The New Math of Some Temporary Things
New Math is an attempt to quantify the world using words and basic math.
New Math is an attempt to quantify the world using words and basic math.
Florida State University oceanographer Kevin Speer has a “new paradigm” for describing how the world’s oceans circulate — and with it he may help reshape science’s understanding of the processes by which wind, water, sunlight and other factors interact and influence the planet’s climate. Working with John Marshall, an oceanography professor at the Massachusetts Institute…
Scientists have taken a first early step toward escaping the limits of a technological principle called Moore’s Law by creating a working transistor using a single phosphorus atom. The atom was etched into a silicon bed with “gates” to control electrical flow and metallic contacts to apply voltage, researchers reported in the journal Nature Nanotechnology….
Narcissism has long gotten a bad rap. Its unseemly reputation dates back at least to ancient Greek mythology, in which the handsome hunter Narcissus (who undoubtedly would be gloating over his present-day fame) discovered his own reflection in a pool of water and fell in love with it. Narcissus was so transfixed by his image…
When it comes to data crunching, quantum computers will leave today’s fastest processors in the dust. For starters, a quantum computer would be able to store more bits of information in its memory than there are particles in the universe. And where a conventional silicon-based computer handles one computation at a time in sequence, a…
Research suggests that not only did wings evolve in dinosaurs earlier than previously thought, they may have evolved merely for courtship displays. A study in Science describes three Ornithomimosaur specimens – distantly related to birds – from Canada. Both juvenile and adult specimens had evidence of downy feathers, but only an adult had wing-like structures….
A new company backed by two Google Inc. billionaires, film director James Cameron and other space exploration proponents is aiming high in the hunt for natural resources—with mining asteroids the possible target. The venture, called Planetary Resources Inc., revealed little in a recent press release except to say that it would “overlay two critical sectors—space…