How to test whether we're living in a computer simulation

Physicists have long struggled to explain why the universe started out with conditions suitable for life to evolve. Why do the physical laws and constants take the very specific values that allow stars, planets and ultimately ...

Basketball Mathematics scores big at inspiring kids to learn

New study with 756 first through fifth graders demonstrates that a six-week mashup of hoops and math has a positive effect on their desire to learn more, provides them with an experience of increased self-determination and ...

Microscopic wormholes possible in theory

Wormholes play a key role in many science fiction films—often as a shortcut between two distant points in space. In physics, however, these tunnels in spacetime have remained purely hypothetical. An international team led ...

Words matter when math teachers describe student learning

Think back to math class in elementary school. Do you remember being assigned to a "high," "middle" or "low" group? If so, you'll relate to a new study from North Carolina State University on the importance of how teachers ...

New software models for understanding neutrinos

Neutrinos are neutral elementary particles created by nuclear reactions such as those in our Sun and other stars. EU researchers sought to advance our understanding of their interactions in deep space with new mathematical ...

Understanding basic concepts in spatial measurement

In a first or second grade classroom, a teacher asks students to take a ruler and measure (in inches) the length of a rectangular block. A student aligns the "0 inch" mark of the ruler with the end of the block, and counts ...

Quarks 'swing' to the tones of random numbers

At the Large Hadron Collider at CERN protons crash into each other at incredibly high energies in order to 'smash' the protons and to study the elementary particles of nature - including quarks. Quarks are found in each proton ...

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