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Selfish, Virus-Like DNA Can Carry Genes Between Species

August 3, 2023

Genetic elements called Mavericks that have some viral features could be responsible for the large-scale smuggling of DNA between species.

Quantum Complexity Shows How to Escape Hawking’s Black Hole Paradox

August 2, 2023

Inside of a black hole, the two theoretical pillars of 20th-century physics appear to clash. Now a group of young physicists think they have resolved the conflict by appealing to the central pillar of the new century — the physics of quantum information.

Ninth Dedekind Number Found by Two Independent Groups

August 1, 2023

The numbers count a variety of seemingly unrelated mathematical structures.

How Genetic Surprises Complicate the Old Doctrine of DNA

July 31, 2023

For over a century, biologists have had to contend with a complicated picture of genetics, which they’ve only recently begun to understand.

Q&A

The Cryptographer Who Ensures We Can Trust Our Computers

July 27, 2023

Yael Tauman Kalai’s breakthroughs secure our digital world, from cloud computing to our quantum future.

Does Nothingness Exist?

July 26, 2023

Even empty space bubbles with energy, according to quantum mechanics — and that fact affects almost every facet of physical reality. The theoretical physicist Isabel Garcia Garcia explains to Steven Strogatz why it’s so important in modern physics to understand what a true vacuum is.

Why Insect Memories May Not Survive Metamorphosis

July 26, 2023

The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t persist in adults.

How (Nearly) Nothing Might Solve Cosmology’s Biggest Questions

July 25, 2023

By measuring the universe’s emptiest spaces, scientists can study how matter clumps together and how fast it flies apart.

New Proof Shows That ‘Expander’ Graphs Synchronize

July 24, 2023

The proof establishes new conditions that cause connected oscillators to sway in sync.

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