Will AI Solve Quantum Computing?

If you’ve paid any attention to science news over the past few years, you know that AI and quantum computing are being heralded as the two most important emerging trends in tech. Currently, AI is more useful in real-world scenarios, but two new papers suggest that AI might be used to propel quantum computing development forward. Let’s take a look.

Einstein-Tile Discovered in Nature

Einstein-tiles, discovered in 2023, are shapes that can be used to cover a surface without gaps with a pattern that never repeats. A group of researchers claim they’ve found one of these rare shapes in a group of molecules that spontaneously configured themselves into a surface cover that behaves like an Einstein-tile. Let’s take a look.

What Americans Don't Understand About Europe

I’ve noticed an increasingly negative attitude of US-Americans to Europeans, and the other way round. It makes me sad because I think there’s much to admire in both America and Europe. Today I want to talk a little about what I think is going on, and what we have in common –and what not.

Time Can Run In Two Directions, Physicists Find

Why time passes is one of the biggest mysteries in physics, as the fundamental laws of nature don’t reflect a difference between moving forward and backward in time. In a new paper, researchers have shown that time might actually be able to run in two directions, meaning we might have a twin universe where time runs opposite our universe’s. Let’s take a look.



This video comes with a quiz which you can take here:

Lonely Magnetic Northpoles Could Actually Exist, Physicists Find

Magnets always have two poles. Meaning, if you break a magnet in half, both of those halves will also have two poles. But some physicists think that particles with just one magnetic pole might exist – these theoretical particles are called monopoles. However, up until now, theories have shown that the existence of monopoles would cause a paradox by breaking up indivisible particles. Now, a group of physicists have published a new paper explaining that paradox, and monopoles might be back on the menu. Let’s take a look.

Did Climate Change Actually Make The LA Wildfires Worse?

During the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, the media briefly latched on to a study which apparently blamed climate change for making the blazes more likely to occur and also more intense. But is that really what the study says? Let’s take a look.

Why I think the new quantum gravity theory is wrong

Last year, Jonathan Oppenheim’s theory of post-quantum gravity was the only theory that made it into my Best of 2024 summary. Post-quantum gravity is one of the most interesting theories for merging quantum physics with gravity, which in turn is one of the most important problems in physics. Now, researchers say they’ve come up with a way to test the theory, though technology needs to advance before that test is possible. In this video I explain why I think it’s likely that post-quantum gravity will be falsified.

Microsoft’s Topological Qubits Probably Don’t Exist, Researchers Warn

Two weeks ago, Microsoft made a big splash in the media by claiming that they’d found a way to build a scalable quantum computing platform which could reach one million qubits in a short period of time. They claimed this was possible with the help of a type of topological qubit called Majorana states. But it appears there are several… issues with the company’s published research. I have a quick summary.

I Was Wrong About Geothermal Energy.

In the past, my outlook on geothermal power was… less than optimistic. But times have changed, and geothermal power technology has improved by leaps and bounds in a variety of ways. Today I have a quick update.

Our Universe Has Two Different Sides, Physicists Confirm

Physicists have a lot of questions about our universe. Here’s one more to add to the list: Why is it so asymmetrical? New research has confirmed an anomaly named the Hemispherical Power Asymmetry, which states that the cosmic microwave background has more fluctuations in one side of the universe than the other. The weirdest part about this is that no one even has a theory for why this might be the case.



This video comes with a quiz which you can take here:

Should we defund academia?

In this video I explain why I think that academia will be mostly defunded in the coming decades. In a nutshell it’s because it’s for all practical purposes a planned economy and extremely inefficient. I go through the most common arguments for academia and explain why they all fail.

AI Gets Rapidly Smarter, And Makes Some Of Us Dumber

So much has happened in AI in the past week, it's hard to keep track. Grok-3, Google's AI co-scientist, GPT-5 rumours, and a Microsoft study that says AI is making us stupid -- at least some of us.

Earth’s Magnetic Field has a Hole, and it’s changing

Earth's magnetic field has a hole located over the South Atlantic Ocean. It’s called the South Atlantic Anomaly and according to NASA and the ESA, it’s changing. Could this be a sign that the Earth’s magnetic field is about to flip? I’ve had a look.

No Audible Boom from First Test Flight of Supersonic Passenger Plane

The company Boom Supersonic recently completed the first test flight of the prototype for their supersonic passenger jet. It was the first time since the Concorde flights were discontinued that a civil aeroplane crossed the Mach barrier. According to people who watched the event, no supersonic boom was audible on the ground. Are we close to seeing the return of supersonic passenger flights?

Microsoft Exaggerates Quantum Computing "Breakthrough"

A brief summary of what Microsoft's recent announcement for a topological quantum core, Majorana-1, means -- and doesn't mean.

This New Solution to a Quantum Paradox Can Improve Quantum Computing

Physicists have reexamined a decades old quantum paradox and found a way to make quantum computers more efficient — in 37 dimensions. I set out to understand what this means and here is my best attempt at explaining it.

AI at CERN can reveal how Universe Will End, New Director Says

According to the incoming director of CERN, Mark Thomson, the large hadron collider (LHC) can tell us whether or not the universe will fall apart into pure energy What is he even talking about? I have a brief summary.



This video comes with a quiz which you can take here:



You can now create your own quizzes on my website for any video, just enter the link and GPT will automatically generate questions from the captions.

Trump and Musk Attack Academia

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are in full control of the U.S. government, and they’re using that power to attack “woke” DEI programs and slash federal funding for academic research. Let’s take a look at how those cuts have played out and how they could affect scientific research going forward.

What’s Behind the Nuclear Fusion Startup Backed by Sam Altman?

AI will require lots of energy. So it makes sense that AI supporters would invest millions of dollars into nuclear fusion, the holy grail of clean energy. One fusion startup in particular, Helion Energy, has garnered lots of support – and $1 billion in funding. What’s so special about them? I’ve had a look.

I was asked to keep this confidential

I want to read you an email that I was asked to keep confidential because I think it explains some of my worries about academia.