2018

Two hands with a Cats Cradle string with images of crows

The Fate of Free Will: When Science Crosses Swords with Philosophy: In some domains the two knowledge systems are complementary, but in others they might be headed for conflict

September 17, 2018

Avi Loeb's latest Scientific American blog, "Scientific discoveries substantiate our awe when faced with the richness and universality of the laws of nature. But science falls short of explaining this natural order and why it exists in the first place."

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Images of stars with an inset of a galaxy

FRB 121102: New Bursts From Older Data

September 17, 2018

“Not all discoveries come from new observations,” says Pete Worden, in a comment referring to original thinking as applied to an existing dataset. Worden is executive director of the Breakthrough Initiatives program, which includes Breakthrough Listen, an ambitious attempt to use SETI techniques to search for signs of technological activity in the universe. Note that last word: The targets Breakthrough Listen examines do extend to about one million stars in the...

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Computer model of a quasicrystal. Credit: Eric Heller Getty Images

The Power of Anomalies: Progress in science is sometimes propelled by the discovery of experimental oddities that inspire a fresh perspective on nature

August 28, 2018

Read the new Scientitic American blog entry by Avi Loeb, 

"Progress in science is sometimes triggered by surprises. Data collection resembles gathering of new pieces in a jigsaw puzzle and placing them together. Sometimes one of the pieces does not quite fit. It is natural for scientists to instinctively argue that such a piece does not belong; perhaps it is an artifact driven by uncertainties in the data or a misinterpretation of the experiment."

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