Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Simone Barr @simonebarr.bsky.social · 5h

The strange way that fluid behaves
When it flows in an ocean of waves

Stays oddly mysterious
And makes experts delirious

But new findings give math what it craves.
www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-m...

The Hidden Math of Ocean Waves Crashes Into View | Quanta Magazine

The math of even the simplest ocean waves is notoriously uncooperative. A team of Italian mathematicians has made major advances toward understanding it.

www.quantamagazine.org

Simone Barr @simonebarr.bsky.social · 20d

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · 20d

Quanta staff are answering your questions about “How We Came to Know Earth,” our latest special issue, this afternoon on Reddit. www.reddit.com/r/askscience...

Reposted by Simone Barr

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · 29d

From methane-eaters to rain-makers, the microbial powers of the Earth’s smallest organisms read like something out of a fantasy novel.

Microbes Also Change the Climate. Could That Help Us? | Quanta Magazine

A collection of short dispatches from the field of climate microbiology conveys the contributions that single-celled life forms make to our climate system, and how we can work with them to address…

www.quantamagazine.org

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Shalma Wegsman @shalmawegs.bsky.social · Sep 15

After a long break, my podcast 'Why This Universe?' is starting up again! In our first episode of the season, Nobel prize-winner Adam Riess shares his story of the discovery that dark energy is powering the expansion of space.

Listen to the whole episode here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · Sep 15

A photoessay by @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social highlights researchers' labor & collaboration: "Through the haze of doom that shrouds climate science shines the passion behind the quest to understand and solve one of the greatest challenges humanity has faced." www.quantamagazine.org/photos-captu...

Photos Capture the Extreme, Beautiful Work of Climate Science | Quanta Magazine

Building an accurate model of Earth’s climate requires a lot of data. Photography reveals the extreme efforts scientists have undertaken to measure gases, glaciers, clouds and more.

www.quantamagazine.org

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Simone Barr @simonebarr.bsky.social · 29d

Was such a joy to work on these stories! You can explore the rest of em here: www.quantamagazine.org/how-we-came-...

How We Came To Know Earth | Quanta Magazine

Climate science is the most significant scientific collaboration in history. This series from Quanta Magazine guides you through basic climate science — from quantum effects to ancient hothouses, from...

www.quantamagazine.org

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Simone Barr @simonebarr.bsky.social · Sep 15

Favorite little ditty of social copy that I wrote for our climate series :-)

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Sep 15

Time wears on us all; Venus was also a lot cooler when it was younger. www.quantamagazine.org/why-is-venus...

Why Is Venus Hell and Earth an Eden? | Quanta Magazine

A team of scientists has investigated how Earth’s twin became so inhospitable, and whether the same will happen to our planet.

www.quantamagazine.org

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Aug 8

This summer, staff writer Charlie Wood (@walkingthedot.bsky.social) joined hundreds of physicists on the island of Helgoland, the birthplace of quantum mechanics. There, he encountered a bewildering array of opinions about what quantum mechanics means: 🧵

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Aug 4

Strong new evidence suggests that liquid metal from the center of the Earth is making its way up to the planet’s surface, potentially ferried through two monster-size blobs sitting at the core-mantle boundary. @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/earths-core-...

Earth’s Core Appears To Be Leaking Up and Out of Earth’s Surface | Quanta Magazine

Strong new evidence suggests that primordial material from the planet’s center is somehow making its way out. Continent-size entities anchored to the core-mantle boundary might be involved.

www.quantamagazine.org

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Jul 31

Most organic molecules have a mirror-image twin. This concept is known as chirality. 🧵

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Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Jul 10

The impacts of climate change will not be distributed evenly across the globe. How can regional models help individual communities adapt? Tune in to “The Joy of Why” from @prx.org and @quantamagazine.bsky.social with co-host @stevenstrogatz.com.
www.quantamagazine.org/how-can-regi...

How Can Regional Models Advance Climate Science? | Quanta Magazine

Elfatih Eltahir explains why we need more local and social data, like disease spread and population growth, to better predict and address climate-related challenges.

www.quantamagazine.org

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Jul 3

Do you smell that?

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Simone Barr @simonebarr.bsky.social · Jul 3

Mmmmm, what's that smell? Oh! It's the whiff of a delicious new @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social story, fresh from Quanta Bakery. www.quantamagazine.org/how-smell-gu...

How Smell Guides Our Inner World | Quanta Magazine

A better understanding of human smell is emerging as scientists interrogate its fundamental elements: the odor molecules that enter your nose and the individual neurons that translate them into percep...

www.quantamagazine.org

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Aardman @aardman.bsky.social · Jun 26

I found an article here yesterday that fascinated me so much it inspired today’s tune. Link to original article included.

#originalmusic #composition #composer #music #musician #sheetmusic #originalmusicSky #compositionSky #composerLife #composerSky

philipdewalt.substack.com/p/177-monost...

177 - Monostable Tetrahedron

This fascinated me today - after way more time, energy and money that you would think necessary, somebody finally made a monostable tetrahedron.

philipdewalt.substack.com

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Simone Barr @simonebarr.bsky.social · Jun 27

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
My friend @mollyherring.bsky.social wrote another banger for you:
www.quantamagazine.org/when-did-nat...

When Did Nature Burst Into Vivid Color? | Quanta Magazine

Scientists reconstructed 500 million years of evolutionary history to reveal which came first: colorful signals or the color vision needed to see them.

www.quantamagazine.org

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Jun 18

Termites build self-ventilating mounds that can be as tall as seven meters. L. Mahadevan digs into the environmental and biological interplay that sets the size and shape of these miraculous structures. Tune in to "The Joy of Why":
www.quantamagazine.org/does-form-re...

A picture of a tall termite mound in the open

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Jun 12

How do human brains fold? Some of the clues may lie in the palm of your hand — specifically in its creases. Tune in to "The Joy of Why" with L. Mahadevan and co-host @stevenstrogatz.com from @prx.org and @quantamagazine.bsky.social:
www.quantamagazine.org/does-form-re...

Does Form Really Shape Function? | Quanta Magazine

From brain folds to insect architecture, L. Mahadevan explains how complex biological forms and behaviors emerge through the interplay of physical forces, environment and embodiment.

www.quantamagazine.org

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Shalma Wegsman @shalmawegs.bsky.social · Apr 3

Nobody asked, but here’s a video of me explaining the Penrose diagram I embroidered on my pants.

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · May 13

Today, we’re launching something new. The Quanta Podcast is your weekly dispatch from the frontiers of science and mathematics.

In each episode, editor in chief @pateljournalist.bsky.social will talk to the writers and editors behind our stories.

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Simone Barr @simonebarr.bsky.social · May 5

One of my favorite parts of Quanta's new AI series is @markabelan.bsky.social and @benbenbrubaker.bsky.social's visual explainer on how AI makes heads or tails of the internet's cats: www.quantamagazine.org/how-can-ai-i...

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Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Apr 22

Sunlight powers almost every organism on #Earth, directly or indirectly. Scientists are still uncovering the mysteries of life’s intimate bond with solar radiation.

🧵

Credit: Josue Moura Romao/Nature in Motion

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Simone Barr @simonebarr.bsky.social · Apr 17

I can't stop soundtracking our stories

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Apr 17

I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes. And in the underlayers of my glabrous and hairy skin.

Touch, Our Most Complex Sense, Is a Landscape of Cellular Sensors | Quanta Magazine

Every soft caress of wind, searing burn and seismic rumble is detected by our skin’s tangle of touch sensors. David Ginty has spent his career cataloging the neurons beneath everyday sensations.

www.quantamagazine.org

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Reposted by Simone Barr

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Apr 16

Many of the moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn appear to host subsurface oceans. Mysteries abound as to what fills these deep sea worlds. But the hints that we’ve already gathered make them tantalizing targets in the search for life beyond Earth.

🧵

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Simone Barr @simonebarr.bsky.social · Apr 15

I love my job because I get to write the words "cosmic baked ziti" on social media

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Apr 15

Physicists suspect that spinning neutron stars, known as pulsars, resemble something of a cosmic baked ziti: solid outer crust, with an interior of pressurized neutrons that can bear an uncanny resemblance to gnocchi, spaghetti, and lasagna. www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-s...

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Simone Barr @simonebarr.bsky.social · Apr 10

Really enjoyed unpacking some of the Big Questions from our Spacetime series on Quanta's social platforms www.instagram.com/p/DD42RMIJX4...

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