Jacob Aron

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Jacob Aron

Breaking Down the Trump Administration’s Most Insidious LieDonald Trump tells so many lies that it is impossible to keep track. Of course, not all of them are equal. Some of them are really bad and impactful, …

1 week ago | newscientist.com | Jacob Aron

“Only atoms and the void are real,” said the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus. “Well, actually, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Atoms can also be waves, the void is made up of fields and everyone is going to need to start using the word ‘quantum’ all the time.”OK, he said only the first bit. Democritus pioneered atomism – the idea that everything in the universe can be divided into atoms, which can then be divided no further.

1 month ago | internazionale.it | Jacob Aron

Chi è stato il primo a calcolare il pi greco? Il primo a capire che dividendo la circonferenza di un cerchio per il suo diametro si ottiene sempre lo stesso numero, cioè poco più di tre? Non lo sapremo mai con certezza, ma c’è motivo di credere che sia vissuto circa quattromila anni fa. Partiamo dagli antichi egizi.

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Jacob Aron

ProofAdam Kucharski (Profile Books (UK) Basic Books (US, 6 May))I have something of a reputation as a party-pooper in the office. At our weekly meeting to discuss the latest and greatest ideas in science, colleagues will eagerly describe some incredible new theory or spectacular find, then sit back to field questions. I can already hear the groans before I open my mouth to say: “Yes, but what is the actual evidence?”I don’t do this because I enjoy shooting down ideas (OK, maybe I do…

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Jacob Aron

Who was the first person to calculate pi? The first person to realise that, hang on, when you divide the circumference of a circle by its diameter, you always seem to get the same number, namely slightly more than 3? We will never know exactly, of course, but it is a reasonable assumption that they lived about 4000 years ago. Let’s start with the ancient Egyptians. A papyrus dated to around 1550 BC, which appears to be a maths textbook of sorts, give examples for…