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In 1994, a mathematician at AT&T Research named Peter Shor brought instant fame to “quantum computers” when he discovered that these hypothetical devices could quickly factor large numbers — and thus break much of modern cryptography. But a fundamental problem stood in the way of actually building quantum computers: the innate frailty of their physical…

In 2015, the U.S. Naval Academy decided that its graduates needed to return to the past and learn how to navigate using the stars. Nine years prior, it had dropped celestial navigation from its requirements because GPS was so accurate and simple to use. But recent events had shaken the academy’s faith in GPS. Researchers…

You might have already passed that silly course with a title something like "Introductory Algebra and Trigonometry." It covered a bunch of stuff, but the important part was that the class was a prerequisite for your physics course. But do you really understand the very basic concepts of trig? Yes, I just call it "trig"…

I can imagine the meeting: A dozen engineers are gathered around a conference table to discuss automobile safety. How can we protect people during a car crash? We have already added seat belts and crumple zones to cars. Is there anything else we can include? One attendee reluctantly raises their hand with a suggestion: "How…

Last Thursday, a shiny new SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sat perched atop NASA’s historic Pad 39A, at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, waiting to briefly fire its engines. The exercise was part of a routine prelaunch test. What wasn’t routine was the presence of a Crew Dragon capsule atop the slick black-and-white Falcon. The domed capsule,…

In Katowice, Poland, delegates from around the world have gathered to discuss how to curb emissions of greenhouse gases. The intent is to meet the goals that emerged from the 2015 Paris United Nations Climate Summit. But this year there’s a new top dog at the table. The United States, led by a president who…

Delaney Van Riper was exhausted. It was the summer of 2017 and she’d spent the previous day touring UC Santa Cruz’s cliffside campus, getting her student paperwork in order, and meeting some of her 4,000 fellow incoming Slugs. Now, dressed head-to-toe in sweats, she was ready to nap in the backseat for the ride to…

Physicists are remarkably frank: they don’t know what dark matter is made of. “We’re all scratching our heads,” says physicist Reina Maruyama of Yale University. “The gut feeling is that 80 percent of it is one thing, and 20 percent of it is something else,” says physicist Gray Rybka of the University of Washington. Why…

The United States may be home to the global epicenter of technology and innovation, but when it comes to things like voting machines, air traffic control, and sunscreen, we might as well be running Windows ME. Yep, to find some of the most outdated sun protection products in the world, look no further than the…