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Topics /
Science & Space
The most popular blog posts about science & space on Hacker News. 208 posts.
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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.
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Daniel Kahneman “I placed too much faith in underpowered studies”
This blog post focusses on Chapter 4 about Implicit Priming in Kahneman's book "Thinking" Fast and Slow." A review of the book and other chapters can be found here: https://replicationindex.com/2020/12/30/a-meta-scientific-perspective-on-thinking-fast-and-slow/ Daniel Kahneman's response to this blog…
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“The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason”
Intriguing title, no? These are the first eleven words of Neal Stephenson's novel Seveneves, which set up the remaining 600 pages as an extended treatise on the future of humanity as it copes with certain annihilation. I thoroughly recommend it, as long as you can deal with hundreds of pages of orbital mechanics. In…
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Oh My Gosh, It’s Covered in Rule 30s
New British train station design identified as cellular automata rule 30. Generating rule-based patterns. And a website that lets you try it yourself.
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Out of all major energy sources, nuclear is the safest
Fossil fuels are the dirtiest and most dangerous energy sources, while nuclear and modern renewable energy sources are vastly safer and cleaner.
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Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star
Four Earth-sized planets orbit the nearest sun-like star, tau Ceti, which is about 12 light years away and visible to the naked eye, astronomers say.
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Color Night Vision (2016) [video]
The X27 camera takes videos in darkness that looks like they were shot in the daytime. And they’re in color…none of this black and white, thermal, or infrared s
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Deep learning algorithm diagnoses skin cancer as well as seasoned dermatologists
In hopes of creating better access to medical care, Stanford researchers have trained an algorithm to diagnose skin cancer.
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ESO Telescopes Observe First Light from Gravitational Wave Source
ESO’s fleet of telescopes in Chile have detected the first visible counterpart to a gravitational wave source. These historic observations suggest that this unique object is the result of the merger of two neutron stars. The cataclysmic aftermaths of this kind of merger — long-predicted events called kilonovae …
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The Kolmogorov option
Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov was one of the giants of 20th-century mathematics. I’ve always found it amazing that the same man was responsible both for establishing the foundations of …
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Gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger observed by LIGO and Virgo
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo collaboration report the first joint detection of gravitational waves with both the LIGO and Virgo detectors. This is the fourth announced detection of a binary black hole system and the first significant gravitational-wave signal recorded by the Virgo detector, and…
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Snowflake macro photography (2013)
Snowflake macro photography: how to take closeup images of real snow crystals with simple optical add-on for compact camera? In this article, you'll find detailed description of shooting and photo processing techniques, scheme of optical add-on, snowflake pictures gallery, tips and tricks, useful links. Author: Alexey…
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The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 was divided, one half awarded to Rainer Weiss, the other half jointly to Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves"
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Catching the Great American Eclipse at 35,000 Feet
There’s nothing Alaska Airlines pilots like more than a challenge. As a company that started out flying between remote airfields deep in the Alaskan “bush,” safely navigating where other airlines can’t is in Alaska’s blood. So, for Alaska, putting a flight in the path of the Great American Eclipse wasn’t really a…
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80-year Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life
For nearly 80 years, the Harvard Study of Adult Development has been producing data and lessons on how to live longer, happier, and healthier lives.
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FDA grants Breakthrough Therapy designation to MDMA for treatment of PTSD
The non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to MDMA for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). MAPS and the FDA have also reached agreement under the Special…
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P vs. NP
For those who just want the survey itself, not the backstory, it’s here. (Note: Partly because of the feedback I’ve gotten on this blog, it’s now expanded to 121 pages!) Upda…
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The Shortest Papers Ever Published (2016)
A few of the most concise papers ever published.
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3-D printed plastic objects that can communicate with WiFi devices
UW engineers have developed the first 3-D printed plastic objects that can connect to other devices via WiFi without using any electronics, including a laundry
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Feynman’s Breakthrough: Disregard Others
Feynman (just off centre) at Wangerooge in 1987 I started my career as a theoretical physicist, and in the late-80s I co-organised a specialist workshop on a small island, Wangerooge, off the coast…
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Classic Papers: Articles That Have Stood the Test of Time
Scholarly research is often about the latest findings - the newest knowledge that our colleagues have gleaned from nature. Some articles bu...
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LIGO Detects Gravitational Waves for Third Time
Newest LIGO observation provides clues about the spins, and possible origins, of binary black holes.