Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by FQxI

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 1h

Breaking News: Brown University became the second college to reject a White House deal offering preferential treatment for federal grants.

Brown University Rejects White House Deal for Special Treatment

Brown was the second university to turn down the deal, which would have given a funding preference to universities that agreed to certain requirements.

nyti.ms

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 4h

It gives a spacetime picture of the complexity roadblock and builds on earlier foundations like Complexity = Action and the Second Law of Quantum Complexity, which treat complexity as a physical resource that tends to grow.

Read more in the QSpace article: qspace.fqxi.org/articles/225...

FQxI Article: The Complexity Conundrum

The Foundational Questions Institute, FQxI, catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of science, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a…

qspace.fqxi.org

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 4h

Since then Brown and collaborators introduced Python’s Lunch, a wormhole geometry where a central bulge flags exponentially hard decoding of Hawking radiation.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 4h

If recovering the message demands resources that blow up exponentially, the ‘experiment’ may be out of reach in practice.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 4h

A few years ago, FQxI funded Adam Brown for Complexity, Black Holes, and Observers. The aim was to show that maybe the real barrier in the black-hole information puzzle is computational, not a breakdown of physics.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 1d

FQxI's Leonard Susskind won the the "Galileo Galilei Medal" award. The prize is awarded once every two years to scientists who have massively advanced research in theoretical physics. Congrats Leonard!

READ MORE: qspace.fqxi.org/news/165311/...

IMAGE 🔗 Lumidek

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 5d

Dark matter ≠ dark energy. Dark matter is an unseen mass we infer from gravity; dark energy labels an expansion that seems to speed up. In this clip from FQxI's latest podcast, Niayesh Afshordi talks about why the evidence behind each is different and why the story’s still being told.

Reposted by FQxI

Patrick Ness @patricknessbooks.bsky.social · 7d

*deep sigh* Again, I have an English degree and have contributed rather extensively to the British economy, including writing a show that pumped £10 million into Wales. But the stupidity is the point here, of course.

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 7d

Badenoch and Co see education only as a means to a massive income in some soul destroying career.

Devoid of imagination and the power of knowledge they view life entirely through the prism of the CV.

My advice always is to study what interests you and the rest will follow

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Reposted by FQxI

Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 7d

This is a good game.

I have an English degree and boosted a major publishing house’s share price, and saved a high street retail chain from closure.

If a Mickey Mouse degree lets you create actual Mickey fucking Mouse, it’s probably easily as good “for the economy” as business studies.

Patrick Ness @patricknessbooks.bsky.social · 7d

*deep sigh* Again, I have an English degree and have contributed rather extensively to the British economy, including writing a show that pumped £10 million into Wales. But the stupidity is the point here, of course.

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 7d

Badenoch and Co see education only as a means to a massive income in some soul destroying career.

Devoid of imagination and the power of knowledge they view life entirely through the prism of the CV.

My advice always is to study what interests you and the rest will follow

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Reposted by FQxI

New Scientist @newscientist.com · 7d

In swamps and marshes, people occasionally see mysterious blue-tinged flashes of light above water, which have commonly been associated with ghosts or spirits. Now physicists may have finally worked out what causes them.

We may finally know what causes will-o’-the-wisps

Mysterious flashes of light seen in swamps and bogs could be caused by burning methane or other gases, ignited by sparks that fly between bubbles in water

www.newscientist.com

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 8d

John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics.

IMAGE CREDIT:
©Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 12d

Mike Wright, who since the early 70’s has been recording scientific talks, well before anyone was doing anything like that, resulting in 100,000 hours of recordings.

While a substantial portion is now digitised, some work still needs doing to reach the finishing line.

buff.ly/bTScLaK

FQxI @fqxi.org · 15d

FQxI and the Paradox Science Institute supported the recent school in quantum biology in Paraty, Brazil.

FQxI's $53,000 essay competition on the topic of quantum biology asks: How Quantum is Life? Enter before 29 October 2025 for your chance to win!

NEWS: qspace.fqxi.org/news/165309/...

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 16d

(5/5)
Full piece on QSpace (link in bio). If you’ve tried AI proofing on your own drafts, tell us what actually helped, and what didn’t.

FQxI @fqxi.org · 16d

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 16d

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 16d

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 16d

(1/5)
The Black Spatula project is just starting out, with a community of contributors all exploring different ways that AI might be brought to bear on error checking. "It's still in the experimental phase, with multiple volunteers collaborating to try out different approaches," says Steve Newman.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 18d

And the engine idea has moved forward. Antonio Patrón Castro, David Sivak and John Bechhoefer show you can boost output by harvesting perpendicular fluctuations in higher dimensions, even without tracking vertical motion (arXiv:2507.15503).

(1/3): Kinesin on microtubules, by Kateryna Kon.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 18d

In "Maximizing power and velocity of an information engine," Bechhoefer’s team showed how a laser-trapped bead can bank energy from random jiggles, acting as an information engine with power on the scale of molecular motors.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 18d

Johann du Buisson, Jannik Ehrich, mleighton.bsky.social, davidasivak.bsky.social, and John Bechhoefer introduce a one-coordinate test that infers heat flow to flag “demonic” operation. In kinesin simulations tuned to experiments, the motor grows more demon-like as active fluctuations rise.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 18d

📢 Good news: We’ve extended the deadline for FQxI’s How Quantum is Life? essay competition.

You now have until October 29, 2025 to submit your entry.
Remember, there's a $53,000 prize pot up for grabs!

All information here qspace.fqxi.org/competitions...

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 19d

FQxI is seeking an Academic Managing Editor for a new project, the Foundational Review Series.

Remote (Global applicants welcome)

Full-Time (will consider alternative working arrangements for the ideal candidate)

~$70,000 – $100,000 based on experience

fqxi.org/academic-man...

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 22d

Sara Walker and Paul Davies on the physics of life. Our $53,000 quantum biology essay contest asks: How Quantum is Life? qspace.fqxi.org/competitions...

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 27d

The evidence is building that life itself is quantum mechanical.
Enter FQxI's $53,000 Essay Competition: How Quantum is Life?
DEADLINE: 29 September, 2025
qspace.fqxi.org/competitions...

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