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How Swarming Insects Act Like Fluids
By studying a swarm of flying midges as though it were a fluid, physicists have learned how collective behaviors might stabilize a group against environmental disruptions.
How Randomness Can Make Math Easier
Randomness would seem to make a mathematical statement harder to prove. In fact, it often does the opposite.
Cellular Life, Death and Everything in Between
The discovery that apparently dead cells can sometimes resurrect themselves has researchers exploring how far they can push the point of no return.
The Quantum Theory That Peels Away the Mystery of Measurement
A recent test has confirmed the predictions of quantum trajectory theory.
Random Surfaces Hide an Intricate Order
Mathematicians have proved that a random process applied to a random surface will yield consistent patterns.
Where We See Shapes, AI Sees Textures
To researchers’ surprise, deep learning vision algorithms often fail at classifying images because they mostly take cues from textures, not shapes.
How to Understand the Universe When You’re Stuck Inside of It
Lee Smolin’s radical idea to reimagine how we view the universe.
The Simple Idea Behind Einstein’s Greatest Discoveries
Lurking behind Einstein’s theory of gravity and our modern understanding of particle physics is the deceptively simple idea of symmetry. But physicists are beginning to question whether focusing on symmetry is still as productive as it once was.
Philosophers Debate New ‘Sonic Black Hole’ Discovery
Opinions differ about what recent measurements of a sound-trapping fluid reveal about light-trapping black holes.