Steven Strogatz – 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 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 Are Robots About to Level Up? https://www.quantamagazine.org/are-robots-about-to-level-up-20240814/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/are-robots-about-to-level-up-20240814/#respond Wed, 14 Aug 2024 15:49:48 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=139809 The post Are Robots About to Level Up? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Within just a few years, artificial intelligence systems that sometimes seem to display almost human characteristics have gone from science fiction to apps on your phone. But there’s another AI-influenced frontier that is developing rapidly and remains untamed: robotics. Can the technologies that have helped computers get smarter now bring similar improvements to the robots that will work...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/are-robots-about-to-level-up-20240814/feed/ 0 Will AI Ever Have Common Sense? https://www.quantamagazine.org/will-ai-ever-have-common-sense-20240718/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/will-ai-ever-have-common-sense-20240718/#respond Thu, 18 Jul 2024 13:10:54 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=139141 The post Will AI Ever Have Common Sense? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Ask a question of ChatGPT and other, similar chatbots and there’s a good chance you’ll be impressed at how adeptly it comes up with a good answer — unless it spits out unrealistic nonsense instead. Part of what’s mystifying about these kinds of machine learning systems is that they are fundamentally black boxes. No one knows precisely how they arrive at the answers that they do. Given that mystery...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/will-ai-ever-have-common-sense-20240718/feed/ 0 How Is Science Even Possible? https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-is-science-even-possible-20240620/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-is-science-even-possible-20240620/#respond Thu, 20 Jun 2024 13:20:11 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=138581 The post How Is Science Even Possible? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> The universe seems like it should be unfathomably complex. How then is science able to crack fundamental questions about nature and life? Scientists and philosophers alike have often commented on the “unreasonable” success of mathematics at describing the universe. That success has helped science probe some profound mysteries — but as the physicist Nigel Goldenfeld points out, it also helps that...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-is-science-even-possible-20240620/feed/ 0 What Happens in the Brain to Cause Depression? https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-happens-in-the-brain-to-cause-depression-20240523/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-happens-in-the-brain-to-cause-depression-20240523/#respond Thu, 23 May 2024 13:00:20 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=138100 The post What Happens in the Brain to Cause Depression? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> For decades, the best drug therapies for treating depression, like SSRIs, have been based on the idea that depressed brains don’t have enough of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Yet for almost as long, it’s been clear that simplistic theory is wrong. Recent research into the true causes of depression is finding clues in other neurotransmitters and the realization that the brain is much more...

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