Why AI Uses So Much Electricity
Training runs are measured in months of full-power computing, and answering a question costs far more than a search. The reason is arithmetic done on a very large scale, plus the cooling to remove the heat.
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Astronomers Find the Lightest Double Neutron Star Yet
A radio survey has turned up a pair of neutron stars orbiting every 2.36 hours, with a combined mass lower than any binary of its kind found before. It is an unusually good test of general relativity.
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The Largest Catalogue of Hydrogen Galaxies Yet Released
A new data release catalogues 156,000 galaxies by their cold hydrogen, roughly five times the previous record, and measures the local universe’s hydrogen density to 0.6 percent.
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Astronomers Watch a Massive Binary Star Being Assembled
Eight years of radio observations have captured a pair of massive young stars mid-formation, on a lopsided orbit with discs pointing in different directions. That rules out the simplest explanation.
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AI Weather Models Move to Hour-by-Hour Forecasts
A new generation of machine learning weather models produces hourly global forecasts at five kilometre resolution, and is being wired directly into consumer products.
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How a Battery Actually Works
A battery does not store electrons in a box. It stores two chemicals that want to react, and forces the electrons to take the long way round through your device.
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Why Is the Sky Blue?
Sunlight is white, air is transparent, and yet the sky is blue. The answer is a scattering effect that treats short wavelengths far more roughly than long ones.