Enlarge / The mushroom cloud from the Soviet detonation of “Tsar Bomba” on October 30, 1961, was so large that the photographers had a hard time capturing its full dimensions. (credit: New York Times) The detonation of the first nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 is seared into our collective memory, and […]
Enlarge / Screengrab of Jesse Woolston’s latest piece, The Dynamics of Flow, debuting at Art Basel Miami Beach later this week. (credit: Jesse Woolston) Multimedia artist, composer, and sound designer Jesse Woolston has had a recurring dream for much of his life about encountering a black hole, “falling inward, and waking up terrified.” (Who wouldn’t wake […]
Enlarge / The only constant is change in Apple TV’s adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation (credit: YouTube/Apple TV+) When showrunner David S. Goyer took on the monumental task of adapting Isaac Asimov’s hugely influential Foundation series of science fiction novels for Apple TV+, he knew it would not be a straightforward matter. As I’ve written […]
Enlarge / Google’s Sycamore processor. (credit: Google) In 2019, word filtered out that a quantum computer built by Google had performed calculations that the company claimed would be effectively impossible to replicate on supercomputing hardware. That turned out to not be entirely correct, since Google had neglected to consider the storage available to supercomputers; if […]
Enlarge / A demo version of the new thruster in operation. (credit: ThrustMe) Most people are probably familiar with iodine through its role as a disinfectant. But if you stayed awake through high school chemistry, then you may have seen a demonstration where powdered iodine was heated. Because its melting and boiling points are very […]
A snapping finger produces the highest rotational accelerations observed in humans, according to a new study. A snapping finger produces the highest rotational accelerations observed in humans, according to a new study. The Marvel Cinematic Universe was dramatically altered at the end of Avengers: Infinity War with an infamous snap of Thanos’ fingers. But could […]
Enlarge (credit: IBM) IBM has announced it has cleared a major hurdle in its effort to make quantum computing useful: it now has a quantum processor, called Eagle, with 127 functional qubits. This makes it the first company to clear the 100-qubit mark, a milestone that’s interesting because the interactions of that many qubits can’t […]
Dropping below the critical flow rate results in the wetting of the edge, and the telltale dribble of the teapot effect. Dropping below the critical flow rate results in the particular wetting of the edge, and the telltale dribble of typically the teapot effect. The dribbling of tea down the side of a teapot while […]
Enlarge / A street sign showing the cancellation of the AstroWorld Festival at NRG Park on November 6, 2021 in Houston, Texas. Eight people died and 25 people were hospitalized after a crowd surge during the performance of rapper and musician Travis Scott. (credit: Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)) The Astroworld music festival in Houston, […]
Enlarge / A red paint sample taken from a 1, 000-year-old mask excavated through a Sicán tomb in Peru contains human blood and bird egg proteins, in addition to a red cinnabar pigment. (credit: Adapted from E. Pires et al., JPR, 2021) Ever since a 1, 000-year-old gold mask was excavated from a tomb in […]