1
Mechanical Watch
Interactive article explaining how a mechanical watch works.
Top posts
Every blog post that took off on Hacker News, ranked by the votes of its best submission. 4,452 posts.
2
Moon
Interactive article about the Moon
3
Sound
Interactive article explaining how sound works.
4
Bicycle
Interactive article explaining the physics of a bicycle.
5
GPS
Interactive article explaining how GPS works.
6
Gears
Interactive article explaining how mechanical gears work.
7
8
Airfoil
Interactive article explaining the physics of an airfoil and what makes airplanes fly
9
What an unprocessed photo looks like
The image isn't even black-and-white , it's gray-and-gray: While the sensor's ADC can theoretically output values from 0 to 16382, the data doesn't cover that whole range.
10
Internal Combustion Engine
Interactive article explaining how an internal combustion engine works.
11
Cameras and Lenses
Interactive article explaining how cameras and lenses work.
12
13
An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time
PHerc. 1667, sealed since the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, has been virtually unwrapped and read from beginning to end — without ever being opened.
14
Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier
The Wirecutter’s review of the IKEA air purifier is a mishmash of scientific errors, shoddy testing, and self-contradictory logic.
15
AlphaFold: a solution to a 50-year-old grand challenge in biology
Proteins are essential to life, supporting practically all its functions. They are large complex molecules, made up of chains of amino acids, and what a protein does largely depends on its unique 3D structure. Figuring out what shapes proteins fold into is known as the “protein-folding problem”, and has stood as a…
16
Why is Chile so long?
Chile is so long, it's curved. How long is it? Why not longer? Why is no other country as thin? How does that make Chileans incomprehensible?
17
Willow, Our Quantum Chip
Our new quantum chip demonstrates error correction and performance that paves the way to a useful, large-scale quantum computer.
18
The Singularity will occur on a Tuesday
src= alt="Always has been astronaut meme" / "Wait, the singularity is just humans freaking out?" "Always has been." Everyone in San Francisco is talking about t
19
Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize awarded: we can read the first scroll
The 2000-year-old scroll discusses music, food, and how to enjoy life’s pleasures.
20
Honda conducts successful launch and landing of experimental reusable rocket
Honda Global | Honda R&D Co., Ltd., a research and development subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., today conducted a launch and landing test of an experimental reusable rocket*1 (6.3 m in length, 85 cm in diameter, 900 kg dry weight/1,312 kg wet weight) developed independently by Honda. The test was completed…
21
On the Navier–Stokes Millennium Prize Problem
We’re sharing an AI-generated solution to the Navier–Stokes Millennium Prize Problem, including a writeup and a formal proof in Lean.
22
23
Hundreds of fishing vessels vanishing along Argentina’s waters
An Oceana analysis found hundreds of foreign fishing vessels, primarily Chinese, pillaging the waters off Argentina.
24
Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years
In the biggest update to Google Earth since 2017, you can now see our planet in an entirely new dimension — time.
25
ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format
arXiv’s goal is equitable access to scientific research for all – and to achieve this, we have been working to make research papers more accessible for arXiv…
26
Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel
A new breath mint that rebuilds your tooth enamel while it whitens your teeth has been created by UW Researchers.
27
Planet Found in Habitable Zone Around Nearest Star
Astronomers using ESO telescopes and other facilities have found clear evidence of a planet orbiting the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought world, designated Proxima b, orbits its cool red parent star every 11 days and has a temperature suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. This…
28
94-year-old Lithium-Ion Battery Inventor Introduces Solid State Battery
John Goodenough and his team have developed the first all-solid-state battery cells that could lead to safer, faster-charging, longer-lasting rechargeable batteries.
29
30
Three new discoveries in mathematics, computer science, and physics
OpenAI shares model results on the Kakeya conjecture, Exponential Time Hypothesis, and quantum chromodynamics—and how researchers can verify and build on them.