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Archive for the ‘physics’ category: Page 109

Jan 3, 2023

Boltzmann Brains: A Cosmological Horror Story

Posted by in categories: cosmology, neuroscience, physics

Boltzmann brains are perhaps one of the spookiest ideas in physics. A Boltzmann brain is a single, isolated human brain complete with false memories that spontaneously fluctuates into existence from the void. They’re the kind of thing you’d find in a campfire horror story. The big problem, however, is that a range of plausible cosmological models (including our current cosmology) predict that Boltzmann brains will exist. Even worse, these brains should massively outnumber “ordinary” conscious observers like ourselves. At every moment of your existence, it is more likely that you are an isolated Boltzmann brain, falsely remembering your past, than a human being on a rocky planet in a low-entropy universe.

In this video I explain where the idea of Boltzmann brains originated, and why they haunt modern cosmology.

Continue reading “Boltzmann Brains: A Cosmological Horror Story” »

Jan 3, 2023

The Light Clock: How Moving Clocks Run Slow

Posted by in categories: mathematics, physics

If you know anything about special relativity then you probably know that how fast you’re moving has an impact on how quickly time passes for you. What physics gives rise to this effect? Do you need to know some complicated mathematics in order to understand it?

It turns out that this effect, known as “time dilation”, can be very easily derived for a special kind of clock: a light clock. In this video, I consider a light clock moving through space and show how the postulates of special relativity entail that this moving clock runs slow.

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Jan 3, 2023

Can a Powerful Enough Computer Work Out a Theory of Everything?

Posted by in categories: computing, physics

Year 2020 face_with_colon_three


The rigorously proven No Free Lunch theorem shows that physicists will always be needed to determine the correct questions.

Jan 3, 2023

AI Is Discovering Its Own ‘Fundamental’ Physics And Scientists Are Baffled

Posted by in categories: physics, robotics/AI

Year 2022 😗


AI observed videos of lava lamps and inflatable air dancers and identified dozens of physics variables that scientists don’t yet understand.

Jan 3, 2023

Automated discovery of fundamental variables hidden in experimental data

Posted by in categories: physics, robotics/AI

Year 2022 What they find is a new type of physics generated by their artificial intelligence.


The determination of state variables to describe physical systems is a challenging task. A data-driven approach is proposed to automatically identify state variables for unknown systems from high-dimensional observational data.

Jan 3, 2023

OzGrav Receives $35 Million Funding to Prove Albert Einstein’s Theories, Understand Gravitational Waves

Posted by in category: physics

OzGrav is turning Albert Einstein’s imagination into reality as they pursue groundbreaking discoveries in the rapidly expanding area of gravitational wave physics. Read the article to find out more.

Jan 2, 2023

If you could see a black hole, it might look like a cosmic koosh ball

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

Year 2022 face_with_colon_three


Since the discovery of black holes, they have inspired images of the universe’s extremities in both scientists and storytellers. Their immense gravity — sucking in any matter and light unfortunate enough to come within grabbing distance — conjures images of crushing death and infinite possibility.

That same gravity, however, creates a well which consumes indiscriminately and from whence nothing can ever emerge. The only trouble is that isn’t the case. Among Stephen Hawking’s many accomplishments was the discovery that black holes actually radiate very slowly and will eventually evaporate. This discovery, while enough to make Hawking famous, threw a wrench in contemporary astrophysics by creating a paradox.

Continue reading “If you could see a black hole, it might look like a cosmic koosh ball” »

Jan 2, 2023

A new physics-defying theory describes the effects of faster-than-light travel

Posted by in categories: physics, space

Extended special relativity describes how the universe would look if you broke the speed of light.

Scientists from the University of Warsaw in Poland and the National University of Singapore are pushing the limits of relativity with a new theory called the “extension of special relativity,” a report from Science Alert reveals.

The scientists’ new study suggests that objects may be able to go faster than the speed of light without completely shattering our current laws of physics.

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Jan 2, 2023

John Conway’s ‘Game of Life’ and How Complex Systems Can Arise From Simple Rules

Posted by in category: physics

John Horton Conway, born on December 26th, 1937, was a brilliant mathematician known for his contributions to a diverse array of disciplines, including group theory, number theory, algebra, geometric topology, theoretical physics, and geometry. Despite being viewed as a potential candidate for the title of greatest living…

Jan 2, 2023

A big problem with fusion is solved leading us near to a perpetual energy source

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, physics, sustainability

Image credit: Max Planck Institute of Plasma physics. Cutaway of a Fusion Reactor.

A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) and the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wein) have discovered a way to control Type-I ELM plasma instabilities, that melt the walls of fusion devices. The study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

There is no doubt that the day will come when fusion power plants can provide sustainable energy and solve our persistent energy problems. It is the main reason why so many scientists around the world are working on this power source. Power generation in this way actually mimics the sun.