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What Is Entropy?
I wrote a little book about entropy; here’s the current draft: • What is Entropy? If you see typos and other mistakes, or have trouble understanding things, please let me know! An altern…
Topics /
Science & Space
The most popular blog posts about science & space on Hacker News. 384 posts.
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Fluorite lenses: Corrective capabilities beyond ordinary optical glass
Canon developed its own technology for forming large, high-purity artificial fluorite crystals using fluorite ore as a raw material.
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Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight
Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana at 16:00 local time on 9 July (20:00 BST, 21:00 CEST).
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Cement recycling method could help solve one of the big climate challenges
Researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a method to produce very low emission concrete at scale – an innovation that could be transformative in the transition to net zero.
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Open source 3D atlas of human anatomy
In less than two years, 'Z-Anatomy' gathered more than 5.000 tridimensional anatomical structures and labels with more than 3500 definitions in two fully functional open source viewers. Available for free in 5 languages, it progressively becomes an open alternative to all the students, the Health Professional and the…
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Ham radio operators receive signals from Voyager 1 on Dwingeloo telescope
We have used the historic Dwingeloo radio telescope to receive signals from the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Only a few telescopes in the world have received these signals, which are very faint due to the distance of Voyager 1: almost 25 billion kilometers, more than four times the distance to Pluto.
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Parrots love playing tablet games. That's helping researchers understand them
A new Northeastern study delves deep into how parrots use touchscreen devices, with the help of a bespoke gaming app.
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Researchers develop the fastest possible flow algorithm
Rasmus Kyng has written the near-perfect algorithm. It computes the maximum transport flow at minimum cost for any kind of network – be it rail, road or electricity – at a speed that is, mathematically speaking, impossible to beat.
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The largest open-source dataset of car designs, including their aerodynamics
DrivAerNet++, the largest open-source dataset for car aerodynamics developed to date, can be used to quickly train an AI model to generate novel car designs. This process could potentially lead to more fuel-efficient cars and electric vehicles with longer range.
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The Illustrated AlphaFold
A visual walkthrough of the AlphaFold3 architecture, with more details and diagrams than you were probably looking for.
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AlphaProteo generates novel proteins for biology and health research
New AI system designs proteins that successfully bind to target molecules, with potential for advancing drug design, disease understanding and more.
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Mouth-based touchpad enables people living with paralysis to use computers
MIT Media Lab Spin-off Augmental has developed the MouthPad, a device that allows users to interact with phones and computers using their tongue and other head gestures.
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Why are cancer guidelines stuck in PDFs?
How Machine-Readable Clinical Guidelines Can Help Standardize Cancer Care
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A Revolution in Biology?
how developmental biology might contain the secrets to life, intelligence, and immortality
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Batteries: How cheap can they get?
How dirt cheap batteries will completely transform our electricity grid, paving the way for solar and wind and replacing grid reinforcements with grid buffers.
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2023 ACM Turing Prize awarded to Avi Wigderson
Avi Wigderson is the recipient of the 2023 ACM A.M. Turing Award for foundational contributions to the theory of computation, including reshaping our understanding of the role of randomness in computation, and for decades of intellectual leadership in theoretical computer science.
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Your Immune System Is Not a Muscle
AI, science, education, & ethics
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20 Years of "Not Even Wrong"
The first entry on this blog was 20 years ago yesterday, first substantive one was 20 years ago tomorrow (first one that drew attacks on me as an incompetent was two days later). Back when I starte…
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Student rocket group shatters amateur space record
Aftershock II is believed to be the world’s first civilian-built rocket to reach an altitude of 470,000 feet.
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AI and satellite imagery reveals expanding footprint of human activity at sea
Study reveals 75 percent of the world’s industrial fishing vessels are hidden from public view
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A Trial HIV Vaccine Triggered Elusive and Essential Antibodies in Humans
DURHAM, N.C. – An HIV vaccine candidate developed at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute triggered low levels of an elusive type of broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies among a small group of people enrolled in a 2019 clinical trial.The finding, reported May 17 in the journal Cell, not only provides proof that a vaccine…
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Sound-suppressing silk can create quiet spaces
MIT researchers developed a silk fabric, which is barely thicker than a human hair, that can suppress unwanted noise and reduce noise transmission in a large room.
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Yes, we did discover the Higgs
Ben Recht got my attention with a tweet about his blog post "The Higgs discovery did not take place.” I’m generally a fan of Ben’s writing, but I think he’s off base on a number of issues, and I’ll explain why. [Updated Oct 23rd, 2024] Ben's …
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Students invent quieter leaf blower
Patent-pending design by Hopkins undergrads could be available in stores within two years
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ALICE finds first ever evidence of the antimatter partner of hyperhelium-4
The finding also represents the first evidence of the heaviest antimatter hypernucleus yet at the LHC