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On the number of digital pictures Let’s switch from Go positions to digital pictures

There is an art project to display every possible picture. The project admits this will take a long time, because there are many possible pictures. But how many? We will assume the very common color model known as True Color, in which each pixel can be one of 224 ≅ 17 million distinct colors. The digital camera shown below left has 12 million pixels. We’ll also consider much smaller pictures: the array below middle, with 300 pixels, and the array below right with just 12 pixels. Shown are some of the possible pictures:

12,000,000 pixels 300 pixels 12 pixels.

Quiz: Which of these produces a number of pictures similar to the number of atoms in the universe?

Answer: An array of n pixels produces (17 million)n different pictures. (17 million)12 ≅ 1,086, so the tiny 12-pixel array produces a million times more pictures than the number of atoms in the universe!

How about the 300 pixel array? It can produce 102,167 pictures. You may think the number of atoms in the universe is big, but that’s just peanuts to the number of pictures in a 300-pixel array. And 12M pixels? 1,086,696,638 pictures. Fuggedaboutit!

So the number of possible pictures is really, really, really big. And the number of atoms in the universe is looking relatively small, at least as a number of combinations.

On counting combinations People often underestimate the number of combinations of things. I think there are two main reasons: Combinations of things are multiplicative, while collections of things are additive. If you see a line of 6 people, it is easy to visualize a line of 60 people—it is ten times longer. But even if you know that there are 720 different orderings (permutations) in which those 6 people can line up, there is no way you can visualize the number of orderings for 60 people, because it is—you guessed it—larger than the number of atoms in the universe. Big numbers are hard. Even with simple collections of things, it takes practice to get a real intuition for the difference between 6 million and 6 billion people. When it comes to combinations, growth is faster and therefore intuition fails earlier. Authors are sloppy. Doug Smith reports that the New York Times confused “million” and “billion” over a dozen times per year; other sources also make similar mistakes. See the book by Unix co-creator Brian Kernighan for more on this. So beware, and be sure to use some simple math to augment your intuition when dealing with combinations.

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The dynamic and heterogeneous composition of biomolecular condensates and its functional relevance

Biomolecular condensates are non-membrane-encapsulated compartments that control various biological processes. Recent studies have revealed that condensates change in response to stimuli and over time. This Review discusses the heterogeneity and composition changes of nuclear and cytoplasmic condensates, their regulation and how the changes affect cellular biochemical reactions.

Inside the push to make ice rinks sustainable

Stefania Impellizzeri, a sustainable-materials chemist at Toronto Metropolitan University, is trying to make ice rinks more efficient and sustainable by fine-tuning water chemistry and rink-related materials.

Rinks use energy, water, and refrigerants, and they create microplastics. People are trying to reduce this footprint by .

Frontiers: Dietary restriction (DR)

Defined as reduced caloric intake or selective limitation of specific nutrients without malnutrition, is one of the most robust interventions known to extend lifespan and healthspan across species. Studies from yeast to mammals demonstrate that DR elicits conserved genetic, transcriptional, and epigenetic programs that promote cellular maintenance and stress resistance. At the molecular level, DR engages evolutionarily conserved nutrient-sensing pathways, including insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS), the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and NAD+-dependent sirtuins, which converge on key transcription factors (TFs) and transcriptional coactivators (TCs) to coordinate metabolic and longevity-associated gene expression. Downstream, these pathways enhance autophagy and proteostasis, remodel mitochondrial function and redox balance, reshape immune and inflammatory networks, and induce epigenetic and transcriptional reprogramming. Recent work further highlights amino acid–specific sensing mechanisms, endocrine mediators such as fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), the gut microbiome, circadian regulators, and nuclear pore–associated transcriptional plasticity as integral components of DR responses. Importantly, the physiological outcomes of DR are context dependent and influenced by genetic background, sex, age at intervention, and the type and duration of restriction. In this review, we summarize current knowledge on the genetic and molecular architecture underlying DR-induced longevity and health benefits across species, discuss implications for aging-related diseases, and outline future directions toward precision nutrition and safe translational strategies.

Aging is characterized by a progressive decline in physiological integrity, reduced stress resilience, and increased susceptibility to chronic diseases (Lopez-Otin et al., 2023). Among numerous genetic, pharmacological, and lifestyle interventions examined over the past decades, dietary restriction (DR) remains the most robust and evolutionarily conserved strategy for extending lifespan and improving healthspan. Originally described in rodents nearly a century ago, the beneficial effects of reduced nutrient intake have since been validated in a wide range of organisms, including yeast, nematodes, flies, and mammals (Wu et al., 2022). While often used interchangeably, it is critical to distinguish between different nutritional interventions to avoid conceptual overlap. Caloric restriction (CR) typically refers to a chronic reduction in total calorie intake (usually 20%–40%) without malnutrition.

SNAP25 undergoes phase separation to facilitate the assembly of the synaptic vesicle fusion machinery

Zhu et al. find that SNAP25, a key SNARE protein involved in synaptic vesicle fusion, undergoes phase separation, which is regulated by palmitoylation modification and interaction with syntaxin-1. The SNAP25 condensates recruit syntaxin-1 and VAMP2 to form coacervates, facilitating vesicle docking and the assembly of the SNARE complex.

AI threatens to eat business software—and it could change the way we work

In recent weeks, a range of large “software-as-a-service” companies, including Salesforce, ServiceNow and Oracle, have seen their share prices tumble.

Even if you’ve never used these companies’ software tools, there’s a good chance your employer has. These tools manage key data about customers, employees, suppliers and products, supporting everything from payroll and purchasing to customer service.

Now new “agentic” artificial intelligence (AI) tools for business are expected to reduce reliance on traditional software for everyday work. These include Anthropic’s Cowork, OpenAI’s Frontier and open-source agent platforms such as OpenClaw.

Study outlines how JWST and Ariel could team up on exoplanet atmospheres

Astronomers want to collect as much data as possible using as many systems as possible. Sometimes that requires coordination between instruments. The teams that run the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the upcoming Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (Ariel) missions will have plenty of opportunity for that once both telescopes are online in the early 2030s. A new paper, available in pre-print on arXiv, from the Ariel-JWST Synergy Working Group details just how exactly the two systems can work together to better analyze exoplanets.

JWST has already been at the center of media attention since even before its launch in late 2021. It is currently the most capable of our space-based observatories, but it is a multi-purpose tool that has a long line of scientists waiting to get time on it.

Capable of observing everything from far-away black holes to interstellar comets passing through our own solar system, JWST has absurdly high resolution but lacks the sheer amount of time it takes to observe some exoplanets fully. In addition, in some cases it’s too sensitive, as exceptionally bright stars, which are great for observing exoplanet atmospheres, are powerful enough to saturate the detectors on JWST, making it useless to track exoplanets orbiting those types of stars.

Encryption: A Key Guardian of Our Digital Future

By Chuck Brooks and Bill Bowers.

Every time you send a text, pay for groceries with your phone, or use your health site, you are relying on encryption. It’s an invisible shield that protects your data from prying eyes. Encryption is more than just a technological protection; it is the basis for digital trust.

Encryption is more than just safeguarding data; it is also about protecting people. It helps ensure privacy by protecting persons from spying and exploitation. And it is widely adopted to help ensure digital transaction security. For National Security it serves to protect key infrastructure and government communications. And it has a human rights function by providing citizens with peace of mind by ensuring the safety of their personal information. In places where surveillance is widespread, encryption can even defend free expression and opposition. It is a human right in this digital age.

In my book Inside Cyber: How AI, 5G, IoT, and Quantum Computing Will Transform Privacy and Security, I referred to encryption as the “linchpin of privacy and commerce in a connected society.” Without it, the digital economy would crumble under the strain of criminality, fraud, and spying.

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