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Reposted by FQxI

Patrick Ness @patricknessbooks.bsky.social · 1d

*deep sigh* Again, I have an English degree and have contributed rather extensively to the British economy, including writing a show that pumped £10 million into Wales. But the stupidity is the point here, of course.

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 1d

Badenoch and Co see education only as a means to a massive income in some soul destroying career.

Devoid of imagination and the power of knowledge they view life entirely through the prism of the CV.

My advice always is to study what interests you and the rest will follow

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 1d

This is a good game.

I have an English degree and boosted a major publishing house’s share price, and saved a high street retail chain from closure.

If a Mickey Mouse degree lets you create actual Mickey fucking Mouse, it’s probably easily as good “for the economy” as business studies.

Patrick Ness @patricknessbooks.bsky.social · 1d

*deep sigh* Again, I have an English degree and have contributed rather extensively to the British economy, including writing a show that pumped £10 million into Wales. But the stupidity is the point here, of course.

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 1d

Badenoch and Co see education only as a means to a massive income in some soul destroying career.

Devoid of imagination and the power of knowledge they view life entirely through the prism of the CV.

My advice always is to study what interests you and the rest will follow

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New Scientist @newscientist.com · 1d

In swamps and marshes, people occasionally see mysterious blue-tinged flashes of light above water, which have commonly been associated with ghosts or spirits. Now physicists may have finally worked out what causes them.

We may finally know what causes will-o’-the-wisps

Mysterious flashes of light seen in swamps and bogs could be caused by burning methane or other gases, ignited by sparks that fly between bubbles in water

www.newscientist.com

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 2d

John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics.

IMAGE CREDIT:
©Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 5d

Mike Wright, who since the early 70’s has been recording scientific talks, well before anyone was doing anything like that, resulting in 100,000 hours of recordings.

While a substantial portion is now digitised, some work still needs doing to reach the finishing line.

buff.ly/bTScLaK

FQxI @fqxi.org · 8d

FQxI and the Paradox Science Institute supported the recent school in quantum biology in Paraty, Brazil.

FQxI's $53,000 essay competition on the topic of quantum biology asks: How Quantum is Life? Enter before 29 October 2025 for your chance to win!

NEWS: qspace.fqxi.org/news/165309/...

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 9d

(5/5)
Full piece on QSpace (link in bio). If you’ve tried AI proofing on your own drafts, tell us what actually helped, and what didn’t.

FQxI @fqxi.org · 9d

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 9d

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 9d

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 9d

(1/5)
The Black Spatula project is just starting out, with a community of contributors all exploring different ways that AI might be brought to bear on error checking. "It's still in the experimental phase, with multiple volunteers collaborating to try out different approaches," says Steve Newman.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 11d

And the engine idea has moved forward. Antonio Patrón Castro, David Sivak and John Bechhoefer show you can boost output by harvesting perpendicular fluctuations in higher dimensions, even without tracking vertical motion (arXiv:2507.15503).

(1/3): Kinesin on microtubules, by Kateryna Kon.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 11d

In "Maximizing power and velocity of an information engine," Bechhoefer’s team showed how a laser-trapped bead can bank energy from random jiggles, acting as an information engine with power on the scale of molecular motors.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 11d

Johann du Buisson, Jannik Ehrich, mleighton.bsky.social, davidasivak.bsky.social, and John Bechhoefer introduce a one-coordinate test that infers heat flow to flag “demonic” operation. In kinesin simulations tuned to experiments, the motor grows more demon-like as active fluctuations rise.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 12d

📢 Good news: We’ve extended the deadline for FQxI’s How Quantum is Life? essay competition.

You now have until October 29, 2025 to submit your entry.
Remember, there's a $53,000 prize pot up for grabs!

All information here qspace.fqxi.org/competitions...

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 12d

FQxI is seeking an Academic Managing Editor for a new project, the Foundational Review Series.

Remote (Global applicants welcome)

Full-Time (will consider alternative working arrangements for the ideal candidate)

~$70,000 – $100,000 based on experience

fqxi.org/academic-man...

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 15d

Sara Walker and Paul Davies on the physics of life. Our $53,000 quantum biology essay contest asks: How Quantum is Life? qspace.fqxi.org/competitions...

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 20d

The evidence is building that life itself is quantum mechanical.
Enter FQxI's $53,000 Essay Competition: How Quantum is Life?
DEADLINE: 29 September, 2025
qspace.fqxi.org/competitions...

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Living Reviews | Relativity @livingrev-relativ.bsky.social · Sep 7

The "Living Reviews" concept featured by the FQxI — Started as unique #OpenAccess journals 20+ years ago at the @maxplanck.de and now published by @springernature.com.

Thanks to its authors and editors, Living Reviews are used hundreds of thousands times each year by researchers and students!

FQxI @fqxi.org · Sep 6

SWIPE ➡️
Living Reviews: The Wikipedia of Science
Full article: qspace.fqxi.org/articles/279...

#Science #Metascience #Articles #PeerReview

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 23d

On hardware, Will Zeng, Farrokh Labib and Vincent Russo encoded a simplified version of the scenario as quantum circuits and saw larger Local Friendliness violations as the branch factor increased, up to 16.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 23d

Veronika Baumann and Časlav Brukner clarified the constraints: if the AI stores or shares a classical record, or becomes aware that its memory changed during the procedure, the effect vanishes.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 23d

In their framing, an observer must have thoughts, so a real experiment would need human-level AI and fast, large quantum computers.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 23d

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 23d

To quantify this situation, Howard Wiseman and Eric Cavalcanti with NASA's Eleanor Rieffel set out a “thoughtful Local Friendliness” test in Quantum Journal in 2023. They suggested that the inner observer could even be an AI.

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FQxI @fqxi.org · 23d

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