Use the ‘Feynman Method’ to Tell If You’re Ready for a Test
Study methods are usually all about what you can do in your own time to maximize what you learn, but bringing someone else in to your process can be helpful…
Use the ‘Feynman Method’ to Learn New Things
Photo: Ground Picture (Shutterstock) We often don’t understand things as well as we think we do. How often have you “learned” something you can’t fully recall later, or that you…
The Unnatural Future of Physics
Physicists don’t think the truth should be “out there.” They want nature to come naturally, make sense, fit in or have a good reason not to. Unnaturalness is a problem.…
What If You Tried to Swallow a Whole Cloud?
As the soup collapsed inward toward the center of the solar system, its molecules would be squeezed closer together and the pressure would rise. It would take a few minutes…
I Don’t Understand Anything Anymore
The meaning of time is lost in the measurement. Besides, at some point precision measurements run into the uncertainty principle, which tells us you can’t know everything—certainly not at once.…
Of Course We’re Living in a Simulation
In 1999, a trio of cinematic mindfucks—The Thirteenth Floor, eXistenZ, and, of course, The Matrix—came out, all illustrating the possibility of unreal realities and thus fulfilling condition (1). Four years…
How Gravity Turns Me Upside Down
That’s where things get interesting: The time it takes to complete a ride through the Earth to the other side is 42 minutes. (Other calculations give slightly different answers, but…
Test Out Next-Gen Space Tech in ‘Kerbal Space Program’
Most games lose relevance after a few years, but the indie rocket-building game Kerbal Space Program is a bit different. It’s a glitchy, 10-year-old underdog of a game with a…
One Man’s Amazing Journey to the Center of the Bowling Ball
Sposato patented his diamond-shaped core, which he claims produces 20 percent more inertia than any competitor, and placed it in balls that he manufactured under the brand name Lane #1.…
To Observe the Muon Is to Experience Hints of Immortality
The known universe seemed, briefly, muonstruck. But it took only 12 days for another Italian physicist to throw cold water on the bliss. Carlo Rovelli, a founder of loop quantum…