Science news and analysis on Web Pulse: 189 curated articles tracking the latest Science developments, tools, and research, updated continuously from vetted sources.
The Intel 8087, introduced in 1980, was a floating-point coprocessor that performed calculations up to 100 times faster than early microprocessors, significantly benefiting IBM PC applications like AutoCAD and spreadshee…
The article, titled "I should stop doing category theory," is a brief, self-reflective piece written on December 1, 2025, in which the author questions the purpose of their work in category theory. The body consists sole…
A team at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory used the Frontier supercomputer to run the largest-ever simulation of the observable universe, tracking over 4 trillion particles across 15 billion light…
BillionToOne, a Y Combinator-backed biotech startup, went public today, becoming the fourth YC biotech company to do so. The company developed a non-invasive prenatal genetic test that analyzes fetal DNA from a mother's …
The article describes how Diné weaver Marilou Schultz created a rug depicting the internal circuitry of the 555 timer integrated circuit, using thick white lines for metallic wiring, a black background for silicon, and r…
The article explains that the compound "Cr2Gr2Te6" is a persistent typo for the real compound Cr2Ge2Te6 (chromium germanium telluride), where "Gr" mistakenly replaces "Ge" (germanium). This error has been copied across m…
A CT scan of Intel's 1986 386 processor revealed that its ceramic package contains six layers of complex internal wiring, including two separate power and ground networks for I/O and CPU logic. The scan also showed nearl…
The article explains the process of reverse engineering an analog integrated circuit using the Philips TDA7000 FM radio receiver chip as an example. It describes how to identify key components like bipolar transistors, r…
A collector discovered an empty chassis labeled "AGC Confirm" in a warehouse, later finding its missing circuit boards in a bag elsewhere, which turned out to be an "Up-Data Link Confidence Test Set" built by Motorola fo…
The Apollo FDAI, or "8-ball," was a critical instrument that displayed the spacecraft's orientation (roll, pitch, and yaw) using a rotating black-and-white ball and guidance needles. The ball could rotate in three axes t…
The article describes the author's discovery and recreation of Thomas Wright's 1742 astronomical poster "Clavis Cælestis," which consists of seven engraved sheets forming a large, detailed view of the universe. It notes …
This project recreates English astronomer Thomas Wright's lesser-known 18th-century astronomical treatise, which covers topics like planetary orbits, refraction, and the laws of motion. For the first time in over 280 yea…
The article explains that the Pentium processor uses microcode, a layer of software underneath machine instructions, to control its circuitry. The Pentium's microcode ROM contains 4,608 micro-instructions, each 90 bits l…
The article describes an 11-month project to restore and digitally present two famous botanical collections by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, *Les Liliacées* and *Les Roses*, which contain 486 and 169 plates respectively. The pr…
Jeff Geerling, a tech content creator, published a video documenting his experience of the total solar eclipse. The article's author recounts driving from Minneapolis to southern Illinois to witness the event, describing…
Complex sociotechnical challenge of counting fish passing through hydroelectric dams, a task the author encountered as a consultant in environmental science. It explains that dam operators must comply with FERC regulatio…
This website is a digital reproduction of John Gould's *A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds*, a landmark ornithological work published in six volumes between 1848 and 1887. The original monograph fe…
Hummingbirds are the closest living descendants of dinosaurs like the *T. rex*, a fact the author discovered while creating a digital edition of John Gould's *A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds*. P…
The article describes a video game called *Firmament*, an interactive novel and RPG set in a future domed society that sustains itself through perfect nanotechnological recycling, guided by a detailed manual for maintain…
This article from Distill explains graph neural networks (GNNs), a family of neural networks designed to operate on graph-structured data like social networks and molecules. It highlights the challenges of computing over…