This Is Why China Wants To Drill Through The Earth’s Crust

China is investing in drilling, big time. The Chinese government recently completed a 10-kilometer borehole in the Tarim Basin, and has also launched a drillship that intends to drill into the Earth’s mantle through the seabed. If successful, it’d be the first to ever reach the mantle, after the Americans abandoned a similar project 50 years ago. Let’s take a look at both of these projects and what they’re expecting to gain through them.

New Laser Tech Might Be Future of Computing

You might associate lasers with things like destroying planets or melting through steel. But researchers are working on a way to do something more productive with the technology: cooling computer chips. It could solve a big problem because overheating is currently the major obstacle in the way of cramming more transistors onto microchips. Let’s take a look at how laser cooling works and why it might just be the cooling technology of the future.

Gravity Proves That We Live In A Simulation, Physicist Claims

Some people seem obsessed with the idea that we live in some sort of computer simulation. One physicist has gone as far as publishing a paper pushing that idea, claiming that the existence of gravity might prove that the simulation theory is indeed correct. Let’s take a look.

AI Slop Is Coming For Science

AI slop has already become prevalent across the internet (and in the classroom). But according to multiple reports, artificial intelligence is posing an increasingly serious threat to scientific literature, too. Researchers have uncovered a concerning number of AI-generated papers published in reputable journals, even experts can no longer identify AI-generated “science” images, and the amount of AI slop submitted to publishers will only increase as the technology continues to improve. Let’s take a look at what this means for the future of science.

Black Holes might turn into White Holes, and make up dark matter, physicists say

White holes are theoretical bodies in physics that are basically time-reversed black holes, meaning instead of permanently trapping matter inside themselves, they release it constantly. Recently, one team of physicists claimed that black holes can turn into white holes, another team says they know how to detect them, and yet another group claims that white holes make up dark matter. Has the time for white holes come?



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Why theories of everything keep failing

If you keep up with science headlines, you’ve probably noticed that a new “theory of everything” pops up pretty much every week, disappearing forever after its few seconds of fame. Today I want to explain why I think these theories are constantly failing, what they might be missing, and what might be the most promising approach to date.

Gravity might be a force after all

Einstein taught us that gravity is not a force. But in a recently published paper, researchers claim that we might have had it wrong this whole time, arguing that gravity is a force after all. They say that when treated correctly as a force, gravity can more easily be made into a quantum theory. I’ve had a look.

The USA is crumbling at the bottom and sinking

According to multiple recently published studies, the U.S. is collapsing, not politically, but geologically. The continental plate of North America is dripping down into the Earth’s mantle, some areas of the U.S. are sinking due to the over-extraction of groundwater, and the next earthquake in the Cascadia region might sink the coast of California.

New Record-Breaking Laser Shot at NIF: Can it break even?

In February, the US’s National Ignition Facility fired off its seventh laser shot, generating a record-breaking amount of energy for a laser-ignited fusion reaction. Can laser ignited fusion ever break even? Let’s have a look at how the technology could be made more efficient.

Why This Nobel Prize Winner Thinks Quantum Mechanics is Nonsense

Gerard ‘t Hooft won the Nobel Prize in 1999, and the recent Breakthrough Prize, for his work on the Standard Model of Particle physics. He also thinks that quantum mechanics is nonsense. Indeed, he has an alternative theory for quantum mechanics that he says is how the world really works. This theory has been almost entirely ignored by physicists. Which is unfortunate, because he predicts a limit for what quantum computers can do. Today I want to tell you about ‘t Hooft’s ideas about quantum physics, to the extent that I understand them.



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Leading Quantum Computing Firm Accused of Fraud

D-Wave, one of the world’s leading quantum computing firms, was recently accused of fraud by a short-selling firm. Just what are the accusations and are they reasonable? Let’s take a look.

Did We Get This Famous Quantum Physics Experiment Wrong?

The double-slit experiment is a famous quantum physics experiment that shows that light exhibits behavior of both a particle and a wave. In a new paper, researchers claim they’ve proven the experiment wrong, and that light is just a particle. Instead of light also being a wave that interferes with itself they say that there are both light photons and dark photons. Let’s take a look.

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Origin of consciousness located with new test

The rise of AI has made us humans increasingly question what consciousness really is. In a recent study, researchers pitted two competing theories of consciousness against one another, the controversial Integrated Information Theory versus Global Neuronal Workspace Theory. Let’s take a look at what they found.

New Renewable Unlocked: Researchers Generate Electricity From Rain

A team of biomolecular engineers have come up with a new way to generate electricity from rainfall. Their method involves having rain flow through tiny tubes, and they claim that it can generate up to 100 Watts of electricity per square meter of tubes. Will this revolutionize renewable energy? Let’s find out.

China Wants You To Be Afraid Of Their Quantum Computers

Last week, the media reported, again, that Chinese researchers used a quantum computer to crack a widely-used internet security protocol called RSA encryption. How much do we need to worry about it? Is the “quantum apocalypse” near, as some have claimed? Let’s take a look.

Does the future determine the present?

Teleology is the idea that the present is the way it is because it's shaped by a future purpose. In this video, I have a look at some theories in physics that reflect this idea and see if they make sense.

Four Starlink Satellites Fall From The Sky Each Day, Creating New Worries

Starlink and other low-orbit internet satellite companies are pumping thousands of satellites into space each year in an attempt to cover the entire planet in internet connections. Some of these satellites have already caused issues for astronomers, and new research suggests that they might create more problems in the future with the ozone layer and, potentially, the magnetic field. Recent reports have claimed that 4 to 5 Starlink Satellites burn up in the atmosphere each day, leaving behind metallic dust. How alarming is this?



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Trump's Budget Cuts: Is US Science About to Collapse?

We’re more than 100 days into the new Trump administration, and the president has made a lot of changes to federal science funding in the U.S. – budgets have been slashed, people have been fired, and 75% of American scientists are apparently considering leaving the country. What does all this mean for the future of science? Let’s take a look.

AI is too nice -- but it has a bigger problem

As AI continues to develop (slowly), users are discovering that AI chatbots are becoming nicer, indeed too nice, sometimes encouraging bad ideas and refusing to criticize obvious bullshit. Why is that and what does it mean for the future of AI? Let’s find out.

Black Holes are Quantum Computers. Kind of.

For the past two decades, physicist Gia Dvali has pushed the idea that black holes are quantum computers, even claiming that aliens might be using them. At first this sounds like another far-fetched and crazy sci-fi idea, but I think it’s not as crazy as it seems.

A New Unified Theory? I’ve had a look.

I have been alerted of a new approach to unification that reveals electromagnetism is geometric in nature. I've had a look.

Almost Forgotten Cold Fusion Idea Makes Comeback

Muon catalysed fusion is a type of cold fusion technology that’s been around for decades, but using muons in the fusion process proved tricky due to their instability and the energy needed to produce the subatomic particles. Now, though, scientific advances are beginning to make the technology more viable. Let’s take a look.