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Predicting Eclipses: The Three Body Problem

Solar eclipse prediction has driven innovation across the history of science and mathematics, from the Saros cycle to Greek geometry to Newton’s calculus to the three-body problem.


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Barbara Liskov on the Future of Computer Science

November 20, 2019

Barbara Liskov addresses the challenges that confront computer science.

Virginia Trimble on How Astronomy Has Changed

November 11, 2019

Virginia Trimble discusses how astronomy has changed over the course of her half-century career.

Stephanie Wehner Aims to Build a Quantum Internet

September 24, 2019

Wehner discusses the advantages of transmitting qubits rather than bits across a long-distance communication network.

Craig Callender on the Trouble With Black Hole Thermodynamics

September 5, 2019

Craig Callender explains why the connection between black holes and thermodynamics is little more than an analogy.

Iyad Rahwan: Why We Need a Science of Machine Behavior

August 27, 2019

The behavior of algorithms is so complex and surprising that we need to study them as though they were animals in the wild.

Carlo Rubbia on the Future of Particle Physics

August 6, 2019

Carlo Rubbia explains why he thinks particle physicists should take the next step by building a “Higgs factory.”

Greg Johnson on A.I. That Sees Inside Cells

July 24, 2019

Greg Johnson, a computer vision researcher at the Allen Institute for Cell Science, explains how his deep learning vision systems can advance the state of cell biology.

Hod Lipson Builds Consciousness Into a Robot

July 11, 2019

The roboticist Hod Lipson, the director of the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University, uses robots to explore ancient questions about how people think.

Lee Smolin on the Impossibility of Studying the Universe

June 27, 2019

Lee Smolin explores the problem of understanding the universe from the perspective of being inside the universe, as well as the need for physicists to know philosophy.