Plus: How AI learns language; The future of quantum gravity; Aperiodic tiling; DeepMind's matrix multiplying marvel; New Quanta Science Podcast

Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine View this email in your browser COGNITION | ALL TOPICS   Is It Real or Imagined? How Your Brain Tells the Difference. By YASEMIN SAPLAKOGLU New experiments show that the brain distinguishes between perceived and imagined mental images by checking whether they cross a "reality threshold." Read the article MACHINE LEARNING   Some Machines Learn Language Like Humans By STEVE NADIS The language you speak can impact the way that your brain hears certain sounds. A recent study suggests that artificial neural networks may work in a similar way. Read the article Related:  Researchers Discover a More Flexible Approach to Machine Learning By Steve Nadis QUANTUM GRAVITY   The Physicist Who Glues Together Universes Story by CHARLIE WOOD; Video by CHRISTOPHER WEBB YOUNG Renate Loll simulates reality by blending possible space-times together, generating a cosmos that looks a lot like ours. Read the interview | Watch the video Related:  How Our Reality May Be a Sum of All Possible Realities By Charlie Wood QUANTIZED ACADEMY   Math Patterns That Go On Forever but Never Repeat By PATRICK HONNER Simple math can help explain the complexities of the newly discovered aperiodic monotile. Read the column Related:  Hobbyist Finds Math's Elusive 'Einstein' Tile By Erica Klarreich DISCOVERIES   How a Computer Broke a 50-Year Math Record Video by CHRISTOPHER WEBB YOUNG and EMILY ZHANG Late last year, an algorithm developed by DeepMind beat a half-century-old record in efficient matrix multiplication. Days later, mathematicians built on it to push even further. Watch the video QUANTA SCIENCE PODCAST   How the Brain Distinguishes Memories From Perceptions Story by YASEMIN SAPLAKOGLU; Podcast hosted by SUSAN VALOT The neural representations of a perceived image and the memory of it are almost the same. New work shows how and why they are different. Listen to the podcast Read the article Around the Web Pattern Repository In 1973, the mathematician Neil Sloane published "A Handbook of Integer Sequences," listing known number patterns such as the Fibonacci sequence. It's become an internet database with 362,765 entries and counting, reports Siobhan Roberts for The New York Times. The Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences has spawned many mathematical discoveries and is now used as a go-to resource for mathematicians. In a 2015 interview for Quanta, Erica Klarreich discussed the repository with Sloane. Collapse Collapses There is no satisfying solution to the quantum measurement problem: To resolve it, physicists must either give up on objective reality or revise widely accepted physical laws, writes Anil Ananthaswamy for Scientific American. "Collapse theories" are an attempt to resolve the measurement problem by admitting a single, objective reality at the cost of the law of conservation of information. In 2022, Philip Ball wrote for Quanta about how searches for evidence of collapse theories have turned up empty. 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