Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, was more than just another mathematician.
Watercolor portrait of Ada King, Countess of Lovelace by Alfred Edward Chalon via Wikimedia
Lovelace was a prodigious math talent who learned from the giants of her time, but her linguistic and creative abilities were also important in her invention of computer programming.
We don’t know how much information the human brain can store.
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To capture the information that a brain contains, you need to cut it into billions and billions of slices.
A digital twin attempts to capture every aspect of a real thing, including up-to-the-moment changes.
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A digital twin is to a computer model as live video is to a still photo. These virtual replicas can be used to understand and make predictions about a wide range of complex systems, including people.
The world wants the pandemic to end and life to return to normal. When will that happen?
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This sort of precision complements health experts’ efforts, helping humans to be more precise and communicate more precisely.
Virtual character may soon be smarter than us.
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If virtual characters can be as smart as humans, having free will, can we kill or harm them?
This electromechanical machine, used in the 1890 U.S. census, was the first automated data processing system.
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As the country grew, each census required greater effort than the last. That problem led to the invention of the punched card – and the birth of an industry.
An illegal coltan mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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As the pandemic pushes healthcare online, it’s time to stop overlooking the environmental impacts.
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Calculating pi with unprecedented accuracy has zero scientific usefulness. But as a show of computing muscle and a mathematical curiosity, it’s endlessly intriguing.
Finding the best tour from A through B, C and D and back to A might not be that hard, but adding a few more destinations could give you a headache.
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The traveling salesperson problem is so difficult that practical solutions can never be perfect – only good enough. The challenge is coming up with the best approximations.
Most of today’s AI’s come to a grinding halt when they encounter unexpected conditions, like a change in the rules of a game.
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Humans often stumble when they encounter the unexpected, but they tend to adapt and move on. Artificial intelligence systems, not so much.
Data centers like this Google facility in Iowa use copious amounts of electricity.
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Training neural networks burns through a lot of energy. As the AI field grows, it’s working to keep its carbon foot print from growing with it.
Computer algorithms can involve complicated math, but the concept of an algorithm is simple.
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A close look at how you decide what clothes to put on in the morning can help you understand how computers work.
Studies show women are perfectly capable of getting the job done.
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The gender gap in computing performance has dramatically narrowed, but a confidence gap remains.
Quantum computers may be more trustworthy.
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Nobody expected that allowing more communication would make computational problems more reliable.
‘Wait till you see the army coming over the hill.’
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How a bunch of wizards and goblins drove a 25-fold explosion in the share price.
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Quantum computers aren’t about to take over, but this is an important milestone.
An employee creates punch cards using information from a filled in 1950 Census Population Form.
U.S. Census Bureau
As the country grew, each census required greater effort than the last. That problem led to the invention of the punched card.
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Innovation in digital technology is accelerating – it has massive untapped potential for tackling the climate crisis.
With its multiple camera lenses, some people may think the new iPhone favours function over form?
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The idea of a phone that can do everything is hardly new. But the premium pricing of Apple’s iPhone 11 begs the question of how far this trend can realistically be taken.
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Manufacturing quantum computers would be a lot easier with existing technology than the exotic components currently used to build them.