On November 5, 2025, two new images of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS were released. They show a compact source of light without a clear cometary tail. The coma is not very different in morphology than its appearance in the Hubble Space Telescope on July 21, 2025 (accessible here).
This is surprising in view of NASA’s JPL report here of a non-gravitational acceleration — normalized at a heliocentric value of 1 au:
1. A radial acceleration away from the Sun of 1.1x10^{-6} au per day squared.
Reports from the Minor Planet Center (here) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (here) just released new data on the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS following its perihelion passage on October 29, 2025. The new data covers the period between October 31 and November 4.
When compared to previous data obtained on October 5–8, it appears that 3I/ATLAS brightened by a factor of ~5 in the Green-band which is centered at a wavelength of 0.464 micrometers.
The value of the non-gravitational acceleration was reduced by a third relative to the value reported on October 29. This reduction is within the uncertainties. The net detection is now more robust, standing at a level of 3.7 standard deviations.
A research team led by Professor Sanghyeon Choi from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at DGIST has successfully developed a memristor, which is gaining recognition as a next-generation semiconductor device, through mass-integration at the wafer scale.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, proposes a new technological platform for implementing a highly integrated AI semiconductor replicating the human brain, overcoming the limitations of conventional semiconductors.
The human brain contains about 100 billion neurons and around 100 trillion synapses, allowing it to store and process enormous amounts of information within a compact space.
Perhaps no existential question looms larger than that of our ultimate cosmic origins. At long last, science has provided the answers.
A question that has vexed physicists for the past century may finally have a solution – but perhaps not the one everyone was hoping for.
In a new, detailed breakdown of current theory, a team of physicists led by Mir Faizal of the University of British Columbia has shown that there is no universal “Theory of Everything” that neatly reconciles general relativity with quantum mechanics – at least, not an algorithmic one.
A natural consequence of this is that the Universe can’t be a simulation, since any such simulations would have to operate algorithmically.
Behind the Sun, the comet appears to show signs of acceleration beyond what is expected by gravity. And for reasons not yet clear, it appears to have changed color.
Full episode with Michael Levin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8iFtaltX-s.
As a listener of TOE you can get a special 20% off discount to The Economist and all it has to offer! Visit https://www.economist.com/toe.
Join My New Substack (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com.
Listen on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE
Become a YouTube Member (Early Access Videos):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join.
Support TOE on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal.
