My latest in Quanta! 🧪

Quanta Magazine@quantamagazine.org · 3mo ago

Ice comes in many more forms than the cubes in your water glass. Scientists have found about 20 phases of ice, including hot ice and ice that conducts electricity. According to simulations, there could be many more left to find. @shalmawegs.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-d...

New story out, in case quantum mechanics wasn't already bewildering enough for you!

Quanta Magazine@quantamagazine.org · 4mo ago

Physicists’ understanding of the quantum world breaks down in an expanding universe. Now they are looking for lessons from an unexpected source: black holes. @shalmawegs.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/in-expanding...

I wrote a little reflection on my love of the abstract, from physics to David Lynch movies

What David Lynch movies and theoretical physics have in common (abstraction) | #2

2/12/2026

open.substack.com

Isn’t it always true of Einstein-esque breakthroughs that you can’t see them coming? My first official newsletter is live on my Substack!

The World Is Not Made of Objects | Newsletter #1

January 30, 2026

open.substack.com

In quantum information theory, “magic” is a property of entangled qubits that makes their state difficult to simulate on a classical computer. “It’s an appalling word,” said the physicist Martin White. But after 20 years, there’s probably no changing it now.

Particle Physicists Detect ‘Magic’ at the Large Hadron Collider | Quanta Magazine

The supercollider is now being used to explore quantum phenomena, including a “magic” form of quantum entanglement.

quantamagazine.org

For my latest in Quanta, I explore recent measurements that treat the Large Hadron Collider as a giant quantum computer, and what some physicists hope these sorts of measurements can reveal about quantum mechanics, amid skepticism.

Quanta Magazine@quantamagazine.org · 8mo ago

The Large Hadron Collider has a new job. It’s being used to study how information flows through quantum systems — ideas that lie at the core of quantum computing. @shalmawegs.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/particle-phy...

Hi! Today @quantamagazine.bsky.social published a special issue on climate science, featuring stories about how Earth's climate fundamentally works that I needed to read after covering climate impacts for so many years. I hope you'll check it out! <3 www.quantamagazine.org/how-we-came-...

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Shalma Wegsman@shalmawegs.bsky.social · 11mo ago

After a long break, my podcast 'Why This Universe?' is starting up again! In our first episode of the season, Nobel prize-winner Adam Riess shares his story of the discovery that dark energy is powering the expansion of space. Listen to the whole episode here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...

After a long break, my podcast 'Why This Universe?' is starting up again! In our first episode of the season, Nobel prize-winner Adam Riess shares his story of the discovery that dark energy is powering the expansion of space. Listen to the whole episode here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...

And here's another one I wrote with @quantamagazine.bsky.social 🧪:

Quanta Magazine@quantamagazine.org · 11mo ago

In 1981, Richard Feynman famously quipped that “if you want to make a simulation of nature, you’d better make it quantum mechanical.” Only quantum computers can faithfully model the world in its true nature. @shalmawegs.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/analog-vs-di...

Thanks for the shout-out @seanmcarroll.bsky.social! And a funny coincidence—the Fourier transform really is everywhere you look.

Sean Carroll@seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Completely coincidental that @quantamagazine.bsky.social just published a nice article by @shalmawegs.bsky.social on the history of Fourier transforms! I did not know that Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier was slated to be guillotined. Narrow escape there. www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-...

My latest story is out in Quanta Magazine. Had a lot of fun digging into both history and math for this one!

Quanta Magazine@quantamagazine.org · 11mo ago

At 26, during the Reign of Terror in France, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier narrowly avoided the guillotine. A decade later, he made a discovery that changed mathematics forever. @shalmawegs.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-...

Fingers crossed. Keep telling your members of Congress this is important.

Science Magazine@science.org · last yr.

The Senate appropriations committee has voiced its intent to ignore the request by President Donald Trump to slash the budgets of the National Science Foundation and NASA science programs. scim.ag/4nW7XWi

My last story with Quanta dove deeeeep into quantum crystals. You can’t read about research this fresh anywhere else! 🧪

Quanta Magazine@quantamagazine.org · last yr.

Physicists recently mapped the hidden geometry that underlies the quantum behaviors of a crystal, using a new method that’s expected to become ubiquitous. @shalmawegs.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/first-map-ma...

BREAKING: The United States of America

Nazi Germany did literally ban Nature: "Articles are often published in the London weekly scientific journal Nature containing outrageous and vile attacks on German science and the national socialist state. The journal must therefore be excluded from general use in the scientific libraries."

Nature under Hitler

Under the editorship of Richard Gregory, Nature was banned in Nazi Germany.

nature.com

Ben Brubaker@benbenbrubaker.bsky.social · last yr.

I am no fan of Springer, but to preempt objections that this is hyperbolic language, the Nazis literally banned the same journals and justified the decision using very similar rhetoric.

I am no fan of Springer, but to preempt objections that this is hyperbolic language, the Nazis literally banned the same journals and justified the decision using very similar rhetoric.

Philip Ball@philipcball.bsky.social · last yr.

"Woke science" seems to be the new "Jewish physics". www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The National Science Foundation is getting kicked out of their building

Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · last yr.

NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years. NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."

First images from the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory are out! Rubin sees an area on the sky of about 9.6 square degrees with a 3.2 Gigapixel resolution. This is like taking a picture of a football field from a mile away and still being able to resolve the thickness of a dime on the field. ⚛️🧪

New paper: "Large Language Models and Emergence: A Complex Systems Perspective" (D. Krakauer, J. Krakauer, M. Mitchell). We look at claims of "emergent capabilities" & "emergent intelligence" in LLMs from the perspective of what emergence means in complexity science. arxiv.org/pdf/2506.11135

The civilian wing of the MAGA movement is attempting to murder Democrats and their spouses in their homes. The state wing of the MAGA movement is arresting Democrats for performing their official duties. The MAGA movement is trying to make it illegal to oppose Trump.

what is it called when people who aren't cops and don't have a warrant drag you away, because I don't think "arrest" is the word

Brad Lander, NYC comptroller and mayoral candidate, is arrested outside immigration court

New York City comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander has been arrested at a federal building in Manhattan as he was trying to accompany a person out of an immigration courtroom.

apnews.com

Wired continuing to do great + important work for the political moment!

WIRED@wired.com · last yr.

Jack and Fiona watched as Trump and Musk turned the US into what they call “a fascist hellscape.” So they turned to tech to organize, creating @stickittofascists.com. They're one of many mobilizing online. And as millions joined the "No Kings” protests, these tools were powering the movement.

So much waste and harm could be avoided if we just treated these as fragile, dangerous tools suited for very specialized use cases, like we do with lasers and circular saws, and not as magic thinking beans

The Guardian@theguardian.com · last yr.

Cutting-edge AI models ‘collapse’ in face of complex problems, Apple study finds

This is very thorough and very good. Among other things, it reiterates that the fact LLMs only "tell the truth" sometimes (but bullshit with utter confidence) is a feature, not a bug. It can't be simply fixed post hoc. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Do large language models have a legal duty to tell the truth? | Royal Society Open Science

Careless speech is a new type of harm created by large language models (LLM) that poses cumulative, long-term risks to science, education and shared social truth in democratic societies. LLMs produce ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

I'm reading Meghan O'Gieblyn's "God, Human, Animal, Machine" and now I can't stop seeing its argument everywhere: that the whole idea of the technological singularity is the newest iteration in a long history of religious prophecies — a metaphor taken literally.

Philip Ball@philipcball.bsky.social · last yr.

Sam Altman wrote a blog post to tell us that he doesn't understand human creativity, technology, science, politics, history, ethics, or even his own AI. He does, however, have some grasp of marketing. blog.samaltman.com/the-gentle-s...

I would love to think that everyone has known for a long time that LLMs aren't going to lead to "general intelligence," but all the evidence suggests there are plenty of people who resist this, so it's good to have a paper from researchers Apple making the point strongly.

Karl Olson 🌻 Ultraklystron@karlrolson.com · last yr.

There's a lot of big news today/this week, but Apple just dropped a nuke of a paper about LLMs & LRMs, specially around "high-complexity tasks where both models experience complete collapse." This is the biggest sign yet that if AI ever lives up the hype, it won't be via those approaches:

Mark is such a talented and passionate science illustrator it was a pleasure to work together on this!

mark belan | science illustrator + info designer@markabelan.bsky.social · last yr.

Check out this new story at Quanta about quantum geometry - new research about the hidden shapes that underlie the quantum behaviors of a crystal. I had so much fun producing graphics for this cool story with @shalmawegs.bsky.social + @nattyover.bsky.social. www.quantamagazine.org/first-map-ma...

For my latest story at @quantamagazine.bsky.social I dug into cutting edge research that’s using geometry to understand the bizarre quantum behaviors of materials. Huge shoutout to @markabelan.bsky.social for bringing the abstract ideas to life with 3D graphics!

Quanta Magazine@quantamagazine.org · last yr.

Physicists recently mapped the hidden geometry that underlies the quantum behaviors of a crystal, using a new method that’s expected to become ubiquitous. @shalmawegs.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/first-map-ma...