Sabine Hossenfelder's Blog, page 5

Quantum Computers Could Test Free Will, Researchers Claim

In quantum physics, the idea that observed correlations between particles come from the way that the measurement device affects the particles is called a violation of “Measurement Independence” or “Superdeterminism.” The authors of a new paper claim that the more complicated one makes an experiment, the larger the violation of measurement independence must be to explain observations. They

Researchers Warn of “Musk Illusion” That Brain Can be Sped Up

These days, if you have internet speeds that run in the kilobits per second range, accessing most things online is probably painfully slow. But according to new research by biologists from Caltech, human brains run at just a fraction of those speeds – they estimate that we process information at just 10 bits per second. They warn of the “Musk Illusion” that new technology could speed up our

This “Naked” Black Hole Shouldn’t Exist

The James Webb telescope has detected a series of black holes with features that are only compatible with black holes that are much, much older than should be possible. This discovery is supposedly a “paradigm change” for cosmology, that “upends all theories” and “changes everything.” Are those claims actually true? Let’s take a look.

I can't believe this really happened.

I'm left somewhat speechless here.

Physicists found a Dark Matter Clump near us!

Dark matter is everywhere around us, but the stuff isn’t distributed evenly across our universe – instead, it clumps together in and around galaxies. Even within galaxies, it should form dense “subhalos,” which are clumps of higher density. In a new study, physicists say they detected one such clump just 3,000 lightyears away from our Milky Way. Amazing if true. Let’s take a look.

5 Signs the AI Bubble is about to Burst

10 Quantum Myths, Debunked

I recently made a video about 10 physics myths, and a lot of you asked that I do another one about quantum myths in particular. Let’s take a look.

How the Planets Protect us From the Sun

A group of physicists say they have figured out why our Sun does not have superflares, like other stars of its type. It’s not that we have just been lucky so far. They say it’s because our solar system’s planets protect us. And that idea, they say, also explains the Sun’s 11 year cycle. Let’s take a look.

Why is the Universe so Big? These physicists say they know

Our universe started with an incredibly rapid phase of expansion, growing exponentially before that expansion eventually slowed down. This idea is called “inflation,” but physicists are still unsure what caused the rapid expansion and why it stopped. In a new paper, researchers say they’ve come up with an elegant new explanation for that inflation. Let’s take a look.

Did These Physicists Just Prove True Randomness?

A group of physicists claim they have proof that true randomness exists. This has implications for encryption protocols and computing, but (if true) would also indicate that the past does not determine the present. But are their findings actually legitimate? Let’s find out.