Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 Cells Across the Tree of Life Exchange ‘Text Messages’ Using RNA https://www.quantamagazine.org/cells-across-the-tree-of-life-exchange-text-messages-using-rna-20240916/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/cells-across-the-tree-of-life-exchange-text-messages-using-rna-20240916/#respond Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140852 The post Cells Across the Tree of Life Exchange ‘Text Messages’ Using RNA first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> For a molecule of RNA, the world is a dangerous place. Unlike DNA, which can persist for millions of years in its remarkably stable, double-stranded form, RNA isn’t built to last — not even within the cell that made it. Unless it’s protectively tethered to a larger molecule, RNA can degrade in minutes or less. And outside a cell? Forget about it. Voracious, RNA-destroying enzymes are everywhere...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/cells-across-the-tree-of-life-exchange-text-messages-using-rna-20240916/feed/ 0 The Search for What Shook the Earth for Nine Days Straight https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-did-a-landslide-shake-the-earth-for-nine-days-20240912/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-did-a-landslide-shake-the-earth-for-nine-days-20240912/#respond Thu, 12 Sep 2024 18:00:39 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140655 The post The Search for What Shook the Earth for Nine Days Straight first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> On September 16, 2023, the world began to rumble. A gargantuan rock-ice avalanche tumbled into the deep waters of a fjord in eastern Greenland, unleashing a megatsunami whose initial waves reached a height of 200 meters. The waves scoured the walls of the fjord before flowing into the open sea. Even for this avalanche-prone corner of Greenland, the collapse and subsequent megatsunami were shocking...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-did-a-landslide-shake-the-earth-for-nine-days-20240912/feed/ 0 Can Thermodynamics Go Quantum? https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-thermodynamics-go-quantum-20240912/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-thermodynamics-go-quantum-20240912/#respond Thu, 12 Sep 2024 13:43:17 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140647 The post Can Thermodynamics Go Quantum? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> The principles of thermodynamics are cornerstones of our understanding of physics. But they were discovered in the era of steam-driven technology, long before anyone dreamed of quantum mechanics. In this episode, the theoretical physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern talks to host Steven Strogatz about how physicists today are reinterpreting concepts such as work, energy and information for a quantum...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-thermodynamics-go-quantum-20240912/feed/ 0 Novel Architecture Makes Neural Networks More Understandable https://www.quantamagazine.org/novel-architecture-makes-neural-networks-more-understandable-20240911/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/novel-architecture-makes-neural-networks-more-understandable-20240911/#respond Wed, 11 Sep 2024 14:45:51 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140573 The post Novel Architecture Makes Neural Networks More Understandable first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> “Neural networks are currently the most powerful tools in artificial intelligence,” said Sebastian Wetzel, a researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. “When we scale them up to larger data sets, nothing can compete.” And yet, all this time, neural networks have had a disadvantage. The basic building block of many of today’s successful networks is known as a multilayer...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/novel-architecture-makes-neural-networks-more-understandable-20240911/feed/ 0 The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cellular-secret-to-resisting-the-pressure-of-the-deep-sea-20240909/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cellular-secret-to-resisting-the-pressure-of-the-deep-sea-20240909/#respond Mon, 09 Sep 2024 14:18:08 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140436 The post The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> The bottom of the ocean is cold, dark and under extreme pressure. It is not a place suited to the physiology of us surface dwellers: At the deepest point, the pressure of 36,200 feet of seawater is greater than the weight of an elephant on every square inch of your body. Yet Earth’s deepest places are home to life uniquely suited to these challenging conditions. Scientists have studied how the...

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