Learning about these in a recent paper is part of why I keep reading scientific papers - because every now and then, you come across one that informs you of a technology that might just change the world.
Still Relevant: The US Constitution
For all the millions of words which have been written, starting with The Federalist Papers, on the US Constitution, what is perhaps most striking about it from an initial inspection is its brevity.
Artificial Miracles
What really is the difference between something that is natural and something that is artificial?
Communicating Clearly
Compare these two sentences: 1) LyttIeton hypothesized long ago that Triton and Pluto originated as adjacent prograde satellites of Neptune, and 2) A physical unclonable function (PUF) is a hardware security primitive that exploits the inherent randomness of its manufacturing process to enable attestation of the entity wherein it is embodied.
Energy Storage
If I wanted to make this post extremely short, I could probably leave it at this: we humans are absolutely terrible at energy storage.
On the Origin of Triton and Pluto
The paper proposed a radically new hypothesis for the origin story of Pluto and Triton, and in the process laid the groundwork for a whole new understanding of the structure and formation of the entire solar system.
Revising Memories
His specific claim, “this finding led to the idea that ACSS2 could be involved in unwanted memory formation,” was what set off my internal alarm bells.
Society’s Origins
When I unearth an article that I can make applicable to writing and storytelling, I have no compulsions against sharing it with you. This week, that’s a paper from Science Advances on how societies initially arose: “Disentangling the Evolutionary Drivers of Social Complexity: A Comprehensive Test of Hypotheses.”
Microbiome Feature Issue
When did probiotics become trendy? When did they become legitimate science and medicine? How do we differentiate between the pseudoscience of “raw food” movements and the clinical science of potential treatments for diseases from Alzheimer’s to ALS?
New Carbon Nanotube Technology
The research paper is “Versatile acid solvents for pristine carbon nanotube assembly,” and it describes a new acid solvent system that does not feature the extremely challenging types of acids traditionally used in carbon nanotube production.