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Cosmic Conclusions and Essay Contest Tips
Apr 26, 2013
Listen to FQXi's April podcast for insights on dark matter news, DNA computing, and other physics talk--as well as tips and info on our 2013 essay contest.
Responsibility to the Next Generation
Feb 5, 2013
FQXi's Stephon Alexander's essay in the New York Times discusses the importance for minority physicists to inspire and encourage new minority students.
Guard Against Existential Risk
Feb 1, 2013
FQXi's Huw Price, Martin Rees, and Jaan Tallinn are setting up a Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. In this New York Times article, Price describes its cab-ride origins, during FQXi's Setting Time Aright meeting in Copenhagen.
NEW IN BLOGS
Our Not-So-Special Universe
By ZEEYA MERALI
Last year we briefly noted that a paper by FQXi grant winner Fred Adams was getting a lot of attention on science websites. The paper caused a stir because it called into question whether some of the fundamental constants in the universe really are...
FQX Boo(x)shelf
By WILLIAM OREM
Diving into Thomas Nagel's "Mind and Cosmos" (subtitle: "Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False"), I experienced a vague but mounting sense of apprehension--the type one gets during the wine and cheese at a...
Essay Contest 2013: It From Bit, or Bit From It?
By BRENDAN FOSTER
Without further ado, I am happy to announce the start of FQXi's 2013 Essay Contest!
Our new topic:
It From Bit or Bit From It?
The past century in fundamental physics has shown a steady progression away from thinking about...
FEATURED FQXi MEMBER VIDEOS
FORUM UPDATES
Cosmology
Alternative Models of Cosmology
By ANONYMOUS
In cosmology, it is believed that regions of space on `opposite' sides of the universe are too far apart to have ever been causally connected. That is, they are outside each other's `particle horizon'. Consequently, it is difficult to explain the...
Ultimate Reality
Classical Spheres, Division Algebras, and the...
By JOY CHRISTIAN
I wish to mention a recent preprint of mine---this one---which is about the prevalent (but false) belief in “quantum non-locality.” I am, in fact, required to post this link here, because this preprint is part of my forthcoming book on Bell’s Theorem...
Ultimate Reality
Tegmark's Mathematical Universe
By ANTHONY AGUIRRE
While he would be too modest to toot his own horn, there's nothing stopping me from pointing out that 'mad Max' has recently put out a very interesting paper on whether all possible formal systems (and the 'physical' universes that some subset of...
Our Not-So-Special Universe
By ZEEYA MERALI
Last year we briefly noted that a paper by FQXi grant winner Fred Adams was getting a lot of attention on science websites. The paper caused a stir because it called into question whether some of the fundamental constants in the universe really are...
FQX Boo(x)shelf
By WILLIAM OREM
Diving into Thomas Nagel's "Mind and Cosmos" (subtitle: "Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False"), I experienced a vague but mounting sense of apprehension--the type one gets during the wine and cheese at a...
Essay Contest 2013: It From Bit, or Bit From It?
By BRENDAN FOSTER
Without further ado, I am happy to announce the start of FQXi's 2013 Essay Contest!
Our new topic:
It From Bit or Bit From It?
The past century in fundamental physics has shown a steady progression away from thinking about...
NEW PODCAST EPISODES
What the Planck results & others mean for the universe; Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt recalls discovering dark energy; New FQXi essay contest hints & tips; & Computing with DNA
Diverting asteroids headed for Earth; how the Higgs could destroy the Universe; SQUID experiments create light from the quantum vacuum; & does photosynthesis in plants have quantum roots?
Is God a good cosmological theory? Would God *choose* to create a multiverse?; How quantum effects help birds navigate; & How the laws of physics we perceive may depend on our choice of clock.
FEATURED FQXi MEMBER VIDEOS
 |
How Do You Make a Cosmos? (1 of 2) - Alan Guth |
 |
Is Time Travel Possible? - Seth Lloyd |
 |
What is a Theory of Everything? - Wojciech H. Zurek |
FORUM UPDATES
Cosmology
Alternative Models of Cosmology
By ANONYMOUS
In cosmology, it is believed that regions of space on `opposite' sides of the universe are too far apart to have ever been causally connected. That is, they are outside each other's `particle horizon'. Consequently, it is difficult to explain the...
Ultimate Reality
Classical Spheres, Division Algebras, and the...
By JOY CHRISTIAN
I wish to mention a recent preprint of mine---this one---which is about the prevalent (but false) belief in “quantum non-locality.” I am, in fact, required to post this link here, because this preprint is part of my forthcoming book on Bell’s Theorem...
Ultimate Reality
Tegmark's Mathematical Universe
By ANTHONY AGUIRRE
While he would be too modest to toot his own horn, there's nothing stopping me from pointing out that 'mad Max' has recently put out a very interesting paper on whether all possible formal systems (and the 'physical' universes that some subset of...
NEW ARTICLES
A View From the Top
By KATE BECKER • Apr 8, 2013
Thinking of causation as a "two-way street"—along which the passage of information can be inverted—could have implications for the origin of life.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(16 posts)
Classic Article: Black Holes, Paradox Regained
By ANIL ANANTHASWAMY • Mar 18, 2013
In 2004, Stephen Hawking famously conceded that black holes do not devour all information when they swallow matter—seemingly resolving the "black hole information paradox" that had perplexed physicists for decades. But some argue that the paradox remains open, and we must abandon our simple picture of spacetime to unravel it.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(11 posts)
Quantum Biology: Making Waves in the Natural World
By CARINNE PIEKEMA • Feb 20, 2013
Could quantum effects explain the mechanisms behind smell, photosynthesis and bird navigation?
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(10 posts)
The Accidental Universe
By BOB SWARUP • Jan 8, 2013
Have we been fooled into seeing one form of reality, with particular fundamental forces and laws, based on the peculiar way that we have chosen to measure time?
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(650 posts)
The Cosmic Hologram
By SOPHIE HEBDEN • Dec 23, 2012
Is our universe an illusion projected backward in time from the future?
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(26 posts)
The Brain's Time Illusion
By CARINNE PIEKEMA • Dec 8, 2012
Uncovering how the mind constructs our sense of time could help treat and prevent some psychological disorders.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(38 posts)
Video Article: Embracing Complexity
By GRAEME STEMP-MORLOCK • Nov 6, 2012
Ideas inspired by microscopic physics and magnetism could help sustain the energy infrastructure, and predict the spread of disease, financial crises, and the fate of Facebook friendships.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(6 posts)
Cheating the Causal Game
By SOPHIE HEBDEN • Oct 16, 2012
A new quantum framework that blurs cause-and-effect at a fundamental level could improve information processing and lead to a theory of quantum gravity.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(27 posts)
Time Dilation Gets a Quantum Twist
By SOPHIE HEBDEN • Oct 1, 2012
Quantum vs general relativistic conceptions of time go head-to-head in a proposed table-top test.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(30 posts)
Video Article: Time to Go Retro
By GRAEME STEMP-MORLOCK • Aug 6, 2012
A model of backward causation in which the future affects the past could help unite quantum mechanics and general relativity—and satisfy a challenge thrown down almost a century ago by Arthur Eddington.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(15 posts)
Faster Than Light
By SOPHIE HEBDEN • May 22, 2012
A controversial theory in which light broke its own speed limit in the early universe joins forces with string theory and loop quantum gravity to solve cosmic mysteries.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(365 posts)
A View From the Top
By KATE BECKER • Apr 8, 2013
Thinking of causation as a "two-way street"—along which the passage of information can be inverted—could have implications for the origin of life.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(16 posts)
Classic Article: Black Holes, Paradox Regained
By ANIL ANANTHASWAMY • Mar 18, 2013
In 2004, Stephen Hawking famously conceded that black holes do not devour all information when they swallow matter—seemingly resolving the "black hole information paradox" that had perplexed physicists for decades. But some argue that the paradox remains open, and we must abandon our simple picture of spacetime to unravel it.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(11 posts)
Quantum Biology: Making Waves in the Natural World
By CARINNE PIEKEMA • Feb 20, 2013
Could quantum effects explain the mechanisms behind smell, photosynthesis and bird navigation?
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(10 posts)
The Accidental Universe
By BOB SWARUP • Jan 8, 2013
Have we been fooled into seeing one form of reality, with particular fundamental forces and laws, based on the peculiar way that we have chosen to measure time?
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(650 posts)
The Cosmic Hologram
By SOPHIE HEBDEN • Dec 23, 2012
Is our universe an illusion projected backward in time from the future?
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(26 posts)
The Brain's Time Illusion
By CARINNE PIEKEMA • Dec 8, 2012
Uncovering how the mind constructs our sense of time could help treat and prevent some psychological disorders.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(38 posts)
Video Article: Embracing Complexity
By GRAEME STEMP-MORLOCK • Nov 6, 2012
Ideas inspired by microscopic physics and magnetism could help sustain the energy infrastructure, and predict the spread of disease, financial crises, and the fate of Facebook friendships.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(6 posts)
Cheating the Causal Game
By SOPHIE HEBDEN • Oct 16, 2012
A new quantum framework that blurs cause-and-effect at a fundamental level could improve information processing and lead to a theory of quantum gravity.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(27 posts)
Time Dilation Gets a Quantum Twist
By SOPHIE HEBDEN • Oct 1, 2012
Quantum vs general relativistic conceptions of time go head-to-head in a proposed table-top test.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(30 posts)
Video Article: Time to Go Retro
By GRAEME STEMP-MORLOCK • Aug 6, 2012
A model of backward causation in which the future affects the past could help unite quantum mechanics and general relativity—and satisfy a challenge thrown down almost a century ago by Arthur Eddington.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(15 posts)
Faster Than Light
By SOPHIE HEBDEN • May 22, 2012
A controversial theory in which light broke its own speed limit in the early universe joins forces with string theory and loop quantum gravity to solve cosmic mysteries.
Read article
Discuss this article in the FQXi Community Forum
(365 posts)