How extreme heat affects the body – and the best ways to cope | New Scientist
Passengers on the London Underground during the heatwave on 26 June Guy Bell / Alamy
The heatwave that hit Europe at the end of June was the hottest ever and came less than a month after another record-breaking heatwave in May. Now, another heatwave has started that is forecast to last even longer, bringing temperatures of up to 34°C (93°F) to the UK.
Peter Shor’s algorithm could break the internet – but he's not worried | New Scientist
Peter Shor is known for his internet-breaking algorithm Christopher Harting
“So, he’s the Beyoncé of this event?” a young woman standing behind me says to a colleague. The three of us are standing, looking at the back of a crowd, whose members are all looking at a bearded man in an orange sweater. Getting a look at him is like trying to see the Mona Lisa – only fleeting glimpses are possible. “His algorithm is the algorithm that will break everything,” the colleague says, as I briefly catch sight of people posing for selfies and getting their conference badges signed. I’m at the Quantum.Tech World conference in Boston, and Peter Shor is the star attraction. Shor is one of the most influential researchers in the history of quantum computing, and it all comes down to his creation, known as Shor’s algorithm. In the 1990s, Shor was a researcher at Bell Labs in New Jersey. Quantum computers were a somewhat obscure research topic, barely on his radar, until he attended a seminar by the quantum computing pioneer Umesh Vazirani. There, he heard about a problem that quantum computers could solve better than any conventional computer. The problem was extremely contrived, so Shor wondered whether there was something more practical that quantum computers could be good at, too.
Does time come from the entire universe running computations? | New Scientist
What if the universe is just one big computer? NASA/ESA/J. Lee and pro500/Shutterstock
The following is an extract from our Lost in Space-Time newsletter. Each month, we dive into fascinating ideas from around the universe. You can sign up for Lost in Space-Time here.
Medieval text family trees suggest 60% of works vanished over centuries
For every King Arthur or Roland, whose adventures readers can still enjoy today, another hero of ancient literature may have been lost forever. Before the printing press, texts were copied manually. This process introduced errors and innovations. Like mutations in the replication of DNA, these manuscript changes can be used to create evolutionary trees that philologists call stemmata. Since these trees are based on the extant copies, they do not reflect the full evolutionary history of texts and cannot account for those that are completely lost.
Rare color shifting discovered in iconic Australian frog
University of Newcastle researchers have documented one of the clearest examples of iridescence ever recorded in an amphibian, revealing that the endangered green and golden bell frog (Ranoidea aurea) possesses intricate color-shifting skin previously unseen in the species.
Beetroot juice is trending – its benefits go beyond the hype | New Scientist
Beetroot juice has been shown to improve stamina during exercise Westend61/Getty Images
My friend Lizzie, a very athletic doctor, recently showed me some concentrated beetroot shots she was planning to take before an upcoming marathon. I never run anywhere, but she let me try one anyway. I could only manage slow sips of the intensely beetroot-tasting purple liquid, but she assured me it has a raft of benefits for athletes and non-athletes alike. I decided to look into it.
Streetlights are trapping thousands of pill bugs in giant “death spirals”
Researchers have uncovered a surprising side effect of artificial lighting: ordinary streetlights can lure thousands of tiny land dwelling isopods into giant synchronized "death spirals." The newly documented behavior, observed in Israel, is the first of its kind and suggests that human made lighting can dramatically disrupt the instincts of small ground dwelling animals.
China's space probe reaches asteroid after 1-billion-kilometer chase for first sample return
China's Tianwen-2 space probe, which is set to bring back samples from an asteroid for research, has reached its target after traveling 1 billion kilometers (620 million miles) over more than a year, the Chinese space agency said Monday.
Astronomers witness the birth of a magnetar for the first time
Astronomers have, for the first time, observed the birth of a magnetar, an extremely magnetic, rapidly spinning type of neutron star. The breakthrough confirms that these exotic objects can power some of the brightest stellar explosions ever seen.
Euclid discovers the most ancient quasars in the universe
