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Who is researching and shaping science is more crucial than ever

19 July 2023

It is hard to focus on getting academic work done when there is increasing hostility in the US to people of colour. This is why being awarded tenure matters, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

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The massive problem of trying to fully explain what mass actually is

21 June 2023

I can take it as a given that people have an intuition for the meaning of mass, but traditional explanations can feel unsatisfactory. Even the standard model doesn't give us all the answers, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

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Questions I dread: How did the universe begin, and what is space-time?

24 May 2023

As a theoretical cosmologist, you would think I'd welcome the chance to answer these questions - but it isn't clear this is an inquiry that physics can answer, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

How can we prove the world is really quantum mechanical?

26 April 2023

A 2021 paper has got physicists discussing whether our inability to use classical physics to describe reality on a quantum scale is a human failing - and what proof is necessary to show that the world really is quantum mechanical, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

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Why space scientists need science fiction

29 March 2023

Carl Sagan's novel Contact, in which Ellie Arroway searches for alien intelligence, has been an inspiration and a guide, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

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Why uncertainty is part of science - especially quantum mechanics

1 March 2023

Quantum mechanics had a disordered beginning in the 1920s, and is still developing today. Science is rarely a done deal, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

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Why the most important topic in physics could be statistical mechanics

1 February 2023

Statistical mechanics helps relate the quantum world to objects that seem solid and not governed by the whims of observation, but there are still questions to be answered, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

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Physicists should take time to ponder the strangest ideas

4 January 2023

There are other ways to explain wave-particle duality than Albert Einstein's, but we don't teach them. Excluding the conceptual challenges of quantum mechanics from the classroom limits our students, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

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Is our evolving relationship with tech shifting our view of reality?

14 December 2022

This year saw the launch of ChatGPT, an AI that anyone can converse with, and the news that a quantum computer simulated a wormhole. Are our sensibilities about what is real changing, asks Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

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The blessing and the curse of the axion’s rise in US particle physics

23 November 2022

Since the Large Hadron Collider turned up nothing in its search for supersymmetry, physicists have turned their attention to the axion, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a self-described superfan of this hypothetical particle