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2018 was a huge success! We launched a mission to “touch” the Sun, stuck another nearly flawless #MarsLanding, marked our #NASA60th anniversary of opening our doors for business, welcomed NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and began #Apollo50 celebrations! That’s just some of what happened This Year @ NASA — there’s even more at http://www.nasa.gov/2018.


Researchers from the University of Basel have reported a new method that allows the physical state of just a few atoms or molecules within a network to be controlled. It is based on the spontaneous self-organization of molecules into extensive networks with pores about one nanometer in size. In the journal Small, the physicists reported on their investigations, which could be of particular importance for the development of new storage devices.

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Of course, all the algorithmic rigmarole is also causing real-world problems. Algorithms written by humans — tackling harder and harder problems, but producing code embedded with bugs and biases — are troubling enough. More worrisome, perhaps, are the algorithms that are not written by humans, algorithms written by the machine, as it learns.


Profiles in science.

Donald Knuth, master of algorithms, reflects on 50 years of his opus-in-progress, “The Art of Computer Programming.”

Donald Knuth at his home in Stanford, Calif. He is a notorious perfectionist and has offered to pay a reward to anyone who finds a mistake in any of his books. Credit Credit Brian Flaherty for The New York Times.

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Scientists have long known that synthetic materials—called metamaterials—can manipulate electromagnetic waves such as visible light to make them behave in ways that cannot be found in nature. That has led to breakthroughs such as super-high resolution imaging. Now, UMass Lowell is part of a research team that is taking the technology of manipulating light in a new direction.

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