Is Information More Fundamental in the Universe than Matter and Energy?

Weekend Feature

Is Information More Fundamental than Matter and Energy? MIT's Edward Fredkin, 88, who saw the Universe as one big computer, dies --The influential M.I.T. professor and an outside-the-box scientific theorist, he gained fame with unorthodox views as a pioneer in digital physics, despite never having graduated from college, reports Alex Williams for The New York Times. "Fredkin’s universe-as-one-giant-computer theory, one science writer explained, was based on the idea that “information is more fundamental than matter and energy.” 

What Is The Truth Behind Alien Conspiracy Theories?--Are aliens real? Is the government trying to cover them up? Learn how these popular alien conspiracy theories have become so fascinating, reports Discover.com.

I’m a physicist. Last week’s gravitational waves announcement that the cosmos is churning with low-frequency gravitational waves sent me reeling, reports Katie Mack, Hawking chair in cosmology and science communication at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the author of “The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)" for The Washington Post. 

Microbes Gained Photosynthesis Superpowers From a ‘Proton Pump’, reports Saugat Bolakhe for Quanta. "The new research found that some phytoplankton are equipped with an extra internal membrane that carries a “proton pump” enzyme that supercharges their ability to convert carbon dioxide into other substances."

A New Map of the Universe, Painted With Cosmic Neutrinos--Physicists finally know where at least some of these high-energy particles come from, which helps make the neutrinos useful for exploring fundamental physics, reports Thomas Lewton for Quanta. "For decades, astrophysicists have sought the origin of these “cosmic” neutrinos. Now, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory has finally collected enough of them to reveal telltale patterns in where they’re coming from."

Did time run slower in the early Universe?--Headlines have blared that quasar ticking confirms that time passed more slowly in the early Universe. That's not how any of this works, reports Ethan Siegel for Big Think.

How Math Achieved Transcendence--Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to understand them, reports David S. Richeson for Quanta. "Mathematicians have introduced new sets of numbers besides the ones used to count, and they have labored to understand their properties."