A new theory on the emergence of life's complexity, BICEP3 starts taking new data, and the physics of how long it should take vampires to feed were among this week's physics highlights.
Me at Gizmodo:
The Quest to Hear Echoes From the Big Bang Enters Its Next Phase. "Back in 2014, physicists on a collaboration known as BICEP2 thought they had detected gravitational waves. Those claims quickly evaporated when it became clear that they had really seen patterns from cosmic dust. But they haven’t given up the hunt. An upgraded version of the experiment, BICEP3, began taking new data at the South Pole this week, in hopes of succeeding where its earlier incarnation failed."
NBA Players Chill With Neil deGrasse Tyson for a Bit of Star Talk. "What do NBA basketball players do when they have some down time in New York City? The Philadelphia 76ers dropped in on the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium to hobnob with director and famed astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson."
Because we're never done arguing about the physics of Star Trek: There's No Cloning in Quantum Mechanics, So the Star Trek Transporter Really Is Suicide Box. "Remember last week’s video about the trouble with Star Trek’s transporter (a.k.a. a “suicide box”) by CGP Grey, delving into whether the teleported version of yourself would really be, well, you? Henry Reich of Minute Physics has posted a video response with his own resolution to the logical paradox. You know what that means.... NERD FIGHT!"
Other Cool Links:
The APS March meeting is by far the biggest meeting of the year, but probably not the most covered. Why? Money, says Chad Orzel at Forbes.
Physics Students Calculate How Long a Vampire Needs To Drink Your Blood.
How Do You Say “Life” in Physics? A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity. Related: Biochemist David Deamer proposes that life evolved from a collection of interacting molecules.
An Ode To The Rice Cooker, based on the math of fuzzy logic.
Modeled After Ants, Teams of Tiny Robots Can Move 2-Ton Car.
A previously unnoticed property of prime numbers seems to violate a longstanding assumption about how they behave.
This week we celebrated Pi Day, and folks had a lot to say about it. Can You Determine Pi With a Pendulum? Why yes, you can! Related: The Pi Day Recipe Book, from Math With Bad Drawings: for instance, The Tower of Babel: "This tower is what mathematician’s call a continued fraction." Also: The Gravity of Pi: Martin Krzywinski’s latest “Pi Day” graphic re-imagines numerical digits as physical masses. Here's a fun fact: Pi might look random but it's full of hidden patterns. Steven Strogatz in the New Yorker on Why Pi Matters: "The beauty of pi, in part, is that it puts infinity within reach." Hey, remember The Time Indiana Tried to Change Pi to 3.2? Finally, Vi Hart is back with another amazing Pi Day rant:
Most Americans Now Oppose Nuclear Energy. Related: Space Tech Is Helping Engineer the World's Biggest Nuclear Fusion Reactor. Also: Our Best Shot at Nuclear Fusion Needs Magnets That Weigh as Much as a Boeing 747.
Let Swarm Intelligence Optimize Your Tournament Bracket. Related: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on March Madness, brackets and basketball on Mars. (Hey, when Aldrin speaks, folks listen.) Also: March madness and quantum memory.
The Search for New Physics at CERN (first of eight parts): physicist Matt Buckley in The Boston Review. Related: Giant atom-smasher gears up to chase whiff of new physics.
This Amazing Expanding Material Is Based on Islamic Art.
Five new studies on Pluto show just how weird the little planet is.
What Was That Glowing, Gassy Fountain That Crowned Last Week’s Eclipsed Sun?
The Gravity Wave Hunter: An astrophysicist sits down with Nautilus to discuss cosmology and culture.
10 Quantum Truths About Our Universe.
Why Do Shower Curtains Billow Inward? Short answer: Blame it on hot air, or swirling air, or something else.
Ask Ethan: Could Our Universe Be A Hologram? Related: Could Dark Energy Recycle The Universe?
Clocking the Extreme Spin of a Monster Black Hole. Related: Super Massive Black Holes Explained by PhD Comics.
How the ExoMars mission could sniff out life on Mars – and what to do next.
When Life Gives You Lemons, Start a Fire.
Artists can apply for a residency at CERN -- the home of the world’s largest particle collider.
Simply stunning! Fractal Architecture: 14 Intricate Ceilings of Historic Iran. Per Web Urbanist: "an architectural photographer in Iran has begun documenting schools, mosques and cultural centers around the country, with a focus on their most mesmerizing feature: the ceilings." [Image credit: Mehrdad]
Incredible Cardboard Flying Machines are da Vinci's Dreams. Related: A cool DIY project straight out of the 15th century: Build This Mini Catapult, Based on Designs by Leonardo da Vinci.
You decide: What is the most beautiful equation?
Algebra: It’s More Than Just Parabolas.
"If we take an infinite collection of sets, is there a way to choose exactly one element from each of them?"
Unpacking the fallacy that Velveeta is one molecule away from plastic.
How can ecological models include the cumulative effects of floods, heat waves and cold snaps?
The “Shadow” of a Hiroshima Victim, Etched into Stone Steps, Is All That Remains After 1945 Atomic Blast.
A Beautiful Instrument (mechanical fourier analyzer) Displaying sound on paper.
This Short Documentary Explores the Science Behind 2001: A Space Odyssey.
No, that's not a Hubble photo of "Cosmic Ice Sculptures."
One of the World’s Largest Solar Facilities (Ivanpah in California) Is In Trouble.
These Self-Assembling Nanowires Could Grow Into the Computer Chips of the Future.
Where Probability Meets Literature and Language: Markov Models for Text Analysis.
Crank Out Infinite Geometric Designs With The Wooden Cycloid Drawing Machine.
AlphaGo beat Lee Se-dol in the last game of Go. Final score: Machine Learning 4, Humans 1. But Don’t Forget Humans Created The Computer Program That Can Beat Humans At Go. Related: Why a Machine Defeating a Human Does Not Signal the Apocalypse. Also: The Chess Engine that Died So AlphaGo Could Live.
What engineers can learn from the design of the penis: mechanics of the erection may have applications for robotics.
Why do we live in three dimensions? Gravity could help explain why we don't live in 2D or 4D.
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