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Mirroring the mechanisms that make human faces and bodies — and those of many multicellular organisms — symmetrical, bee colonies build symmetrical nests when they are placed on either side of a double-sided comb. The finding, published in Current Biology by U.S. National Science Foundation-supported researchers, extends examples of symmetry in biology to the behavior of communities and the architectural structures that they build.
In addition to the simple beauty of the mirrored combs, nest symmetry also helps the colonies adapt better. For example, two-sided nests grow more quickly, rear more brood and have a more stable thermal environment than one-sided nests.
“Akin to the location of plumbing in the construction of an apartment building, which often results in mirrored kitchens or bathrooms across apartments, bees originate their colonies based on a heat source, and thermal cues drive colony organization,” said Michael L. Smith, corresponding author on the publication and assistant professor in the department of biological sciences at Auburn University. “Heat cues direct where the nest is initiated and where the queen begins laying eggs, but the entire nest is symmetrical, including their pollen and honey stores.”
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Tech companies have been funneling billions of dollars into quantum computers for years. The hope is that they’ll be a game changer for fields as diverse as finance, drug discovery, and logistics.
Those expectations have been especially high in physics and chemistry, where the weird effects of quantum mechanics come into play. In theory, this is where quantum computers could have a huge advantage over conventional machines.
But while the field struggles with the realities of tricky quantum hardware, another challenger is making headway in some of these most promising use cases. AI is now being applied to fundamental physics, chemistry, and materials science in a way that suggests quantum computing’s purported home turf might not be so safe after all.
The scale and complexity of quantum systems that can be simulated using AI is advancing rapidly, says Giuseppe Carleo, a professor of computational
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In-brief analysis
November 7, 2024
In our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that electricity generation from U.S. hydropower plants in 2024 will be 13% less than the 10-year average, the least amount of electricity generated from hydropower since 2001. Extreme and exceptional drought conditions have been affecting different parts of the United States, especially the Pacific Northwest, which is home to most U.S. hydropower capacity.
As of the end of September, 72.6% of the continental United States was experiencing dryer-than-normal to exceptional drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. By the end of October, this value increased to 87.2%. Multiple regions are affected by drought conditions, but the effects on hydropower generation are more obvious in the Pacific Northwest. For example, a recent study conducted by the University of Alabama found that hydropower generation
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Transcript for MMWR Telebriefing: Evidence of Recent H5 Bird Flu Infections among Dairy Workers and CDC Guidance Updates
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