Nuclear Fusion Power Will Come, Eventually

I know I’ve not been particularly bullish about nuclear fusion, but that doesn’t mean I think it’s a waste of money. I’m sure we’ll get it to feed power into the grid eventually, and I am thrilled by the many start-ups that are now working on the technology. I am optimistic because I think in the end it’ll come down to controlling chaos, which is something that artificial intelligence is becoming really, really good at. I wrote an opinion piece about the recent NIF breakthrough here.

Nuclear Fusion Reaches Ignition, Dark Photons, Remote Controlled Magnetic Slime

In today’s episode, we’ll talk about the recent nuclear fusion headlines, and a new result from the Webb telescope. Then we’ll have a special guest, who’ll tell us what we learned from NASA’s Artemis mission. After that, we’ll talk about remote controlled magnetic slime, why atmospheric methane levels increased during the COVID pandemic, non-fogging glasses, algae that might replace beef, the toughest material on earth, self organized nanobots, dark photons. And of course, the telephone will ring!

Watch the World’s Weather in Real Time

Ever dreamed of becoming a meteorologist? I for sure haven’t. However, this website has almost made me regret it. It’s a visualization of global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers, including wind speeds, water currents, temperature, air pollution (particulates) and more. 

Quantum Simulation of Curved Spacetime

Quantum simulations are en vogue, as the recent headlines about wormholes on a quantum computer proved. But quantum simulations of spacetime come in two different versions. A direct version in which a quantum system is a stand-in for the spacetime. And an indirect version in which it’s a stand-in for the dual of the spacetime.The wormhole on a quantum computer was an example for the indirect quantum simulation. A new direct simulation was published a few weeks ago also in Nature. It used a gas of ultracold atoms to mimic an expanding universe. (Press release here.) These simulations cannot actually teach us something new about gravity, they only allow us to study properties of the models they are designed to test.

How Bad Is Social Media

Does fake news really spread better than true news? Do bots spread it? What can we do against fake news? How many of us live in echo chambers? And does social media increase political polarization?We looked at the scientific literature and in this week’s video I summarize what we found. The two browser games that I mention in the video, that help you identify fake news, are Go Viral! And Get Bad News. 

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Existential Physics: The Big Questions Raised by Modern Physics

A contrarian scientist wrestles with the big questions that modern physics raises, and what physics says about the human condition. Order it here today!