Room-Temp Superconductor Discovery Meets With Resistance

Plus: Black hole all-seeing eyes; New modular forms unleashed; Synthetic biology on "The Joy of Why"; AI fairness; Modeling ecosystem vulnerability

Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine View this email in your browser SUPERCONDUCTIVITY | ALL TOPICS   Room-Temperature Superconductor Discovery Meets With Resistance By CHARLIE WOOD & ZACK SAVITSKY A paper in Nature reports the discovery of a superconductor that operates at room temperatures and near-room pressures. The claim has divided the research community. Read the blog QUANTUM GRAVITY   Black Holes Will Destroy All Quantum States, Researchers Argue By THOMAS LEWTON New calculations suggest that the event horizons around black holes will eventually 'decohere' quantum possibilities — even those that are far away. Read the article Related:  The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End By George Musser (2020) NUMBER THEORY   New Proof Distinguishes Mysterious and Powerful 'Modular Forms' By JORDANA CEPELEWICZ Using "refreshingly old" tools, mathematicians resolved a 50-year-old conjecture, with consequences for number theory and theoretical physics. Read the article Related:  Ukrainian Mathematician Maryna Viazovska Wins Fields Medal By Thomas Lin & Erica Klarreich (2022) THE JOY OF WHY   Can We Program Our Cells? Podcast hosted by STEVEN STROGATZ By genetically instructing cells to perform tasks that they wouldn't in nature, synthetic biologists can learn deep secrets about how life works. Researcher Michael Elowitz discusses the potential of this field. Listen to the podcast Read the transcript Q&A   The Researcher Who Would Teach Machines to Be Fair Interview by SHEON HAN; Video by CHRISTOPHER WEBB YOUNG Arvind Narayanan uses quantitative methods to expose and correct the misuse of quantitative methods. Read the interview Watch the video ECOLOGY   Simpler Math Predicts How Close Ecosystems Are to Collapse By ANNA GIBBS By replacing thousands of equations with just one, ecology modelers can more accurately assess how close fragile environments are to a disastrous "tipping point." Read the blog Around the Web Lean Machine AI models are growing in complexity at an impressive rate. But is a larger model necessarily smarter? A group of scientists is hoping to trim some of the fat, Anil Ananthaswamy reports for Nature. Last year for Quanta, Mordechai Rorvig wrote about a theoretical justification for having larger neural networks. The proof suggests that scaling up networks beyond their apparent minimum requirements is critical for their success. On the Scent Scientists are uncovering how animals manage to follow odors through turbulent environments, Dana Mackenzie reports for Knowable Magazine. Scientists have only recently begun to sniff out the biomolecular details of olfaction. In a 2021 Quanta story, Jordana Cepelewicz covered researchers' first detailed glimpse of a smell receptor molecule in action. Follow Quanta Simons Foundation 160 5th Avenue, 7th Floor New York, NY 10010 Unsubscribe | About Quanta Privacy Policy | Terms | Contact Us   Copyright © 2023 Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent division of the Simons Foundation