Getting to the bottom of the quantum world (1)
You say there is no clear reason why the behaviour of subatomic particles can’t be governed by deterministic laws, and the fact that they aren’t demands an explanation(19 April, p 28).
Well, here is one: we are working our way down the chain of causality. This will either end or it won’t. If it doesn’t, then either the search keeps going on and on or causality becomes cyclic and causes may cause themselves. If, on the other hand, the chain of causality comes to an end, then what? The last part can’t have been caused, so it must have been brought about without rhyme or reason, which is a non-scientific way to say randomly. The fact we find only probabilities in quantum theory shows that, with quantum theory, we have come to the end of the chain.
Getting to the bottom of the quantum world (2)
Could the ancient Greeks have invented quantum theory? While a full-blown version probably couldn’t have been formulated much earlier than it was, all you would need to postulate a sort of quantum theory would be to assume that nothing in the real world can be infinite. This probably isn’t an unreasonable assumption. After all, if infinity crops up in modern physics, it is normally taken as a sign that a theory is incorrect.
Once this assumption has been made, it is clear nothing can be known with infinite precision and some form of quantum theory is required. Perhaps the ancient Greeks could have thought of this?
Getting to the bottom of the quantum world (3)
In discussing quantum computing, the comparison always made is with digital computer efficiency. Numbers between 0 and 1023 can all be encoded at once with 10 qubits, while digital computers need 10 bits just to be able to encode any one of those numbers at a time. But what about analogue computing? Just one capacitor, for example, could encode any of the numbers 0 to 1023, depending on its state of charge, arguably more efficiently than its digital counterparts.
Analogue computers have a long history and have made many important contributions in various fields. I wonder what might have been achieved if the same money and effort put into digital and quantum computing had been invested in analogue computing.
Troublesome moon dust could be tamed
Levitation of moon dust at lunar sunrise and sunset is surely partly down to the pyroelectric effect, which induces an electrostatic charge on particles when warmed or cooled that then causes repulsive forces and floating dust. This can potentially coat scientific instruments. A possible means of suppression may be to seed the local area with electrically conducting aluminium particles(26 April, p 38).
The power of forests in the face of climate change
Even if there is doubt about how much carbon dioxide trees will soak up in a warmer future, they can still help us deal with climate change. Forest management strategies can help buffer (if not prevent) droughts, floods and heatwaves, and milled wood incorporated into structures provides a carbon sink capable of storage over decades or centuries(22 March, p 17).
Techniques such as single-tree selection can sustainably produce periodic harvests while retaining forest cover and all the benefits it provides. Forestry ensures that younger trees replace older, harvested ones via seeding, sprouting or, if necessary, planting. Even after a catastrophe, most forests quickly reoccupy disturbed sites, and new forest, if managed, can still provide habitat, recreation and soil protection
For me, reconstructions trump simulations
You report on suggestions that the Antikythera mechanism didn’t function. Over the past 70 years or so, a number of distinguished and skilful historians and museum curators have conclusively established, by making physical replicas of the mechanism, that it did function. Thanks to their work, we now have a pretty good idea of what it was designed to do. All the study in your article establishes, I think, is that computer simulations are a poor substitute for reconstructions using authentic tools and materials(26 April, p 9).
Reaction to a new take on life's chemical origin
Your feature explained a concept that was new to me, a form of evolution in chemistry as a potential origin of life on Earth. The idea dates back to at least 1944 and Erwin Schr枚dinger’s book What is Life?. I want to thank your contributor Elise Cutts for her brilliant prose, allowing one of your many lay readers with no scientific background to grasp the idea and its significance in the mystery of how life on Earth got started(26 April, p 34).
For real life, look away from your screens
The younger generation may or may not be as intelligent as their elders, but their lives are markedly different. Entwined with digital devices, can they fully appreciate the real world? If not, how will they be able to cope with the realities and uncertainties of life?
I take pains to remind my students in their early 20s that the real world isn’t on a screen, but “out there”, where they feel hot and cold and hungry, and may fall in love. It is also the world where they will look for work. But their attention lasts for about 5 seconds before their eyes start twitching and they look back at a screen(19 April, p 19).
Hoping to get that fuzzy feeling one day
It is brilliant to know that quantum Darwinism, which seeks to bridge the divide from the quantum realm to classical reality, is proven mathematically(12 April, p 8). I hope one day we, the “classical” beings, will somehow experience the fuzziness of the quantum realm and see all its states at once. The crumbs are there for us to follow deep into this beautiful quantum world. Exciting times are ahead!
For the record
The northern hemisphere is thought to store around 1.5 trillion tonnes of carbon in permafrost (5 April, p 17).