Links for 2022-07-21
“Paper wasps can be trained to choose between pairs of stimuli that are either alike or different, suggesting the propensity for abstract thought may be more widespread than we thought.” https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.1156
Insects can probably feel pain. “Insects most likely have central nervous control of nociception; such control is consistent with the existence of pain experience, with implications for insect farming, conservation and their treatment in the laboratory.” http://sci-news.com/biology/insect-pain-10993.html
UK heatwave: Despite climate change, cold is a bigger killer than hot weather – at least for now https://inews.co.uk/opinion/uk-heatwave-despite-climate-change-cold-is-a-bigger-killer-than-hot-weather-at-least-for-now-1750558
“We’ve experimentally demonstrated the suppression of quantum errors by scaling a surface code logical qubit from distance-3 (17 qubits) to distance-5 (49 qubits).” https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.06431
Most popular stand-alone personality traits used in psychology – self-esteem, grit, etc. – can be subsumed into the Big Five. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-21018-001
Mini-nuclear reactors coming to Canada. https://www.westerninvestor.com/british-columbia/saskatchewan-ontario-to-roll-out-mini-nuclear-reactors-5568249
“In this note, we will prove from first principles that polynomials are continuous functions. It is meant to give the general flavor of ε-δ proofs for the general calculus student.” https://math.berkeley.edu/~kmill/math1afa2014/poly.pdf
“Palomares, Spain, 1966: a B-52 collides with refueling aircraft. Drops 4 megatonne+ nuclear weapons & 2 scatter plutonium when the high explosives detonate.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_Palomares_B-52_crash
"More than 93% of the survey respondents—all people working in private fusion companies—now believe that fusion power will first be on the grid by the 2030s, up from 83% last year." https://www.forbes.com/sites/melaniewindridge/2022/07/14/huge-growth-in-fusion-energy-industry-shows-new-report/?sh=4d1b9ce178e3
Helion Energy is hiring. “Clean, continuous energy for 1 cent per kilowatt-hour” https://blog.samaltman.com/helion-needs-you