Nautilus

Can Analogies Reveal the Laws of Physics?

Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog.

So-called “analogue experiments” are becoming increasingly common in physics, but do they teach or mislead?Image by National Institute of Standards and Technology / Wikicommons

oping to gain insight into domains of nature that lie beyond experimental reach—the interiors of black holes, the subtleties of the quantum realm, the Big Bang—physicists are experimenting on “analogue” systems made of fluids and

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Nautilus

Nautilus3 min read
Sardines Are Feeling the Squeeze
Sardines are never solitary. Even in death they are squeezed into a can, three or five to a tin, their flattened forms perfectly parallel. This slick congruity makes sense. In life, sardines are evolved for synchronicity: To avoid and confuse predato
Nautilus9 min read
The Marine Biologist Who Dove Right In
It’s 1969, in the middle of the Gulf of California. Above is a blazing hot sky; below, the blue sea stretches for miles in all directions, interrupted only by the presence of an oceanographic research ship. Aboard it a man walks to the railing, studi
Nautilus8 min readIntelligence (AI) & Semantics
Consciousness, Creativity, and Godlike AI
These days, we’re inundated with speculation about the future of artificial intelligence—and specifically how AI might take away our jobs, or steal the creative work of writers and artists, or even destroy the human species. The American writer Megha

Related Books & Audiobooks