Fresh insights into how insects use water droplets to wash dirt and pollutants from their bodies could help improve the performance of self-cleaning devices, a study suggests.
Nanophysics
6 hours ago
0
10
Robots will be one of the keys to the expanding in-space economy. As launch costs decrease—hopefully significantly when Starship and other massive lift systems come online—the most significant barrier to entry for the ...
Space Exploration
Jun 1, 2023
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10
Darmstadt physicists have developed a technique that could overcome one of the biggest hurdles in building a practically-relevant quantum computer. They make use of an optical effect here discovered by British photo pioneer ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 1, 2023
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25
University of Washington researchers have discovered they can detect atomic "breathing," or the mechanical vibration between two layers of atoms, by observing the type of light those atoms emitted when stimulated by a laser. ...
Quantum Physics
Jun 1, 2023
2
97
A rare, triple-whammy of cyclones drove the deadly flooding that devastated much of northern Italy this month, but scientists said Wednesday that climate change doesn't seem to be to blame for the intense rainfall.
Environment
May 31, 2023
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51
Every so often, life on Earth steps onto a nearly empty playing field and faces a spectacular opportunity. Something major changes—in the atmosphere or in the oceans, or in the organisms themselves —and the existing species ...
Evolution
May 31, 2023
0
275
According to a study by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), the Eurecat technology center and the Autonomous University of Madrid, published in PLOS ONE, students worked more continuously during the pandemic, which ...
Education
May 30, 2023
0
27
Artificial intelligence algorithms are quickly becoming a part of everyday life. Many systems that require strong security are either already underpinned by machine learning or soon will be. These systems include facial recognition, ...
Quantum Physics
May 28, 2023
2
65
Active Brownian motion describes particles that can propel themselves forward while still being subjected to random Brownian motions as they are jostled around by their neighboring particles. Through a new analysis published ...
General Physics
May 26, 2023
0
34
It's a cold, wet day in 2015 and Anne Pringle is scouring the understory of a Northern California forest for the unassuming organism that has consumed her research for the last several years: the death cap mushroom, or Amanita ...
Ecology
May 26, 2023
4
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A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.
Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century (1940–1945). These were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers (PCs). Modern computers based on integrated circuits are millions to billions of times more capable than the early machines, and occupy a fraction of the space. Simple computers are small enough to fit into a wristwatch, and can be powered by a watch battery. Personal computers in their various forms are icons of the Information Age and are what most people think of as "computers". The embedded computers found in many devices from MP3 players to fighter aircraft and from toys to industrial robots are however the most numerous.
The ability to store and execute lists of instructions called programs makes computers extremely versatile, distinguishing them from calculators. The Church–Turing thesis is a mathematical statement of this versatility: any computer with a certain minimum capability is, in principle, capable of performing the same tasks that any other computer can perform. Therefore computers ranging from a mobile phone to a supercomputer are all able to perform the same computational tasks, given enough time and storage capacity.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
