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The question of whether aliens have a grasp of physics is also brought up in Andy Weir's novel Project Hail Mary . Though Rocky's species, the aliens in the story, reach the same conclusion as humans regarding the existential problem they face, they make a fundamental error in their calculations by not knowing about relativity …

Whiteson's opening and closing discussion in his article made me think of physicist Werner Heisenberg's comment that "We have to remember that what we observe is not nature herself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning".

I wonder if what consciousness actually is eludes us because we are trying to make too much of it. Could it be that self-awareness, i.e. consciousness, has the primary function of keeping us motivated, so as to keep us alive? Without sensory input, to which we react, we would starve to death, succumb to danger …

I read Karmela Padavic-Callaghan's article on storing data in glass with interest, but I couldn't help but feel that such research is misdirected. In my long life, I have used many "ultimate" methods of long-term data storage, from wire recorders in the 1940s to floppy discs. Now, it is virtually impossible to recover data from …

Encoding information in glass isn't such a new idea. In the 1998 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "In the Pale Moonlight", glass storage serves as a key plot point. A recording of an AI-generated meeting intended to convince the Romulans of an impending sneak attack by supposed allies is stored on an "optolythic data …

In your report "AI can't stop recommending nuclear strikes", you quote a researcher who says "The nuclear taboo doesn't seem to be as powerful for machines for humans". Surprise, surprise! I also noted with interest the discovery that, in the fog of war, accidents happened in 86 per cent of the conflicts. As 19th-century general …

Your short piece on the apparent willingness of AI models to deploy nuclear weapons without the usual human reservations doesn't indicate whether the AI involved had been made aware of the possibility of nuclear winter. The bombs themselves have been tested and their destructive capabilities are well known. However, the nature of a nuclear winter …

If Stone Age people did indeed use the flight of wild birds as a tool for navigation, could they also have taken their own birds? If these were unable to land on water, e.g. eagles or corvids, when released they would fly ever higher looking for distant land. If they saw land, they would fly …

I have thought of an analogy that best describes the confusing situation in cosmology today. Imagine going on a camping trip with a new tent. You haven't had time to practice erecting it, so you assemble the tent from the rather limited instructions. On completion, you find there are poles sticking out and bits of …