A stable “exceptional fermionic superfluid,” a new quantum phase that intrinsically hosts singularities known as exceptional points, has been discovered by researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo.
Their analysis of a non-Hermitian quantum model with spin depairing shows that dissipation can actively stabilize a superfluid with these singularities embedded within it. The work reveals how lattice geometry dictates the phase’s stability and provides a path to realizing it in experiments with ultracold atoms.
In the quantum world, open quantum systems are those where particle loss and directional asymmetry are fundamental features. These systems can no longer be described by conventional mathematics.
It took 125 years, but in 2025 a team of mathematicians discovered the solution to a long-puzzling problem about the equations that govern the behaviour of particles in a fluid
David Deutsch didn’t just contribute to the field of quantum computing—he redefined what computation *is*, bridging the gap between physics and information in a way no one had before. By theorizing the universal quantum computer, Deutsch opened the door to possibilities previously confined to science fiction, forever altering our understanding of reality and the limits of what machines can achieve.
Professor John Donoghue explains why quantum physics and gravity actually work perfectly together. He tackles quadratic gravity, effective field theory, and random dynamics, arguing that grand unification and naturalness aren’t required for a theory of everything.
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Edward Witten, widely regarded as one of the greatest living theoretical physicists, sits down with Brian Greene to explore the deepest questions at the frontiers of modern science. From string theory and quantum gravity to black holes, cosmology, and the nature of consciousness, Witten reflects on what physics has revealed—and what remains profoundly mysterious.
The only physicist to receive the Fields Medal, Witten discusses why unifying quantum mechanics and general relativity has proven so difficult, how string theory forces gravity into its framework, and why decades of progress have still not revealed the fundamental principles underlying the theory. He also examines powerful ideas such as duality, extra dimensions, and the controversial anthropic principle, offering rare insight into how physicists grapple with uncertainty at the edge of human understanding.
The conversation moves beyond equations into philosophy, addressing questions about free will, the quantum measurement problem, and whether consciousness plays a role in how reality is observed. Witten reflects candidly on discovery, doubt, beauty in mathematics, and what it feels like to work at the limits of knowledge.
This discussion is essential viewing for anyone interested in theoretical physics, cosmology, quantum theory, and the future of our understanding of the universe. This program is part of the Rethinking Reality series, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.
Participant: Edward Witten. Moderator: Brian Greene.
0:00:00 — Introduction: Free Will, Physics, and the Quest to Unify Reality.
The world is full of such shapes—ones that look flat to an ant living on them, even though they might have a more complicated global structure. Mathematicians call these shapes manifolds. Introduced by Bernhard Riemann in the mid-19th century, manifolds transformed how mathematicians think about space. It was no longer just a physical setting for other mathematical objects, but rather an abstract, well-defined object worth studying in its own right.
This new perspective allowed mathematicians to rigorously explore higher-dimensional spaces—leading to the birth of modern topology, a field dedicated to the study of mathematical spaces like manifolds. Manifolds have also come to occupy a central role in fields such as geometry, dynamical systems, data analysis, and physics.
NOTE: Some folks have mentioned my pronunciation of Gödel is wrong, I do apologize for that.
Any author mulling artificial intelligence as a story element owes it to themselves to encounter this spellbinding, one-of-a-kind book. You also deserve to sit down with it if you’re curious about any number of other SF&F-adjacent topics: mathematics, pattern recognition, the definition of consciousness, the concepts of recursion (finite and infinite)… but most of all, the way profundity can be made to look like pure play.
Imagine if meaning — the elusive essence of language and thought — could be broken down into mathematical building blocks as fundamental as prime numbers. What if computers could “reason” by synchronizing oscillators, much like neurons firing in harmony in our brains?
That’s the bold idea behind TinyAleph, a new framework and library I’ve developed for semantic computing. Unlike today’s AI models that gobble up massive datasets to mimic understanding, TinyAleph grounds meaning in pure math: primes, hypercomplex algebra, and dynamic oscillators.
In this article, I’ll walk you through the core ideas of TinyAleph, stripping away the academic jargon to show why this could be a game-changer for AI, cryptography, and even quantum-inspired simulations. No PhD required — just an open mind.
The simulation hypothesis—the idea that our universe might be an artificial construct running on some advanced alien computer—has long captured the public imagination. Yet most arguments about it rest on intuition rather than clear definitions, and few attempts have been made to formally spell out what “simulation” even means.
A new paper by SFI Professor David Wolpert aims to change that. In Journal of Physics: Complexity, Wolpert introduces the first mathematically precise framework for what it would mean for one universe to simulate another—and shows that several longstanding claims about simulations break down once the concept is defined rigorously.
His results point to a far stranger landscape than previous arguments suggest, including the possibility that a universe capable of simulating another could itself be perfectly reproduced inside that very simulation.
Despite these potential limitations, Lackenby sees AI’s promise in mathematical hypothesis generation. “So many different areas of mathematics are connected to each other, but spotting new connections is really of interest and this process is a good way of seeing new connections that you couldn’t see before,” he said.
Lackenby’s work demonstrates that AI can be helpful in suggesting conjectures that mathematicians can then go on to prove. And despite Saunders’ reservations, Tao thinks AI could be useful in proving existing conjectures.
The most immediate payoff might not be in tackling the hardest problems but in picking off the lowest-hanging fruit, Tao said.
