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castelvecchi.bsky.social
Davide Castelvecchi
@castelvecchi.bsky.social
2.8K followers 200 following 340 posts
Writer at Nature magazine, covering physical sciences, technology, mathematics, and energy. DMs are disabled courtesy of the UK's so-called Online Safety Act
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castelvecchi.bsky.social
Davide Castelvecchi @castelvecchi.bsky.social · Apr 11
Are topology and quantum physics a match made in heaven?
This latest @quantinuum.bsky.social result is the most complete implementation yet of a quantum algorithm for studying knots. But there is much more to this ... my latest story @nature.com — and monster 🧵 ahead
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘Mind blowing’: quantum computer untangles the mathematics of knots
Algorithms for studying knots and other topological objects could have a quantum advantage.
www.nature.com
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castelvecchi.bsky.social
Davide Castelvecchi @castelvecchi.bsky.social · 1h
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
It’s Sam Altman: the man who stole the rights from copyright. If he’s the future, can we go backwards? | Marina Hyde
His AI video generator Sora 2 has been reviled for pinching the work of others. One giant leap for Sam: for everyone else, not so much, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
dpcarrington.bsky.social
Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 1d
‘Little lungs are paying’: why the #Dieselgate scandal is still running hot

- Car makers accused of cheating air pollution rules have largely avoided punishment for a decade but a historic trial brought by 1.8 million UK motorists is about to begin

Story by me
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
‘Little lungs are paying’: why the Dieselgate scandal is still running hot
Carmakers accused of cheating air pollution rules have faced little punishment but trial brought by 1.8m UK motorists is about to begin
www.theguardian.com
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
janrosenow.bsky.social
Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 1d
China ≠ just coal plants and solar exports. The deeper shift: electrifying everything it can. Strategic, because China relies on imported fossil fuels. Coal is still king in the power mix—for now. But the balance is changing year by year.
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castelvecchi.bsky.social
Davide Castelvecchi @castelvecchi.bsky.social · 2d
The question I asked in yesterday’s Yaghi press conference was: have any MOFs lived up to the hype yet and begun to replace other techniques in any of these applications? He didn’t really answer that
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castelvecchi.bsky.social
Davide Castelvecchi @castelvecchi.bsky.social · 2d
Metal-organic frameworks had long been tipped as a Chemistry Nobel candidate — and today it finally happened. My piece with Mira Naddaf
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Chemistry Nobel for scientists who developed massively porous ‘super sponge’ materials
Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi pioneered the creation of metal-organic frameworks, which can capture and store molecules such as carbon dioxide.
www.nature.com
Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
kms163.bsky.social
Katharine Sanderson @kms163.bsky.social · 3d
the 2025 #Nobel prize in Chemistry for MOFs! Delighted to have dug into the potential of these amazing materials earlier this year www.nature.com/articles/d41...
World’s most porous sponges: intricate carbon-trapping powders hit the market
Metal-organic frameworks were the next big thing in chemistry when they were invented more than three decades ago. Now, these intriguing materials are becoming commercial tools for capturing carbon dioxide and harvesting water from the air.
www.nature.com
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
lizziegibney.bsky.social
Elizabeth Gibney @lizziegibney.bsky.social · 3d
Over at @naturepodcast.bsky.social we also made a super short vid on this year's physics Nobel Prize. Quantum phenomena at the macroscopic scale in two minutes... go! With me, and Ben Thompson & camera work by the fab @emzywb.bsky.social 🧪⚛️

www.youtube.com/shorts/krita...
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
johnpfaff.bsky.social
John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 3d
Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.
flglchicago.bsky.social
Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 3d
Here’s video of the incident
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castelvecchi.bsky.social
Davide Castelvecchi @castelvecchi.bsky.social · 3d
John Martinis’ wife didn’t wake him in the middle of the night (California time) to tell him he had won a Nobel. “I got up a little bit before 6. Then I opened my computer and saw John and Michel’s and my pictures."
Story by @lizziegibney.bsky.social and me

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Groundbreaking quantum-tunnelling experiments win physics Nobel
John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis discovered quantum physics on a macroscopic scale, paving the way for quantum computing.
www.nature.com
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
fdlevi.bsky.social
Federico Levi @fdlevi.bsky.social · 4d
Very cool Nobel Prize this year. Quantum physics is (too) often reduced to the 100-year-old work of its pioneers. Back at @natphys.nature.com we celebrated experiments that took it from the 1920s to superconducting quantum computers www.nature.com/articles/s41... very much the spirit of this prize.
The ABC of cQED - Nature Physics
The combination of microwave photons with superconducting quantum circuits offers promise for quantum technologies and the fundamental study of quantum light–matter interactions. This month, a Focus issue explores this field of research.
www.nature.com
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
fdlevi.bsky.social
Federico Levi @fdlevi.bsky.social · 4d
rdcu.be/eJQYt Free-to-read link
Quantum Josephson junction circuits and the dawn of artificial atoms
Nature Physics - In 1985, experiments revealed the quantum behaviour of a macroscopic degree of freedom: the phase difference across a Josephson junction. The authors recount the history of this...
rdcu.be
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castelvecchi.bsky.social
Davide Castelvecchi @castelvecchi.bsky.social · 8d
Wolfgang Pauli played a central role in the development of quantum mechanics — much of it behind the scenes. But the exclusion principle, which he stated 100 years ago "in the form of the Ten Commandments”, has Pauli's name stamped on it.
My brief essay for @natrevphys.nature.com
rdcu.be/eJkam
Nobel 1945: the exclusion principle - Nature Reviews Physics
80 years ago, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Wolfgang Pauli.
www.nature.com
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
karenattiah.bsky.social
Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 8d
Washington Post dismantled the platform Jamal wrote on. Discarded the fellowship they created in his memory.

They fired me unjustly for speaking the truth.

But I’ll never stop talking about my friend, writer, and amazing human, Jamal Khashoggi.

RIP, Jamal.

open.substack.com/pub/karenatt...
Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post, and the Cost of Speaking Out
As Saudi Arabia hosts comedians and courts gamers, the silenced voice of Jamal Khashoggi still echoes.
open.substack.com
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
danjfox.bsky.social
Dan Fox @danjfox.bsky.social · 9d
Check out these brilliant kirigami parachutes youtu.be/6rrDW6YIbXI
This parachute is full of holes and that's a good thing
YouTube video by nature video
youtu.be
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
physicsmagazine.bsky.social
Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social · 10d
Researchers have discovered why contact electrification—commonly known as static electricity—is poorly understood: The charge dynamics are too fast for some previous studies to be meaningful.
Charge Transfer Happens Too Fast to See
A new experiment on static electricity casts doubt on previous ones.
physics.aps.org
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castelvecchi.bsky.social
Davide Castelvecchi @castelvecchi.bsky.social · 10d
Welcome to the United Kingdom, land of the Online so-called safety act
Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
aukehoekstra.bsky.social
Auke Hoekstra @aukehoekstra.bsky.social · 13d
I'm glad that @christianonre.bsky.social increasingly includes nuclear in his analysis, if only to show that adding nuclear is really more expensive than a system running completely (100%) on renewables.
christianonre.bsky.social
Christian Breyer @christianonre.bsky.social · 15d
1/ New @lut.fi study in collaboration with European partners finds prioritising nuclear power expansion over renewable energy (RE) leads to 71–84% higher annual system costs in Finland by 2050 compared to a cost-optimised RE system. doi.org/10.1016/j.en...
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
13sarahmurphy.bsky.social
Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 20d
British media pumps out daily propaganda pieces for Farage, fails to offer *any scrutiny* and basically legitimises rampant racism, then puts on its ‘innocent face’ and clutches its pearls at the rise of the far right…
What a grim betrayal of our democracy.
www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how...
Reform, with 0.7% of all MPs, featured in 25% of BBC's recent 10pm news bulletins
Astonishingly, a party with 18 times as many MPs as Reform has received one-third less coverage on BBC News at 10.
www.thelondoneconomic.com
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
lizziegibney.bsky.social
Elizabeth Gibney @lizziegibney.bsky.social · 23d
Remember DeepSeek's R1 model that crashed the US stock market in Jan? DeepSeek has said it did not boost the model by training on OpenAI outputs. This and much more (eg $$ to train & technical details) revealed in the firm's peer reviewed paper out in Nature today 🧪🤖 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Secrets of DeepSeek AI model revealed in landmark paper
First peer reviewed study shows how a Chinese start-up firm made the market-shaking LLM for US$300,000.
www.nature.com
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
mliebreich.bsky.social
Michael Liebreich @mliebreich.bsky.social · 26d
Part I concludes by demolishing Tony Blair's recent call for a climate reset, which he also couched as a need for pragmatism. Again, yes to pragmatism, but not the false pragmatism of Direct Air Capture, CCS and nuclear SMRs as a climate solution. 10/n
about.bnef.com/insights/cle...
Liebreich: The Pragmatic Climate Reset - Part I | BloombergNEF
As the tide on clean energy turns, Michael Liebreich makes a strong case for a pragmatic climate reset.
about.bnef.com
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castelvecchi.bsky.social
Davide Castelvecchi @castelvecchi.bsky.social · 23d
My latest
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘Revolutionary’ AI tools rescue old weather data to improve climate models
Specialist machine-learning models are helping researchers to transcribe centuries-old handwritten records.
www.nature.com
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
daverino.bsky.social
David @daverino.bsky.social · 25d
"The vaccines cost $79 billion to develop & deliver..provided health & economic benefits globally worth between $5 trillion & $38 trillion in the 1st year based on avoided infections, hospitalisations & deaths. That is a ROI of between $60 & $475 per $ invested"
www.newscientist.com/article/2496...
Covid-19 vaccine benefits worth up to $38 trillion in first year alone
The global health and economic benefits of covid-19 vaccines came to between $5 trillion and $38 trillion in their first year, showing an incredible return on investment
www.newscientist.com
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castelvecchi.bsky.social
Davide Castelvecchi @castelvecchi.bsky.social · 23d
That was my thought, too. And it had a timeline suspiciously suitable to making a certain billionaire feel like he was going to see this thing happen in his lifetime
Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
floragraham.bsky.social
Flora Graham @floragraham.bsky.social · 24d
Oh I am so on board for this week's @nature.com editorial! Take it from someone who grew up without trains, and took a 13-hour train journey on Monday: they are the frikkin best 🚅 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What if there were a technology that could help to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, air pollution and environmental degradation, while improving health, reducing social inequality and boosting economic growth? There is, and this month it turns 200.
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Reposted by Davide Castelvecchi
philipcball.bsky.social
Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 23d
Well. The RS is clearly feeling the heat. They could have saved themselves the embarrassment months ago. How did they ever imagine this wasn't going to get even worse?
jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 23d
Royal Society president Sir Adrian Smith: “I am sure that many of you will share my concern at the events of the last week and the growing tendency to resort to the language of violence…including, unfortunately, an address to the recent London rally from a Fellow of the Royal Society.”
Royal Society to debate throwing out Elon Musk
One of the most prestigious scientific bodies in the world is considering expelling Musk after his appearance at Tommy Robinson’s extremist London rally
www.thenewworld.co.uk
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