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New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 4,456 posts.
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Exponential Economist Meets Finite Physicist (2012)
[ An updated treatment of some of this material appears in Chapter 2 of the Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet (free) textbook, also mirrors a 2022 article in Nature Physics . . ]
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CO₂ and Other Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Human emissions of greenhouse gases are the primary driver of climate change. The world needs to decarbonize to reduce them.
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Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels were key to industrialization and rising prosperity, but their impact on health and the climate means that we should transition away from them.
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If the number of children is not growing, why is the population still increasing
50 years ago, the total fertility rate was five. This figure has more than halved. Yet the global population is still rising — why?
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New Causes of Autism Found in Noncoding DNA
Leveraging artificial intelligence techniques, researchers have demonstrated that mutations in so-called ‘junk’ DNA can cause autism. The study, published May 27 in Nature Genetics, is the first to…
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SpaceX Raptor: Methane fueled full-flow staged combustion cycle engine
SpaceX's new raptor engine is a methane fueled full flow staged combustion cycle engine and its so hard to develop, no engine like this has ever flown before!Now this topic can be really intimidating so in order to bring the Raptor engine into context, we’re going to do an overview of a few common types of rocket…
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What's the difference between 0/0 and 1/0?
From the highly eclectic blog of Mark Dominus
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The geometry of an electron determined for the first time
Physicists at the University of Basel are able to show for the first time how a single electron looks in an artificial atom. A newly developed method enables them to show the probability of an electron being present in a space. This allows improved control of electron spins, which could serve as the smallest…
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An old artifact kept in a vault outside Paris is no longer the standard kilogram
The international standard measurement of the kilogram is being officially changed on May 20, for the first time making all standard units defined in terms of basic physical principles instead of particular human-made objects. MIT professor and Nobel laureate Wolfgang Ketterle explains the change.
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Public's Dread of Nuclear Power Limits Its Deployment
In the ongoing effort to decarbonize U.S. energy production, one energy source often attracts great controversy.
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What was the death toll from Chernobyl and Fukushima?
When we think of nuclear safety, two accidents often come to mind: Chernobyl and Fukushima. What was the death toll and impact of these disasters?
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Death rates from energy production per TWh
Death rates are measured based on deaths from accidents and air pollution per terawatt-hour of electricity.
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Going Critical
Learn how things spread with playable simulations
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Adults learn language to fluency nearly as well as children: study
Scott Chacon is CEO of the online language learning company Chatterbug.
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Training the Brain to Eat Less Sugar
A recent study led by Evan Forman, PhD, a psychology professor in Drexel University's College of Arts and Sciences, shows that a computer game can be used to train its players to eat less sugar, as way of reducing their weight and improving their health.
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Fasting Affects the Brain
Mark Mattson reveals the surprising brain benefits of fasting.
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5-HTTLPR: A Pointed Review
In 1996, some researchers discovered that depressed people often had an unusual version of the serotonin transporter gene 5-HTTLPR. The study became a psychiatric sensation, getting thousands of ci…
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The Relationship Between Profanity and Honesty (2017)
There are two conflicting perspectives regarding the relationship between profanity and dishonesty. These two forms of norm-violating behavior share common causes, and are often considered to be positively related. On the other hand, however, profanity is often used to express one’s genuine feelings, and could…
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Biomarker for chronic fatigue syndrome identified
Stanford scientists devised a blood-based test that accurately identified people with chronic fatigue syndrome, a new study reports.
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Full Disk Images of Earth from GOES-17
Geostationary satellites maintain their position relative to earth. This means a parabolic dish can be pointed at the satellite and receive continuous downloads.
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Everything Is Correlated
Anthology of sociology, statistical, or psychological papers discussing the observation that all real-world variables have non-zero correlations and the implications for statistical theory such as ‘null hypothesis testing’.
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What predicts students’ drinking habits? How much they think others are drinking
A new study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University examined students’ genetic risk of alcohol use, roommates’ drinking habits and the perception of peer drinking.
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How pharmaceutical industry financial modelers think about rare diseases
How does industry decide whether curing your disease would be profitable, and how can you convince them it will be?