News
Solution to Feynman's reverse sprinkler puzzle also applies to "silly sprinklers"
4+ hour, 31+ min ago (724+ words) Researchers at New York University’s Courant Institute conducted a series of experiments with different silly sprinkler designs to find the answer to a longstanding problem in fluid dynamics,... Watering your lawn in the summer can be both pragmatic and fun…...
Simulating everything, sort of: The promise and limits of world models
6+ hour, 58+ min ago (1747+ words) Experts explain how they work, what they can do, and what’s still unsettled. Over the past few years, many of us have gotten a crash course in what we now call artificial intelligence—but really, it has mostly been a…...
Now, defenders are embracing the prompt injection, too
7+ hour, 39+ min ago (474+ words) “Context bombing” tricks hacking agents into shutting down before they can do harm. Prompt injections, the malicious commands attackers embed into content to entice LLMs to follow them, have been attackers’ go-to tool for turning AI platforms against their users....
A Jupiter-size planet that escaped its star's death
3+ day, 4+ hour ago (432+ words) It’s unclear how the planet avoided its star’s bloated red giant stage. WD 1856 b is the only confirmed case of a planet that survived the death of a Sun-like star. It’s a Jupiter-size world orbiting a white dwarf—the burned-out remnant…...
Quantum error correction can constantly recalibrate a processor
2+ day, 23+ hour ago (759+ words) Ars Technica There are some obvious big picture issues that stand between us and useful quantum computing. Issues like whether we can make enough high-quality hardware qubits to connect into the error-corrected logical qubits we need, and how we generate…...
China recovered its first reusable rocket and showed a new way to do it
3+ day, 1+ hour ago (545+ words) “Clearly, they admire the work that’s being done by SpaceX and are trying to replicate it.” China’s sprawling state-owned rocket developer, maker of the country’s Long March rocket family, announced it recovered a reusable orbital-class booster for the first time…...
Check out the first images of Quest shipwreck
3+ day, 2+ hour ago (202+ words) The Quest shipwreck is in worse shape than expected, but it has turned into a thriving marine ecosystem. Back in 2024, we reported on the discovery of the Quest shipwreck, the polar exploration vessel that served Arctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton…...
Firmware update bricks Hue Bridge Pro devices; Philips gives free replacements
3+ day, 5+ hour ago (563+ words) Affected users will have to configure their lights and settings all over again. A firmware update is behind recent reports that some Hue Bridge Pro smart hubs are no longer working, Ars Technica has confirmed. In late June, there were…...
An orbiting disco ball gave Einstein’s theory its most precise test yet
3+ day, 6+ hour ago (376+ words) The Earth may not be that massive, but it still distorts space-time. Measuring how much the Earth twists spacetime as it rotates has been much more challenging because our pale blue dot of a planet is millions of times lighter…...
NASA sure seems to be asking an awful lot of private space stations
3+ day, 7+ hour ago (509+ words) “Industry finally knows what NASA is asking of them.” NASA this week released a much-anticipated document, known as a “draft Request for Proposals,” that provides some clarity about what it expects from US companies attempting to build privately operated space…...