~hackernews | Bookmarks (21)
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The Marvelous Seamounts of the Southeast Pacific
The underwater mountains of the Nazca and Salas y Gómez ridges are a world unto themselves....
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When AI Hallucinates
This fall, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s once- (and possibly future-) CEO made a surprising statement about artificial...
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When Bacteria Are Beautiful
Aesthetic bewilderment” is a kind of common ground in science and art, an engine for new...
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What Happens to Google Maps When Tectonic Plates Move?
As a writer on physics, I’m always seeking new metaphors for understanding Einstein’s general theory of...
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A closeup on the flight and longevity of tropical bats
The ecological success of bats, their almost worldwide distribution, and their phylogenetic diversity is in large...
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The Speediest Creatures on Earth
How tiny one-celled protists pull off their strange and marvelous feats. By Kristen French March 14,...
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The Plight of Japan's AMA Divers
On the last day of fishing season, Ayami Nakata starts her morning by lighting a small...
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The End of the Dark Universe?
Please excuse me for being excited, but this hasn’t happened for more than four decades: Physicists...
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How Illegal Fishing Ships Hide
Earlier this year, Bjorn Bergman noticed something odd about a fishing ship off the coast of...
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Asteroid Defense Gets Serious
Back in the early 1990s, Dave Tholen, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii, had an...
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The first observation of humpback whale copulation
Two photographers in Maui, out on a boat, spotted a pair of humpback whales in January...
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Could Modified Gravity Kill Planet Nine?
For eight years, astronomers have hunted for a mysterious “Planet Nine” on the edges of our...
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ChatGPT Is Funnier Than You
There are three fundamental rules of humor. Unfortunately, no one can remember what they are. We...
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What Physicists Have Been Missing
A century ago, physics breakthroughs came in rapid sequence. There was quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theories...
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The Violent Birth of the Moon
In the beginning, about 4.6 billion years ago, all was chaos within a cloud of gas...
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"It's Like You're a Space Explorer Encountering Aliens"
The gossamer worm is a tiny feathery creature that lives 4,000 feet below the surface of...
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Cells Across the Body Talk to Each Other About Aging
Aging can seem like an unregulated process: As time marches along, our cells and bodies inevitably...
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The Magic of the Blackboard
In the beginning, there is nothing. Then a stroke of white appears. And another. Characters form....
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The Dubious Economics of Deep-Sea Mining
The debate over deep-sea mining has focused almost entirely on environmental impacts: how marvelous communities of...
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What You Don't Know About Sperm
Sperm don’t get much respect. They’re little more than a bare-bones package of DNA outfitted with...
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Stop Worrying About Deepfakes
How are we to know what is real, on the internet? When a faked photo of...