Masaki Kashiwara—Abel Prize Laureate 2025. Peter Badge/Typos1/The Abel Prize Topics: Abel Prize, Mathematics, Modern Physics, Research Masaki Kashiwara, this year’s Abel Prize winner, co-founded a new field of mathematics called algebraic analysis. One of the landmarks of Kyoto, the home of mathematician Masaki Kashiwara, is the Kamo River. At certain points, there are stepping stonesContinue reading “Algebraic Analysis…”
Category Archives: Research
Woolly Mouse…
The “woolly mouse” was developed by Colossal Biosciences by editing genes to give the mouse a bushier, thicker coat, akin to that of the extinct woolly mammoth. Colossal Topics: Biology, Biotechnology, Research Note: I had a pet hamster named “Woolly,” that looked remarkably like this one. I’m sure cloning wasn’t at this point decades ago.Continue reading “Woolly Mouse…”
Tiny Tractor Beam…
This chip-based “tractor-beam,” which uses an intensely focused beam of light to capture and manipulate biological particles without damaging the cells, could help biologists study the mechanisms of diseases. Credits: Credit: Sampson Wilcox, RLE Topics: Biology, Biotechnology, Optical Tweezers, Research MIT researchers have developed a miniature, chip-based “tractor beam,” like the one that captures theContinue reading “Tiny Tractor Beam…”
Dark or Lumpy…
An artist’s impression of the cosmic web (Volker Springel/Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics/et al) Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Dark Matter, Einstein, Research Q: Why does science seem to always change its mind? A: Because, the enterprise of science is about discovery, and a lot of discoveries happen when you have better instrumentation, apply The ScientificContinue reading “Dark or Lumpy…”
The Secret Life of the Universe…
Topics: Astrobiology, Biology, Instrumentation, James Webb Space Telescope, Research, SETI “The Secret Life of the Universe” by Dr. Nathalie Cabrol, the SETI Institute’s chief scientist and Director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute, is coming out this week, both in the US (August 13, 2024) and in the UK (August 15, 2024).Continue reading “The Secret Life of the Universe…”
Ice, Snow, Water, Nada…
Figure 1. The Vadret da Tschierva glacier in 1935 (top) and in 2022 (bottom).Photos courtesy of swisstopo, L. Hösli, G. Carcanade, M. Huss, VAW-ETHZ. Topics: Civilization, Climate Change, Fluid Mechanics, Global Warming, Meteorology, Research Glaciers—dynamic masses of ice descending from the mountain tops—have always been fascinating to humankind. They intrinsically belong to the high-alpine environment.Continue reading “Ice, Snow, Water, Nada…”
Spectral Molecule…
Scientists detected 2-Methoxyethanol in space for the first time using radio telescope observations of the star-forming region NGC 6334I. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Topics: Astronomy, Chemistry, Instrumentation, Interstellar, Research, Spectrographic Analysis New research from the group of MIT Professor Brett McGuire has revealed the presence of a previously unknown molecule in space. The team’sContinue reading “Spectral Molecule…”
Esse Quam Videri…
Credit: Menno Schaefer/Adobe Starlings flock in a so-called murmuration, a collective behavior of interest in biological physics — one of many subfields that did not always “belong” in physics. Topics: Applied Physics, Cosmology, Einstein, History, Physics, Research, Science “To be rather than to seem.” Translated from the Latin Esse Quam Videri, which also happens toContinue reading “Esse Quam Videri…”
Spongy Narks…
Scientists used samples from sclerosponges off the coast of Puerto Rico to calculate ocean surface temperatures going back 300 years. Douglas Rissing/iStockphoto/Getty Images Topics: Climate Change, Existentialism, Global Warming, Research, Thermodynamics CNN — Using sponges collected off the coast of Puerto Rico in the eastern Caribbean, scientists have calculated 300 years of ocean temperatures and concluded the world has already overshot one crucialContinue reading “Spongy Narks…”
Boltwood Estimate…
Credit: Public Domain Topics: Applied Physics, Education, History, Materials Science, Philosophy, Radiation, Research We take for granted that Earth is very old, almost incomprehensibly so. But for much of human history, estimates of Earth’s age were scattershot at best. In February 1907, a chemist named Bertram Boltwood published a paper in the American Journal of Science detailing a novelContinue reading “Boltwood Estimate…”
Physics and Nano 