixels to learn about the laws of physics, reports Dana G. Smith for Scientific American. While human infants acquire this grasp on reality early in life, the inability to use knowledge about the world to form new inferences has plagued AI for more than 50 years. In 2020 John Pavlus reported for Quanta on a new approach making progress by blending logic and deep learning.
Jumping From Horses to Dragons
The marine creatures called sea dragons look fantastically different from their close relatives, the sea horses. Scientists combing through the their genomes may have found the reason why in sections of repeating DNA code called transposons, reports Kate Golembiewski for The New York Times. These "jumping genes" could have copied and pasted themselves into the spots where the sea dragons were missing key growth genes. In 2021, Max Kozlov reported for Quanta on how the fusion of jumping genes can have major impacts throughout genomes. Transposons are often lumped in with other non-coding regions of the genome as "junk DNA." Most of that DNA is truly nonfunctional but some, like transposons, can evolve genomic significance, as Jake Buehler explained for Quanta in 2021. | | | |
