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The first Irises of the year, glorious reminders that “life will find a way”. View in LinkedIn

QUANTUM COMPLEXITY. “The quantum-mechanical computation of one molecule of methane requires 10(42) grid points. Assuming that at each point we have to perform only 10 elementary operations, and that the computation is performed at the extremely low temperature T = 3 × 10(-3) K, we would still have to use all the energy produced on Earth during the last century.” R. P. Poplavskii (1975)[Pop75], as quoted by Manin https://lnkd.in/dif7Y_D View in LinkedIn

COLDEST PLANET. “At a temperature of just 50 degrees above absolute zero – -223°C – OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb snatches the title of the coldest planet.” https://lnkd.in/darr44x View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues from last weekend and ends this weekend on the theme of modular metabolism. The realization that many systems in biology are modular is relatively recent. Somewhere between computer programming and engineering the ideas of modular efficiencies seeped into biology, and their impact has been powerful. Nature benefits from modular design because living structures are the most complex structures in the universe, and any pathway that can make their construction — and inevitable modification during development or evolution — less difficult is an obvious energetic advantage. View in LinkedIn

Sorry, at it again, peeking into Girona courtyards. View in LinkedIn

NO STATIC NEWTONIAN STRUCTURE. “The statement that there’s nothing outside the universe — there’s no observer outside the universe — implies that we need a formulation of physics without background structure.” (Lee Smolin, physicist). https://lnkd.in/dFmyVd7 View in LinkedIn

MORE ON NEPTUNE WINDS. “Neptune has the strongest winds in the Solar System. Winds whip clouds of frozen methane across the planet at speeds of more than 1,200 miles per hour (2,000 kilometers per hour). This is close to the top speed of a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet! The most powerful winds on Earth reach only about 250 miles per hour (400 kilometers per hour). https://lnkd.in/ddpsRdK View in LinkedIn