Category: Science
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Listening to words…
For humans to achieve accurate speech recognition and communicate with one another, the auditory system must recognize distinct categories of sounds - such as words - from a continuous incoming stream of sounds. This task becomes complicated when considering the variability in sounds produced by individuals with different accents, pitches, or intonations. In a new…
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Reducing resistance… Non-knowledge…
The realization of so-called topological materials - which exhibit exotic, defect-resistant properties - has opened up a new realm in materials discovery. Several of the hotly studied topological materials to date are known as topological insulators. Their surfaces are expected to conduct electricity with very little resistance, somewhat akin to superconductors but without the need…
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Magnetic sense. Astronomy. Void cosmos. Humans moving.
The human brain can unconsciously respond to changes in Earth's magnetic fields, according to a team of geoscientists and neurobiologists. This interdisciplinary study revives a research area in neuroscience that has remained dormant for decades. (1) We used to believe we can sense the cosmos. We used to have astrology and religion. Now we have…
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Heat waves. Like… sound waves?
The next time you set a kettle to boil, consider this scenario: After turning the burner off, instead of staying hot and slowly warming the surrounding kitchen and stove, the kettle quickly cools to room temperature and its heat hurtles away in the form of a boiling-hot wave. We know heat doesn't behave this way…
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Going back in time… With no change…
We cannot reverse the arrow of time any more than we can erase all our wrinkles or restore a shattered teacup to its original form. Or can we? An international team of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory managed to return a computer briefly to the past. To achieve…
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