AbelianSandPile
@abeliansandpile.bsky.social
Associativity is mathemagical; commutativity is also good, especially if you're a sandpile.
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
This spectacular image of the planetary alignment of Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter above the Sydney Opera House was taken in the early morning around April 21, 2022, and featured as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day on April 26, 2022
December 28, 2025 at 1:24 PM
This spectacular image of the planetary alignment of Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter above the Sydney Opera House was taken in the early morning around April 21, 2022, and featured as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day on April 26, 2022
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
This is the Weierstrauss function, a “monster” that is continuous everywhere but differentiable nowhere. First published in 1872, it prompted scrutiny of assumptions in calculus. Similar functions are used to study random motion and analyze risk.
The Jagged, Monstrous Function That Broke Calculus | Quanta Magazine
In the late 19th century, Karl Weierstrass invented a fractal-like function that was decried as nothing less than a “deplorable evil.” In time, it would transform the foundations of mathematics.
www.quantamagazine.org
December 26, 2025 at 4:46 PM
This is the Weierstrauss function, a “monster” that is continuous everywhere but differentiable nowhere. First published in 1872, it prompted scrutiny of assumptions in calculus. Similar functions are used to study random motion and analyze risk.
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
It's Friday, and apparently bluesky is ready for this fun revelation:
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
November 21, 2025 at 5:11 PM
It's Friday, and apparently bluesky is ready for this fun revelation:
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
Long before the binary 0s and 1s of digital computing, analog computers measured the tides, calculated the position of the planets, and predicted eclipses.
What Is Analog Computing? | Quanta Magazine
You don’t need 0s and 1s to perform computations, and in some cases it’s better to avoid them.
www.quantamagazine.org
November 3, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Long before the binary 0s and 1s of digital computing, analog computers measured the tides, calculated the position of the planets, and predicted eclipses.
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
Commander Dave Scott of Apollo 15 validates Galileo's theory on the Moon by dropping a hammer and a feather, proving that objects fall at the same speed, independent of their mass.
October 31, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Commander Dave Scott of Apollo 15 validates Galileo's theory on the Moon by dropping a hammer and a feather, proving that objects fall at the same speed, independent of their mass.
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis have won the Nobel Prize in physics for showing that quantum mechanics describes the behavior of objects much larger than atoms.
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physi...
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physi...
Nobel Prize in Physics 2025
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 was awarded jointly to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis "for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an...
www.nobelprize.org
October 7, 2025 at 4:18 PM
John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis have won the Nobel Prize in physics for showing that quantum mechanics describes the behavior of objects much larger than atoms.
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physi...
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physi...
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
“Star Trek” premieres 59 years ago today.
“It was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate — but take a special delight in — differences in ideas ..”
- Gene Roddenberry #RIP
@georgetakei.bsky.social
“It was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate — but take a special delight in — differences in ideas ..”
- Gene Roddenberry #RIP
@georgetakei.bsky.social
September 8, 2025 at 5:22 PM
“Star Trek” premieres 59 years ago today.
“It was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate — but take a special delight in — differences in ideas ..”
- Gene Roddenberry #RIP
@georgetakei.bsky.social
“It was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate — but take a special delight in — differences in ideas ..”
- Gene Roddenberry #RIP
@georgetakei.bsky.social
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
At 26, during the Reign of Terror in France, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier narrowly avoided the guillotine. A decade later, he made a discovery that changed mathematics forever. @shalmawegs.bsky.social reports:
www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-...
www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-...
What Is the Fourier Transform? | Quanta Magazine
Amid the chaos of revolutionary France, one man’s mathematical obsession gave way to a calculation that now underpins much of mathematics and physics. The calculation, called the Fourier transform, de...
www.quantamagazine.org
September 3, 2025 at 1:58 PM
At 26, during the Reign of Terror in France, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier narrowly avoided the guillotine. A decade later, he made a discovery that changed mathematics forever. @shalmawegs.bsky.social reports:
www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-...
www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-...
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
In 1936, Alan Turing conceived of hypothetical machines that could help mathematically model the process of computation. Built from just three parts, Turing machines can in principle compute the answer to any solvable problem. www.quantamagazine.org/busy-beaver-...
August 26, 2025 at 3:48 PM
In 1936, Alan Turing conceived of hypothetical machines that could help mathematically model the process of computation. Built from just three parts, Turing machines can in principle compute the answer to any solvable problem. www.quantamagazine.org/busy-beaver-...
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
Birds can see in four colors - red, green, blue, and ultraviolet - which suggests that they exist in a sensory world far richer than our own. Tune in to "The Joy of Why" with co-host @jannalevinastro.bsky.social: www.quantamagazine.org/do-beautiful...
Do Beautiful Birds Have an Evolutionary Advantage? | Quanta Magazine
Richard Prum explains why he thinks feathers and vibrant traits in birds evolved not solely for survival, but also through aesthetic choice.
www.quantamagazine.org
August 22, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Birds can see in four colors - red, green, blue, and ultraviolet - which suggests that they exist in a sensory world far richer than our own. Tune in to "The Joy of Why" with co-host @jannalevinastro.bsky.social: www.quantamagazine.org/do-beautiful...
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
Mathematical intelligence is not about calculus or topology any more than musical intelligence is limited to a particular genre or instrument. It is a system for making us better thinkers and problem solvers, using the proven tools of mathematics. J. Mubeen, Mathematical Intelligence, 2022, p. 5.
August 4, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Mathematical intelligence is not about calculus or topology any more than musical intelligence is limited to a particular genre or instrument. It is a system for making us better thinkers and problem solvers, using the proven tools of mathematics. J. Mubeen, Mathematical Intelligence, 2022, p. 5.
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
A stars massive outburst captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Credit: NASA/ESA
Credit: NASA/ESA
July 12, 2025 at 12:43 AM
A stars massive outburst captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Credit: NASA/ESA
Credit: NASA/ESA
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
Here’s what you see when you watch lightning form with a radio telescope: quantamagazine.org/radio-telesc...
July 5, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Here’s what you see when you watch lightning form with a radio telescope: quantamagazine.org/radio-telesc...
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
Wow! For the first time ever, the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed an exoplanet by directly imaging it. The newfound world has a mass similar to Saturn and orbits inside the debris disk surrounding a very young star just 111 light years away. via @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Evidence for a sub-Jovian planet in the young TWA 7 disk - Nature
Using the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument, a study reports evidence for a direct detection of a cold, sub-Jupiter-mass planet in the disk of the star TWA 7.
www.nature.com
June 28, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Wow! For the first time ever, the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed an exoplanet by directly imaging it. The newfound world has a mass similar to Saturn and orbits inside the debris disk surrounding a very young star just 111 light years away. via @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
A new result on strange types of infinities suggests that the mathematical universe, like our physical one, may be made up mostly of dark matter. “It seems now that most of the universe somehow consists of things that we can’t see,” said Juan Aguilera. www.quantamagazine.org/is-mathemati...
June 26, 2025 at 3:46 PM
A new result on strange types of infinities suggests that the mathematical universe, like our physical one, may be made up mostly of dark matter. “It seems now that most of the universe somehow consists of things that we can’t see,” said Juan Aguilera. www.quantamagazine.org/is-mathemati...
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
Every elementary particle falls into one of two categories. Collectivist bosons account for the forces that move us while individualist fermions keep our atoms from collapsing. www.quantamagazine.org/matter-vs-fo...
Matter vs. Force: Why There Are Exactly Two Types of Particles | Quanta Magazine
Every elementary particle falls into one of two categories. Collectivist bosons account for the forces that move us while individualist fermions keep our atoms from collapsing.
www.quantamagazine.org
June 23, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Every elementary particle falls into one of two categories. Collectivist bosons account for the forces that move us while individualist fermions keep our atoms from collapsing. www.quantamagazine.org/matter-vs-fo...
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
Welcome to a new era in astronomy and astrophysics ✨🔭🧪
Get ready to join us virtually for the reveal of Rubin's first images! #RubinFirstLook
🗓️ June 23, 2025
⌚️ 11am US EDT
🔗 ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream
Get ready to join us virtually for the reveal of Rubin's first images! #RubinFirstLook
🗓️ June 23, 2025
⌚️ 11am US EDT
🔗 ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream
ls.st
June 22, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Welcome to a new era in astronomy and astrophysics ✨🔭🧪
Get ready to join us virtually for the reveal of Rubin's first images! #RubinFirstLook
🗓️ June 23, 2025
⌚️ 11am US EDT
🔗 ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream
Get ready to join us virtually for the reveal of Rubin's first images! #RubinFirstLook
🗓️ June 23, 2025
⌚️ 11am US EDT
🔗 ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
“What mathematicians do to physicists is they wake us up.” —Gregory Falkovich, physicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science
Epic Effort to Ground Physics in Math Opens Up the Secrets of Time | Quanta Magazine
By mathematically proving how individual molecules create the complex motion of fluids, three mathematicians have illuminated why time can’t flow in reverse.
www.quantamagazine.org
June 14, 2025 at 8:31 PM
“What mathematicians do to physicists is they wake us up.” —Gregory Falkovich, physicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
What is there to learn from a single qubit computer?
New Quantum Algorithm Factors Numbers With One Qubit | Quanta Magazine
The catch: It would require the energy of a few medium-size stars.
www.quantamagazine.org
June 14, 2025 at 3:30 PM
What is there to learn from a single qubit computer?
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
After measuring the wobbles of 300 billion muons, the Muon g − 2 Collaboration has pinpointed the internal magnetism of these subatomic particles. The experiment’s final results line up with the most recent predictions, validating the standard model of particle physics.
Muon Experiment Calls It a Wrap
The final results from the Muon g − 2 experiment agree with the latest predictions of the muon’s magnetic properties—letting down hopes that the particle would upset the standard model’s applecart.
physics.aps.org
June 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM
After measuring the wobbles of 300 billion muons, the Muon g − 2 Collaboration has pinpointed the internal magnetism of these subatomic particles. The experiment’s final results line up with the most recent predictions, validating the standard model of particle physics.
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
No matter how a computer is built, it must give off heat for each bit of information it deletes. Reversible computing preserves output data, then “uncomputes” data that would otherwise be deleted — a bit like picking up breadcrumbs on a return journey.
How Can AI Researchers Save Energy? By Going Backward. | Quanta Magazine
Reversible programs run backward as easily as they run forward, saving energy in theory. After decades of research, they may soon power AI.
www.quantamagazine.org
June 7, 2025 at 8:01 PM
No matter how a computer is built, it must give off heat for each bit of information it deletes. Reversible computing preserves output data, then “uncomputes” data that would otherwise be deleted — a bit like picking up breadcrumbs on a return journey.
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
Zoom in on the Andromeda Galaxy with Hubble. What looks like a smudge of light to the unaided eye is actually a vast galaxy containing an estimated 1 trillion stars.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
May 26, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Zoom in on the Andromeda Galaxy with Hubble. What looks like a smudge of light to the unaided eye is actually a vast galaxy containing an estimated 1 trillion stars.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Reposted by AbelianSandPile
The amazing view of Earth from inside the International Space Station.
May 23, 2025 at 10:34 PM
The amazing view of Earth from inside the International Space Station.