To Pack Spheres Tightly, Mathematicians Throw
Them at Random

By KELSEY HOUSTON-EDWARDS

Four mathematicians broke a 75-year-old record by finding a denser way to pack high-dimensional spheres.

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Why have bacteria never evolved complex multicellularity? A new hypothesis suggests that it could come down to how prokaryotic genomes respond to a small population size.

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Related:
Single Cells Evolve Large Multicellular
Forms in Just Two Years
By Veronique Greenwood (2021)

ALGORITHMS

Scientists Find a Fast Way to Describe Quantum Systems

By LAKSHMI CHANDRASEKARAN

A team of computer scientists has
found a way to efficiently deduce the
Hamiltonian of a physical system at any constant temperature.

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Related:
The Quest to Quantify Quantumness
By Charlie Wood (2023)

QUANTIZED COLUMNS

How a NASA Probe Solved a Scorching
Solar Mystery

By THOMAS ZURBUCHEN

The outer layers of the sun's atmosphere
are a blistering million degrees hotter
than its surface. The hidden culprit?
Magnetic activity.

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Related:
Tiny Jets on the Sun Power
the Colossal Solar Wind
By Theo Nicitopoulos (2023)

QUANTA SCIENCE PODCAST

During Pregnancy, a Fake 'Infection' Protects the Fetus

By ANNIE MELCHOR
Podcast hosted by SUSAN VALOT

During pregnancy, the placenta turns on immune defenses before they are necessary and then leaves them on without harming itself or the fetus. A similar feat of immune trickery has been observed in neurons.

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