Podcast Episode · Heliox: Where Evidence Meets Empathy đšđŠâŹ · October 16 · 44m
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AI Proved the Quasi-Riemann Hypothesis. What Happens Now?
Quanta Magazine always has excellent articles. This one discusses the recent OpenAI proof of the quasi-Reimann Hypothesis, a weaker form of the perhaps most famous Millenium Prize Problem.
Among the 377 results that OpenAI announced on October 6, 2026, one stood out. It claimed to settle the âquasi-Riemann hypothesisâ â a weaker version of the Riemann hypothesis, which is arguably the biggest open question in math. The new proof is, as Jared Duker Lichtman of Stanford University put it, âthe most significant AI-for-math achievement so far, by quite a margin.â
The Riemann hypothesis has been an open problem for over 160 years. Resolving it would enable mathematicians to better understand the nature of prime numbers, one of mathâs most crucial building blocks. And thatâs just for starters.
The implications of even the more limited âquasi-RHâ result are âstaggering,â said Maksym RadziwiĆĆ of New York University. âIn a sense, the vast majority of consequences of RH already follow from quasi-RH.â
A Wave Of Refrigeration Cyberattacks Demands Urgent Action
The operational objective is resilience. In a world where connected devices are everyplace, perfect prevention is unattainable. What distinguishes manageable incidents from cascading crises is the ability to quickly detect, contain damage, restore operations, and learn.
A clear indication is the recent surge in refrigeration attacks. The cyber domain now includes the systems that maintain military logistics, food safety, and the viability of medications. It is no longer necessary in the future to treat them as such; with the same seriousness we apply to other critical infrastructure. It is an urgent operational requirement. The security of the controllers that uphold the cold chain determines its strength.
Biocomputer can explore multiple solutions at once as bacteria multiply in tiny, interconnected channels
A McGill-led research team has developed a bacteria-based biocomputer that can solve large, complex problems using a small fraction of the memory and resources required by standard (âsolid-stateâ) computers. Possible applications include encryption, molecular biology and artificial intelligence, the researchers said.
Solid-state computers test each possible solution sequentially, which can take years or even centuries to deliver results for complex problems. In contrast, bacteria can explore many possible solutions simultaneously. Additionally, bacteria can divide to create more biological âprocessors,â they explained.
âModern electronic computers make millions of operations per second using one chip,â said Dan Nicolau, senior author and professor of bioengineering. âWith bacterial division, we have 1 million chips working at the same time. More chips mean you can resolve the problem faster, even if for each âprocessor,â the number of operations per second is slower.
Robotic moth grows its own sensors with UV light and artificial blood
The robotâs idea of an upgrade is growing a new sensor, not heading back to the factory for a hardware makeover.
Quantum entanglement is tough to dumb down, but this analogy can help detangle it
The term âquantum entanglementâ refers to quantum particles being interdependent even when separated, to put it in exceedingly simple terms. Because this behaviour was so at odds with his understanding of the laws of physics, Albert Einstein called the phenomenon âspooky action at a distanceâ. And because it is so hard to square with our own lived experience, it is often used as one of the foremost examples of âquantum weirdnessâ. In this expansion on a previous Royal Institution presentation, the UK science writer Philip Ball details a metaphor devised in the 1990s by Sandu Popescu, professor of physics at the University of Bristol, and Daniel Rohrlich, a physics researcher and lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, to help bring our current best understanding of quantum entanglement into focus. In doing so, Ball also provides an enlightening window into physicistsâ evolving understanding of the quantum world throughout the 20th century.
Video by The Royal Institution
Producer: Anand Jagatia
Just 3 Lines of Math Rule Out Time Travel in Many Possible Universes, Physicist Says
Time travel is a dream shared by pretty much all of us.
But the dearth of visitors from the future â and the dismal turnout at the famed time traveler party â is alarming for hopefuls.
Still, hypothetical time travel ideas abound, including traversable wormholes propped open by undiscovered exotic states of matter, and a rocket ship skirting billions of light-years around a spinning Universe to end up back in its past.
Is Consciousness an Illusion? Illusionism & its Ethical Implications | Keith Frankish
Keith Frankish is a Honorary Reader in Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, a Visiting Research Fellow at The Open University, \& an Adjunct Professor with the Brain \& Mind Programme in Neurosciences at the University of Crete. He is the author of \.
Scientists use electron beams to grow sodium crystals inside batteries
Scientists have discovered how sodium solid-state batteries avoid harmful chemical layers that cause capacity loss and shorten battery life.
Vibrating mattress helps clear Alzheimerâs protein from the brain
Lying on a vibrating mattress while taking nitric oxide pills has shown promise for boosting the brainâs waste-disposal system. It caused the brainâs blood vessels to swell and constrict more strongly, which enhanced the glymphatic systemâs clearance of a protein that accumulates during Alzheimerâs disease.
Other experiments into boosting the glymphatic system have involved ultrasound, pink noise and even intermittently inhaling high doses of carbon dioxide. âItâs important to come at this from as many angles as possible, to increase the chance of this translating to the clinic and benefitting patients,â says Christopher Brown at the University of Southampton, UK, who wasnât involved in the latest research.