I'll be in London next year on May 7 at the RI Theatre to discuss the mystery of existence. Tickets here.

Fitness YouTuber Conducts Research Study

This week’s episode of Science News is about complex numbers — these numbers are created when you add a real number and an imaginary number (like “i”). They’re used throughout math and physics, notably in the Schrödinger equation, which is the key to quantum physics. In 2021, physicists published a paper claiming that you can’t entirely get rid of complex numbers in quantum physics, but two teams of physicists recently published papers disputing that claim. Let’s take a look.

Google’s Quantum AI team Warns of Quantum Hype

In a new arXiv preprint, Google’s quantum computing researchers suggest a five-stage framework to build research up to commercial relevance. They stress that this will require paying more attention to what quantum algorithms can actually achieve that is of practical relevance. So far, there are few known applications of quantum computers and it is unclear whether these will ever deliver a good return on investment. 

As they write: “Many papers on the quant-ph arXiv explore the topic of quantum applications by relating established quantum algorithms to industrial challenges while avoiding the singular question that relentlessly haunts our collective endeavor: is this likely to ever lead to a quantum advantage?” They also warn that the field of quantum computing “may burn through valuable public trust if exaggerated narratives around timelines and applications of quantum computing perpetuate unchecked.” Paper here. 

Partnered with DeleteMe

Take Control Of Your Online Data

In 2025, your personal data is one of the most sought-after currencies on the internet. Data brokers constantly scrape the internet for your information, collecting and selling it to scammers and phishers.

What’s the best way to stay safe online, then? DeleteMe. Their continually updated service uses automated monitoring and expert support to to constantly remove your data from hundreds of data brokers. They also send regular personalized privacy reports showing what info they found, where they found it, and what they removed. Take control now — visit joindeleteme.com/SABINE and use promo code SABINE for 20% off.

The End of a Physics Era

The foundations of physics have undergone a dramatic shift in the past decade, in which especially high energy particle physics has moved away from speculative theory-development because it simply didn’t work. This is the brief summary of a recently published study that tracked the opinions of physicists before and after the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012. “Now, we find the goals, based on the shared consensus of the field, to be primarily experimental,” they summarize in what one could call a psychoanalysis of a research area. Paper here.

The problem with this shift is that it has left the foundations of physics directionless. Because now, no one has any good theories, and no one has any idea what a promising experiment would even be. Personally, I think that physicists took a wrong turn in the 1980s by banking progress on going to higher energies, when they should instead have looked at low-energy, massive quantum states. This latter research direction is now growing, albeit very slowly, and with still very few active researchers.

The Hustle: Claude Hacks For Marketers

Some people use Claude to write emails. Others use it to basically run their entire business while they play Wordle.

This isn't just ChatGPT's cooler cousin. It's the AI that's quietly revolutionizing how smart people work – writing entire business plans, planning marketing campaigns, and basically becoming the intern you never have to pay.

The Hustle's new guide shows you exactly how the AI-literate are leaving everyone else behind. Subscribe for instant access.

Get our Claude playbook