Scientists Who Created Order From Randomness Win Prestigious Mathematics Prize

2020 Abel Prize laureates Hillel Furstenberg (left) and Gregory Margulis (right)Photo: Dan RezettiScientists Hillel Furstenberg and Gregory Margulis have won this year’s Abel Prize, which is considered one of the highest honors in mathematics.The scientists won the prize “for pioneering the use of methods from probability and dynamics in group theory, number theory and combinatorics,”…

Paleontologists Are Skeptical About Baby Dinosaur Cells Supposedly Found in Fossil

Artist’s reconstruction of the nesting ground of Hypacrosaurus stebingeri. A deceased Hypacrosaurus nestling can be seen with the back of its skull embedded in shallow waters. The mother is portrayed at right.Illustration: Michael RothmanWith our deepest regrets to the Jurassic Park franchise, DNA does not preserve well, and no genetic data has ever been recovered…

A Powerful New Telescope Is About to Get Screwed by Elon Musk’s Starlink Constellation, Research Suggests

The Rubin Observatory currently under construction in Chile.Image: Rubin ObservatoryAs astronomers eagerly await the opening of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, anxious operators have run tests to see how well the system might work when low Earth orbit is cluttered with satellite megaconstellations, similar to the one being built by SpaceX. Unsurprisingly, the…

What You Need to Know About Honeywell’s New Quantum Computer

Part of Honeywell’s quantum device.Photo: HoneywellBusiness conglomerate and defense contractor Honeywell announced today that it will bring what it claims is the most powerful quantum computer yet to market in the next three months.Though quantum computers are still closer to science experiments than useful computing devices, most of the major computing companies are in the…

The Ouroboros, From Antiquity to AI

Forever WeekForever WeekThis week we’re exploring all things eternal, endless, and infinite.The Ouroboros—which symbolizes the cyclical nature of life and death and the divine essence that lives on forever—was first recorded in the Egyptian Book of the Netherworld. Alchemists then adopted the symbol into their mystical work of physical and spiritual transformation. After chemistry supplanted…