Quantum entanglement is often introduced with a sentence that sounds like science fiction: two particles can be linked so deeply that changing one instantly changes the other, even if they are on opposite sides of the universe.That descript...
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Suppose engineers invent a computer chip that performs the same calculation using half as much electricity. The obvious conclusion is that electricity consumption should fall. Now suppose th...
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An old tree can carry the shape of an injury long after the branch that caused it has disappeared. A swollen collar may surround the site of a lost limb. Growth rings can bend around the old...
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Few keyboard shortcuts have acquired a reputation beyond computing itself. Ctrl-C means copy, Alt-Tab switches windows, but Control-Alt-Delete became something larger: a universal gesture of...
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An email can be perfectly written, legitimately requested and sent from a real company — and still end up in spam. The reason is that modern email delivery is no longer determined only by wh...
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“Demmel Sims” might sound like the name of your new favorite jazz bassist or a long-lost Marvel character, but in reality, it’s... no one. Or at least, no one definitively identifiable. Go a...
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Imagine owning a fortune… but being locked out of it. That’s exactly what happened to Stefan Thomas, a programmer who was given 7,002 Bitcoin back in 2011 for making a video about crypto....
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In 1993, the U.S. government proposed a small hardware chip called the Clipper Chip, meant to be embedded in phones and computers. The goal? Allow federal agencies to access encrypted commun...
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In the annals of bizarre military history, few episodes are as strangely comical as the Great Emu War of 1932. Yes, this really happened: the Australian government sent soldiers armed with m...
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You’d think Napoleon Bonaparte, the man who conquered most of Europe, couldn’t possibly lose a battle to a bunch of fluffy bunnies. But history has a wicked sense of humor. In 1807, to ce...
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