Jacob Aron

how to win a nobel physics prize 🔭✨☄️

Idle speculation: could John Martinis one day win a second Nobel for the first demonstration of quantum supremacy (in 2019)? I suspect not, given that demonstration turned out to not be definitive...

But why? The thinking is that it is too early for a QC Nobel? Despite this very clearly being one...

Kind of odd, right?

Nobel prize for physics goes to trio behind quantum computing chips The 2025 Nobel prize in physics has gone to three researchers, John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis, whose work has lead to the development of today's quantum computers.

The 2025 Nobel prize in physics has gone to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for their work on superconducting quantum chips, which has helped inform the creation of today's quantum computers www.newscientist.com/article/2499...

Sorry what

It's time for another list of book recommendations, including possibly the best book I've read all year! First up:

The Cut Throat Trial by S. J. Fleet/The Secret Barrister

I'm not sure why they need two pseudonyms but the Barrister has turned their hand to fiction and it's great

Nvidia owning OpenAI owning AMD is all totally fine right, this definitely doesn't remind anyone of the interconnectedness that was the downfall of the banks in 2008, it's all going to be fine

Virtual reality: No one is actually buying 2016's hottest tech PlayStation VR has joined the wave of new virtual reality gear, but will it ever have mainstream appeal? Hal Hodson investigates

Tapping the sign www.newscientist.com/article/mg23...

I have been saying that VR is a niche product ever since the Oculus Rift. If you find yourself developing a mass-market VR headset, I'm very happy to tell you to stop, and my consultancy fees run to a mere six figures

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

Such a cool story by @astrojonny.bsky.social

Aliens living on a planet might find it easier to discover general relativity, because of the warp of space-time is all that stands between them and oblivion

The incredible arrogance of OpenAI With Sora 2, OpenAI is betting it can spit in the face of workers, creators, and the biggest media conglomerates on the planet — and win

OpenAI's Sora gambit is somehow even more reckless and arrogant than we've grown accustomed to with the company. OpenAI is betting that it can spit in the face of creatives, workers, and the largest media companies on the planet—and bend copyright law to its whims.

This isn't a business plan, it's a bender

"a company for carrying out an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is"

Nvidia owning OpenAI owning AMD is all totally fine right, this definitely doesn't remind anyone of the interconnectedness that was the downfall of the banks in 2008, it's all going to be fine

Do the 2024 Nobel prizes show that AI is the future of science? Two of the three science Nobel prizes in 2024 have been won by people working in AI, but does this mean that AI models are now vital for science?

Right, how many science Nobels for AI this year, do we reckon? Was two out of three last year www.newscientist.com/article/2451...

Really does feel like OpenAI is begging to be sued. It has created a machine for generating infinite lawsuits from some of the biggest litigants in the world

Once again, this is not how copyright law works!

Opinion I Taylor Swift Is No Showgirl - The New York Times

It is seen as increasingly possible Eminem at no point had a fan named Stan who put his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk and drove off a bridge with a tape that didn't say who it was to.

While I’m on a posting roll, I just realized that the way to save the Humanities is by rebranding Higher Ed as where you go to learn how to Do Your Own Research

We need to stop the slop of OpenAI's Sora and Meta's Vibes AI video apps before it's too late The new slop that just dropped risks drowning us all in a sea of vibes-based garbage where 'the feeling behind the image is what's true.'

We need to stop Sora and Meta Vibes before we're submerged in AI slop. My latest for @fastcompany.com featuring a clutch of experts www.fastcompany.com/91414236/ope...

If I was left more than a little cold (I think my reaction was "no thanks, I've played enough Ubisoft games to last a lifetime), is it different enough for me to bother with?

No idea who he is so I'm not sure if he counts as famous!

Some cheerful news on a Friday afternoon www.newscientist.com/article/2498...

I think remembering that Taylor Swift is fundamentally a cringe millennial 35 year old and also a mostly out of touch multimillionaire is helpful context for this album

I still love it, though. as I am a cringe millennial thirty something.

LET PEOPLE LOVE THINGS

My first three guesses were Timothée Chalamet (29), Florence Pugh (29) and Chappell Roan (27), which is both pleasingly in the right ballpark but also maddening proof of this thesis

Should we worry AI will create deadly bioweapons? Not yet, but one day AI tools are being used to design proteins and even viruses, leading to fears these could eventually be used to evade bioweapon controls

A study suggests AI could help evade controls on synthesising bioweapons. Here's why this is like doing a fancy Mission Impossible-style bank raid when the vault door has been left open, the alarm is off and the guards are asleep 🧪

www.newscientist.com/article/2498...

20 bird species can understand each other’s anti-cuckoo call Several species of birds from different continents use and understand similar alarm calls when they see an invader that might lay an egg in their nest – this shared call hints at the origin of languag...

Really cool story - bird species from across the world make the same sound to warn against cuckoos, and they can even understand each other. Feeds into ideas Darwin had about the origin of language! www.newscientist.com/article/2498...