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A bow-tie-shaped semiconductor (scanning electron microscope image) produces a laser beam with randomly fluctuating intensity.Credit: Kyungduk Kim
The fastest random-number generator ever
Researchers have built the fastest random-number generator ever made, using a simple laser. It exploits fluctuations in the intensity of light to generate randomness and could lead to devices that are small enough to fit on a single computer chip. True randomness is a coveted resource in applications such as data encryption and scientific simulations, but it is surprisingly difficult to come by.
Scientists want virtual meetings to stay
A year of online research conferences has brought big benefits: a poll of more than 900 Nature readers found that, despite ‘Zoom fatigue’, 74% think scientific meetings should continue to be virtual, or have a virtual component, after the pandemic ends. But respondents also miss networking with colleagues in person.
COVID-19 coronavirus update
Illustration by David Parkins
Animals could be key to our COVID future
Since the coronavirus started spreading around the world, scientists have worried that it could leap from people to animals. If so, it might mutate and then resurge in humans even after the pandemic has subsided. From pet cats to farmed mink, experiments have found many animals that can harbour SARS-CoV-2 and pass it on. “The virus taught us a lesson with mink,” says virologist Linfa Wang. “It said, ‘You guys can never catch me.’”
Bioinformatics bottleneck
Laboratories around the world have sequenced more than 610,000 SARS-CoV-2 samples — a number that could well exceed one million by the end of the pandemic. In theory, these genomes could help us to understand the spread of the virus through communities, allowing us to stall infections. But “our tools are buckling under the pressure when they are most needed”, write molecular epidemiologist Emma Hodcroft and eight colleagues. They outline the phylogenetics upgrades needed to help control the pandemic.
Features & opinion
Illustration by Ori Toor
The rise and risks of robo-writers
The artificial intelligence called GPT-3 boggled onlookers with its ability to convincingly write everything from songs to satire. It can also make silly mistakes, regurgitate negative stereotypes and expose sensitive data that were included in large training sets. Researchers are investigating how to address potentially harmful biases by instilling the models with common sense, causal reasoning or moral judgement. “What we have today,” says computer scientist Yejin Choi, “is essentially a mouth without a brain.”
What even is mathematics
It is the language of science and the descriptor of mysteries, and yet we hardly know where it comes from or where it resides. Do abstract mathematical objects arise from within our minds, from somewhere outside time and space or maybe from the thoughts of a higher being? Writer Alec Wilkinson, who dove into the subject after struggling with it as a youth, tries to pin the tail on the concept.
Image of the week
This is the moment a new iceberg, called A74, broke off from the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The Brunt is the home of the British Antarctic Survey’s Halley VI research station, which is currently uncrewed for the winter. The station is not at risk — it was moved in 2017 out of safety concerns — but two of the base’s GPS monitoring instruments now find themselves on the iceberg and floating out to sea. (BBC | 5 min read)Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
