Can a planet have a mind of its own?
The collective activity of life—all of the microbes, plants, and animals—have changed planet Earth.
Astrobiology
Feb 16, 2022
10
2195
News tagged with thought experiment
Is the past (and future) there when nobody looks?
In 1961, the Nobel prize winning theoretical physicist Eugene Wigner proposed what is now known as the 'Wigner's friend' thought experiment as an extension of the notorious Schroedinger's cat experiment. In the latter, a ...
Quantum Physics
May 14, 2021
15
761
Test of wave function collapse suggests gravity is not the answer
A team of researchers from Germany, Italy and Hungary has tested a theory that suggests gravity is the force behind quantum collapse and has found no evidence to support it. In their paper published in the journal Nature ...
Can the moon be a person? As lunar mining looms, a change of perspective could protect Earth's ancient companion
Everyone is planning to return to the moon. At least 10 missions by half a dozen nations are scheduled before the end of 2021, and that's only the beginning.
Space Exploration
Aug 27, 2020
2
38
A new quantum paradox throws the foundations of observed reality into question
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Perhaps not, some say.
Quantum Physics
Aug 24, 2020
20
1850
What a bike moving at near the speed of light might look like to a human observer
A pair of researchers at Surrey University has attempted to show what a bicycle moving at near the speed of light might look like to a human observer. In their paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society ...
When Maxwell's demon takes its time: Measuring microparticle reaction time
Researchers at the Universities Vienna and Stuttgart have investigated a version of Maxwell's demon embodied by a delayed feedback force acting on a levitated microparticle. They confirmed new fundamental limits that time ...
Quantum Physics
Apr 7, 2020
0
71
Less is more for Maxwell's Demon in quantum heat engines
Over 150 years after the famous Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell first introduced the idea, the concept of Maxwell's demon continues to perplex physicists and information scientists. The demon he dreamed up in a thought ...
'The Demon in the Machine' is named physics book of the year in UK
Paul Davies' newest book, The Demon in the Machine, takes aim at one of the great outstanding scientific enigmas—what is life, how and why does it emerge and what distinguishes the living from the non-living? The book, ...
General Physics
Dec 20, 2019
6
423
Researchers develop quantum-mechanical variant of the twin paradox
One of the fundamental challenges of physics is the reconciliation of Einstein's theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. The necessity to critically question these two pillars of modern physics arises, for example, from ...
Quantum Physics
Oct 7, 2019
0
646
