Category: Existence
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Life. A mess…
Life is built with three major components: RNA and DNA – the genetic code – and proteins, the cells that carry out their instructions. Most likely, the first cells had all three pieces. But first, RNA, DNA or proteins had to form without their partners. One common theory, known as the “RNA World” hypothesis, proposes […]
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Finding your way…
A team at Facebook AI has created a reinforcement learning algorithm that lets a robot find its way in an unfamiliar environment without using a map. (1) Finding your way without a map. Is there any other way? With a map, you will always return at home. But what is home? Were you not born […]
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Being afraid of Nothing…
Scientists have created the fastest spinning object ever made, taking them a big step closer to being able to measure the mysterious quantum forces at play inside ‘nothingness’. The record-breaking object will pave the way for scientists to detect unfathomably small amounts of drag caused by the ‘friction’ within a vacuum. The science of nothingness […]
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Knowing thy self…
Interoception is the awareness of our physiological states; it’s how animals and humans know they’re hungry or thirsty, and how they know when they’ve had enough to eat or drink. But precisely how the brain estimates the state of the body and reacts to it remains unclear. In a paper published in the journal Neuron, […]
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Measuring… (What?)
A new optical atomic clock makes ultra-precise time measurements. (1) Measuring time. Even though we are not certain what time is. You see, not knowing something does not hinder you from handling it. But this goes even further than that. Not knowing something is the sole pre-requisite of handling it. Because if you knew it, […]
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