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With Fifth Busy Beaver, Researchers Approach Computation’s Limits
After decades of uncertainty, a motley team of programmers has proved precisely how complicated simple computer programs can get.
Cryptographers Discover a New Foundation for Quantum Secrecy
Researchers have proved that secure quantum encryption is possible in a world without hard problems.
Electric ‘Ripples’ in the Resting Brain Tag Memories for Storage
New experiments reveal how the brain chooses which memories to save and add credence to advice about the importance of rest.
AI Starts to Sift Through String Theory’s Near-Endless Possibilities
Using machine learning, string theorists are finally showing how microscopic configurations of extra dimensions translate into sets of elementary particles — though not yet those of our universe.
Insects and Other Animals Have Consciousness, Experts Declare
A group of prominent biologists and philosophers announced a new consensus: There’s “a realistic possibility” that insects, octopuses, crustaceans, fish and other overlooked animals experience consciousness.
Dark Energy May Be Weakening, Major Astrophysics Study Finds
A generation of physicists has referred to the dark energy that permeates the universe as “the cosmological constant.” Now the largest map of the cosmos to date hints that this mysterious energy has been changing over billions of years.
Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of Shock Therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy is highly effective in treating major depressive disorder, but no one knows why it works. New research suggests it may restore balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain.
Swirling Forces, Crushing Pressures Measured in the Proton
Long-anticipated experiments that use light to mimic gravity are revealing the distribution of energies, forces and pressures inside a subatomic particle for the first time.
Never-Repeating Tiles Can Safeguard Quantum Information
Two researchers have proved that Penrose tilings, famous patterns that never repeat, are mathematically equivalent to a kind of quantum error correction.