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The Newton hypothesis: Is science done by a small elite?
In previous posts I said that the extent to which "Fund people" works will depend on the distribution of scientific talent. Think about the following …
Topics /
Science & Space
The most popular blog posts about science & space on Hacker News. 409 posts.
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Is π the Same in Every Universe?
Mathematician: That depends on what you mean by “universe.” Here’s a framing: A circle of radius R centered at a point P is the set of all points in the plane with distance R fro…
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Complexity No Bar to AI
Critics of AI risk suggest diminishing returns to computing (formalized asymptotically) means AI will be weak; this argument relies on a large number of questionable premises and ignoring additional resources, constant factors, and nonlinear returns to small intelligence advantages, and is highly unlikely.
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Food Order Has Significant Impact on Glucose and Insulin Levels (2015)
Eating protein and vegetables before carbohydrates leads to lower post-meal glucose and insulin levels in obese patients with type 2 diabetes.
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An Introduction to Lagrange Multipliers
Lagrange multipliers are used in multivariable calculus to find maxima and minima of a function subject to constraints (like "find the highest elevation along the given path" or "minimize the cost of materials for a box enclosing a given volume"). It's a useful technique, but all too often it is poorly taught and…
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Why are most climate models in Fortran?
An examination of the software that powers modern Climate simulations.
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Dopamine Fasting: A Maladaptive Fad (2020)
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in the body’s system for reward and pleasure. A recent trend has people avoiding stimulating activities in the belief that doing so allows the body to rese...
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The Hyperbolic Geometry of DMT Experiences (2016)
[Content Warning: Trying to understand the contents of this essay may be mind-warping. Proceed with caution. Featured image credit: Paul Nylander] Friends, right here and now, one quantum away, the…
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Psilocybin clinical trial to treat anxiety disorder receives approval
World-first psilocybin clinical trial in the treatment of Generalised Anxiety Disorder receives ethics approval
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Can you drill into a supervolcano to relieve pressure? (2016)
As recently as February 2016 an article in a prestigious science journal (Nature) raises the question if a nuclear blast will have a...
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Unusual Locomotives
The Douglas Self Site, steam locomotive, Shay, Climax, Mallet, Garratt, Turbomotive, Reid-Ramsey
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Project Jupyter Celebrates 20 Years, Fernando Pérez Reflects on How It Started
Twenty years ago, UC Berkeley Associate Statistics Professor Fernando Pérez started one of the foundational tools for analyzing large amounts of data in a transparent and collaborative way. We spoke with Pérez about why he started this project, what challenges he’s faced and what to expect from him and Project Jupyter…
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Stanford researchers develop an engineered 'mini' CRISPR genome editing system
Bioengineers have repurposed a “non-working” CRISPR system to make a smaller version of the genome engineering tool. Its diminutive size should make it easier to deliver into human cells, tissues and the body for gene therapy.
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Does the Universe Have Higher Dimensions? Part 1
Science News, Physics, Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
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Mike Levin on using bioelectricity to study how cells form (2019)
By Lindsay Brownell At first glance, the lab of Wyss Associate Faculty member Mike Levin looks like any standard biology lab: graduate students in white lab coats pipette liquids into tubes at benches surrounded by centrifuges, freezers, racks of graduated cylinders hanging over sinks, and shelves of petri dishes…
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Foraging humans, mammals and birds who live in the same place behave similarly
Foraging humans find food, reproduce, share parenting, and even organise their social groups in similar ways as surrounding mammal and bird species, depending on where they live in the world, new research has found.
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L-Arginine potentiates radiation therapy for cancer
Treatment with the amino acid arginine enhanced the effectiveness of radiation therapy in cancer patients with brain metastases in a clinical trial from investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and Angel H. Roffo Cancer Institute.
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A “perfect coronal mass ejection” could be a nightmare
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
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The Arctic Ocean was covered by a shelf ice and filled with freshwater
The Arctic Ocean was covered by up to 900 m thick shelf ice and was filled entirely with freshwater at least twice in the last 150,000 years. This surprising finding, reported in the latest issue of the journal Nature, is the result of long-term research by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute and the MARUM…
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Hawking Hawking
There’s a very good new book about Stephen Hawking that just came out, Charles Seife’s Hawking Hawking. Some detailed reviews can be found at Prospect Magazine (Philip Ball) and the New…
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A collection of outlandish human-computer interaction papers
Homepage of Florian Echtler
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Nuclear energy is long-term sustainable
Some people claim nuclear fuel is inexhaustible and circular, others say we'll run out soon. We do the math. Turns out, it's roughly as inexhaustible as sunlight.
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Explanations for the Havana Syndrome
Science News, Physics, Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
358
Kill the Alarm Clock (2017)
Few upwardly mobile people in the modern rat-race society can live without an alarm clock. With a shot of strong coffee and round-the-clock stress, most people learn to live and survive with an alarm clock. Half of the population wakes up with an alarm, 9% are woken by a partner, 4% by pets, 3% by children, etc. That…
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Is soy a key driver of deforestation?
The world loses 5 million hectares of forest each year. What activities are driving this?
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Previous Covid-19 may cut risk of reinfection 84%
People who had COVID-19 had an 84% lower risk of becoming reinfected and a 93% lower risk of symptomatic infection during 7 months of follow-up, according to findings from a large, multicenter study published late last week in The Lancet .