The new super-strong copper alloy can be used to build better airplanes and spacecraft.

The juridical metaphor in physics has ancient roots. Anaximander, in the 6th century BCE, was perhaps the first to invoke the concept of cosmic justice, speaking of natural entities paying “penalty and retribution to each other for their injustice according to the assessment of Time” (Kirk et al., 2010, p. 118). This anthropomorphizing tendency persisted through history, finding its formal expression in Newton’s Principia Mathematica, where he articulated his famous “laws” of motion. Newton, deeply influenced by his theological views, conceived of these laws as divine edicts — mathematical expressions of God’s will imposed upon a compliant universe (Cohen & Smith, 2002, p. 47).

This legal metaphor has served science admirably for centuries, providing a framework for conceptualizing the universe’s apparent obedience to mathematical principles. Yet it carries implicit assumptions worth examining. Laws suggest a lawgiver, hinting at external agency. They imply prescription rather than description — a subtle distinction with profound philosophical implications. As physicist Paul Davies (2010) observes, “The very notion of physical law is a theological one in the first place, a fact that makes many scientists squirm” (p. 74).

Enter the computational metaphor — a framework more resonant with our digital age. The universe, in this conceptualization, executes algorithms rather than obeying laws. Space, time, energy, and matter constitute the data structure upon which these algorithms operate. This shift is more than semantic; it reflects a fundamental reconceptualization of physical reality that aligns remarkably well with emerging theories in theoretical physics and information science.

A team from Stanford Medicine has developed AI-powered digital twins of the brain, trained on large datasets of brain activity. These models predict neural responses to new stimuli, offering profound insights into brain function.

Our brain doesn’t passively receive visual input—it actively orchestrates a symphony of neural oscillations to process the complex, dynamic scenes we see in everyday life.

Here are five recent innovative bioprinting and bioink studies that are building synthetic biological structures.

An optogenetic method for controlling the movement of starfish oocytes has been developed, which could have applications for drug delivery.

Psilocybin use in the U.S. has risen sharply across all age groups since 2019, coinciding with increasing legalization and interest in its therapeutic potential.

Researchers have developed RHyME, an AI-powered system that enables robots to learn complex tasks by watching a single human demonstration video.

Sir William Crookes predicted plasma in 1879. Today, it’s fueling revolutionary space engines and automotive systems shaping our clean, high-tech future.

Researchers have achieved a major leap in quantum computing by simulating Google’s 53-qubit Sycamore circuit using over 1,400 GPUs and groundbreaking algorithmic techniques. Their efficient tensor network methods and clever “top-k” sampling approach drastically reduce the memory and computational