{"id":263858,"date":"2024-10-01T08:38:42","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=263858"},"modified":"2024-10-01T08:38:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:38:50","slug":"quantum-physics-experiment-finds-evidence-of-negative-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2024\/10\/01\/quantum-physics-experiment-finds-evidence-of-negative-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantum physics experiment finds evidence of negative time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Scientific American<\/a>: “Quantum physicists are familiar with wonky, seemingly nonsensical phenomena: atoms and molecules sometimes act as particles, sometimes as waves; particles can be connected to one another by a \u201cspooky action at a distance,\u201d even over great distances; and quantum objects can detach themselves from their properties like the Cheshire Cat from Alice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland<\/em> detaches itself from its grin. Now researchers led by Daniela Angulo of the University of Toronto have revealed another oddball quantum outcome: photons, wave-particles of light, can spend a negative amount of time zipping through a cloud of chilled atoms. In other words, photons can seem to exit a material before entering it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How North Korea’s Kim Jong-un assassinated his brother with a deadly nerve agent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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From GQ<\/a>: “When Kim Jong-nam was a boy, his father, the dictator of North Korea, sat him on his office chair and said, \u201cWhen you grow up, this is where you’ll sit and give orders.\u201d If the child had fulfilled that promise\u2014if his half brother, Kim Jong-un, had not ultimately usurped his throne\u2014he would have tyrannized 25 million people. His pudgy finger would have caressed the launch buttons of nukes. America and China would have debated how to manage him. But as Jong-nam glanced up at the departures board in the international airport of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the jostling crowd ignored him. He had become just another overweight 45-year-old, the bald spot that he usually hid with a cap showing through his remaining hair like a bull’s-eye.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note<\/strong>: This is a version of my When The Going Gets Weird newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can\u00a0see other issues\u00a0and sign up here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Hundred-year-old box of negatives discovered frozen in block of Antarctica ice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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From Hasan Jasim<\/a>: “While restoring one of the exploration huts in Antarctica, conservators of the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust discovered a box that turned out to be a remarkable treasure. It contained 22 never-before-seen cellulose nitrate negatives documenting the life of Antarctic explorers a 100 years back. Preserved in a block of ice, these negatives surprisingly lived up to our days to shine a light on the Antarctic heroic era and the landscape itself. After being frozen for a century, the negatives had to be gently restored by firstly separating one from another, then cleaning, removing the mold and consolidating the cellulose nitrate image layers. Only after this painstaking process they were turned into digital positives. The box of photographs was probably left in Captain Scott\u2019s hut by Ernest Shackleton\u2019s 1914-1917 Ross Sea Party.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bored intern created one of the most popular video games of all time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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From The Verge<\/a>: “Solitaire has been a staple for office distraction since Microsoft first included the game in Windows 3.0 in 1990. But the digital adaptation wasn\u2019t made by an iconic coder or just one of the company\u2019s many full-time employees. It was programmed by an intern. Wes Cherry, who was an intern at Microsoft in 1988. He describes the experience as \u201call-encompassing,\u201d but even internships at Microsoft have lulls. He put the downtime to good use. \u201cI came up with the idea to write Solitaire for Windows out of boredom, really,\u201d Cherry said. \u201cThere weren\u2019t many games at the time, so we had to make them.\u201d Cherry\u2019s game got an official blessing from Bill Gates himself, and it became a staple of Microsoft\u2019s operating system. despite its long-standing success, Cherry said he was not paid a single cent. He\u2019s since moved on from computer work to owning a cidery.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pythagorean theorem found on clay tablet a thousand years older than Pythagoras<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From IFLScience<\/a>: “while Pythagoras was an important historical figure in the development of mathematics, he did not figure out the equation most associated with him (a2<\/sup> + b2<\/sup> = c2<\/sup>). In fact, there is an ancient Babylonian tablet (by the catchy name of IM 67118) that uses the Pythagorean theorem to solve the length of a diagonal inside a rectangle. The tablet, likely used for teaching, dates from 1770 BCE \u2013 centuries before Pythagoras was born in around 570 BCE. Another tablet from around 1800\u20131600 BCE has a square with labeled triangles inside. Translating the markings from base 60 \u2013 the counting system used by ancient Babylonians \u2013 showed that these mathematicians were aware of the Pythagorean theorem as well as other advanced mathematical concepts.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you really want to say thank you<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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To everyone that follows me \u2764\ufe0f
pic.twitter.com\/TYiMHEUYZP<\/a><\/p>— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) September 28, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>