Plus: The biggest tiny triangles; Alan Turing's negative logic; A solar anomaly

Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine View this email in your browser ORIGINS OF LIFE | ALL TOPICS   Magnetism May Have Given Life Its Molecular Asymmetry By YASEMIN SAPLAKOGLU The preferred "handedness" of biomolecules could have emerged from biased interactions between electrons and magnetic surfaces, new research suggests. Read the article GEOMETRY   The Biggest Smallest Triangle Just Got Smaller By LEILA SLOMAN A new proof breaks a decades-long drought of progress on the problem of estimating the size of triangles created by cramming points into a square. Read the article Related:  Mathematicians Solve Long-Standing Coloring Problem By Anna Kramer EXPLAINERS   Alan Turing and the Power of Negative Thinking By BEN BRUBAKER Mathematical proofs based on a technique called diagonalization can be contrarian, but they help reveal the limits of algorithms. Read the blog Related:  How Gödel's Proof Works By Natalie Wolchover (2020) EXPLAINERS   How Scientists Are Tackling the Tricky Task of Solar Cycle Prediction By JAVIER BARBUZANO Scientists have struggled to accurately forecast the strength of the sun's 11-year cycle — even after centuries of solar observations.  Read the blog Around the Web An Interplanetary Internet NASA's Deep Space Network, which turns 60 this year, is working harder than ever. But with more probes exploring the solar system and NASA returning to the moon, the global communications system can't keep up with scientists' needs, Passant Rabie writes at Gizmodo. How do scientists on Earth communicate with spacecraft traveling to planets hundreds of millions of miles away? They use an interplanetary internet, as "father of the internet" Vinton Cerf discussed in a 2020 Quanta interview with Susan D'Agostino. The Latest Model of Early Us A new living model for an early human embryo, the most developmentally advanced one yet, has been grown from stem cells in a bottle. But that doesn't mean researchers can create an embryo "from scratch," Reuters explains. The findings, published in Nature on Wednesday, were first shared as a preprint in June. As Phillip Ball reported for Quanta at the time, several teams are working on such "synthetic embryos," which pose a host of biological, legal and ethical conundrums. 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