In 1887, one of the most important experiments in the history of physics took place. American scientists Michelson and Morley failed to measure the speed of Earth by comparing the speed of light in the direction of Earth’s motion with that perpendicular to it. That arguably most important zero measurement in the history of science led Einstein to postulate that the speed of light is constant and consequently to formulate his theory of special relativity.
This theory implies that all laws of physics are the same, independent of the relative motion between observers—a concept known as Lorentz invariance.
Meanwhile, quantum theory has been developed, with Lorentz invariance at the heart of all its theoretical frameworks, in particular quantum field theory and the Standard Model of Particle Physics. The latter is the most precisely tested theory ever developed and has been verified to incredible precision.
Nvidia and xAI said a data center being built in Saudi Arabia and equipped with hundreds of thousands of Nvidia chips will count xAI as its first customer.
A Princeton team built a new tantalum-silicon qubit that survives for over a millisecond, far surpassing today’s best devices. The design tackles surface defects and substrate losses that have limited transmon qubits for years. Easy to integrate into existing quantum chips, the approach could make processors like Google’s vastly more powerful.
“You should have a few good years ahead of you but I wouldn’t hold my Bitcoin,” Peronnin said, laughing. “They need to fork [move to a stronger blockchain] by 2030, basically. Quantum computers will be ready to be a threat a bit later than that,” he said.
Quantum doesn’t just threaten Bitcoin, of course, but all banking encryption. And it is likely that in all these cases companies are developing quantum resistant tools to upgrade their existing security systems.
Defensive security algorithms are improving, Peronnin said, so it’s not certain when the blockchain will become vulnerable to a quantum attack. But “the threshold for such an event is coming closer to us year by year,” he said.
“Drains” in the brain, responsible for clearing toxic waste in the organ, tend to get clogged up in people who show signs of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a study by researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has discovered.
This suggests that such clogged drains, a condition known as “enlarged perivascular spaces,” are a likely early-warning sign for Alzheimer’s, a common form of dementia.
“Since these brain anomalies can be visually identified on routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans performed to evaluate cognitive decline, identifying them could complement existing methods to detect Alzheimer’s earlier, without having to do and pay for additional tests,” said Associate Professor Nagaendran Kandiah from NTU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) who led the study.
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discovered that the magnetic component of light plays a direct role in the Faraday effect, overturning a 180-year-old assumption that only its electric field mattered.
Their findings, published in Scientific Reports, show that light can magnetically influence matter, not just illuminate it. The discovery opens new possibilities in optics, spintronics, and quantum technologies.
The study was led by Dr. Amir Capua and Benjamin Assouline from the Institute of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It presents the first theoretical proof that the oscillating magnetic field of light directly contributes to the Faraday effect, a phenomenon in which the polarization of light rotates as it passes through a material exposed to a constant magnetic field.
Most distant objects ever discovered candidates-https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.
Scientists are starting to rethink what they thought they knew about the universe, thanks to the latest discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope. In its new images of the farthest regions of space, Webb has revealed things that current theories simply cannot explain.
For the first time, scientists may have found signs of an entirely new kind of black hole—something that challenges the traditional Big Bang model. Webb has also uncovered record-breaking distant galaxies that look far stranger than expected, leaving experts puzzled. On top of that, the telescope has spotted many mysterious objects in huge numbers—but no one really knows what they are.
Even more surprising, some of these discoveries suggest that our universe could be part of something much bigger and stranger than we ever imagined. Let’s explore what scientists have actually discovered—and how these findings suggest that something may exist beyond our universe.
*This video was recorded at ‘Paths to Progress’ at LabWeek hosted by Protocol Labs & Foresight Institute.*
Protocol Labs and Foresight Institute are excited to invite you to apply to a 5-day mini workshop series to celebrate LabWeek, PL’s decentralized conference to further public goods. The theme of the series, Paths to Progress, is aimed at (re)-igniting long overdue progress in longevity bio, molecular nanotechnology, neurotechnology, crypto & AI, and space through emerging decentralized, open, and technology-enabled funding mechanisms.
*This mini-workshop is focused on Paths to Progress in Molecular Nanotechnology* Molecular manufacturing, in its most ambitious incarnation, would use programmable tools to bring together molecules to make precisely bonded components in order to build larger structures from the ground up. This would enable general-purpose manufacturing of new materials and machines, at a fraction of current waste and price. We are currently nowhere near this ambitious goal. However, recent progress in sub-fields such as DNA nanotechnology, protein-engineering, STM, and AFM provide possible building blocks for the construction of a v1 of molecular manufacturing; the molecular 3D printer. Let’s explore the state of the art and what type of innovation mechanisms could bridge the valley of death: how might we update the original Nanotech roadmap; is a tech tree enough? how might we fund the highly interdisciplinary progress needed to succeed: FRO vs. DAO?
*About The Foresight Institute*
The Foresight Institute is a research organization and non-profit that supports the beneficial development of high-impact technologies. Since our founding in 1986 on a vision of guiding powerful technologies, we have continued to evolve into a many-armed organization that focuses on several fields of science and technology that are too ambitious for legacy institutions to support. From molecular nanotechnology, to brain-computer interfaces, space exploration, cryptocommerce, and AI, Foresight gathers leading minds to advance research and accelerate progress toward flourishing futures.
*We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page:* https://foresight.org/donate/
