Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain We’re all familiar with the jolly, white-haired and bearded overweight man who sneaks down chimneys on Christmas Eve delivering presents to children. But where did this come from? With roots in Christianity, the origins of the world’s most beloved gift-giver transcend time, culture and religion. St. Nicholas It all starts with … Read more
Basic principles of biological information processing. Credit: Materials Today (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.mattod.2023.07.019 Every search engine query, every AI-generated text and developments such as autonomous driving: In the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, computers and data centers consume a lot of energy. By contrast, the human brain is far more energy-efficient. In order … Read more
by Nicolas Barbier, Bonaventure Sonké, Le Bienfaiteur Sagang, Pierre Ploton and Stéphane Momo Takoudjou, The Conversation Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain “Green lungs” is the term often used to describe rainforests due to their ability to use photosynthesis to capture CO2, the planet’s primary greenhouse gas. That makes them a key component of global climate regulation, … Read more
The Running Chicken Nebula comprises several clouds, all of which we can see in this vast image from the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), hosted at ESO’s Paranal site. This 1.5-billion-pixel image spans an area in the sky of about 25 full Moons. The clouds shown in wispy pink plumes are full of gas and dust, … Read more
Credit: Journal of Service Research (2023). DOI: 10.1177/10946705231220462 The introduction of artificial intelligence is a significant part of the digital transformation bringing challenges and changes to the job descriptions among management. A study conducted at the University of Eastern Finland shows that integrating artificial intelligence systems into service teams increases demands imposed on middle management … Read more
Field pansies from a ‘resurrected’ lineage monitored during this study. Credit: © Samson Acoca-Pidolle Scientists at the CNRS and the University of Montpellier have discovered that flowering plants growing in farmland are increasingly doing without insect pollinators. As reproduction becomes more difficult for them in an environment depleted of pollinating insects, the plants are evolving … Read more
Superstrings may exist in 11 dimensions at once. Credit: National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli String theory found its origins in an attempt to understand the nascent experiments revealing the strong nuclear force. Eventually another theory, one based on particles called quarks and force carriers called gluons, would supplant it, but in the deep mathematical bones … Read more
by Yohanna Villalobos, Benjamin Smith, Pep Canadell and Peter Briggs, The Conversation Australia’s Carbon Budget 2010-2019. A product of the National Environmental Science Program – Climate Systems Hub; and a contribution to the Global Carbon Project – Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes-2. Credit: NESP-2 If you really want to know how much Australia contributes … Read more
The rubber band example does indeed have two nodes—they are at the ends of the rubber band where your fingers hold it. We only have half a wavelength in the standing wave, but there is indeed a relationship between the length of the rubber band and the size of the wavelength. Guitar Strings It’s time … Read more
Fluids can be roughly divided into two categories: regular ones and weird ones. Regular ones, like water and alcohol, act more or less as expected when pumped through pipes or stirred with a spoon. Lurking among the weird ones—which include substances such as paint, honey, mucus, blood, ketchup, and oobleck—are a vast variety of behavioral … Read more
