June 21, 2023: Remarkable einstein tiles, El Niño returns and what could have gone wrong with that tourist sub. Read it all below! —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Have you heard of an einstein tile? If you used einstein-shaped tiles to cover your bathroom floor—or any flat surface, even if infinitely large—they would fit together perfectly but never form a repeating pattern. David Smith, a math hobbyist in Yorkshire, England, has discovered a single 13-sided shape that appears to be a true einstein (from the German for "one stone").
Why this is cool: For decades mathematicians have been hunting for an aperiodic (non-repeating) tile of only one shape; they experimented with sets of more than 20,000 tiles and then whittled that to 103 and then to two. And that's where the work has stood for more than 50 years.
What the experts say: "That's why it was so startling that not only was this found, but it's such a simple tile," says Doris Schattschneider, a retired mathematician affiliated with Moravian University who has expertise in tessellations. "To me, it's a total anomaly." | | | This einstein tile is made up of right-angled kite shapes. Credit: David Smith, Joseph Samuel Myers, Craig S. Kaplan and Chaim Goodman-Strauss (CC BY-SA 4.0) | | | Extreme Weather on the Way |
Why this matters: Because it influences how air circulates in the atmosphere, El Niño can cause profound changes in weather all over the world, from drought in Southeast Asia to flooding in eastern Africa to the tamping down of hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean.
What the experts say: El Niño will most certainly ratchet up global temperatures as its signature warm ocean waters release warm air into the atmosphere. But the global average ocean temperature was already setting records before El Niño was declared, says Michelle L'Heureux, a forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center. "That's pretty bonkers." | | | Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, styled by Scientific American | | | • Courts and the public are skeptical of sexual assault survivors who don't react violently to assault, placing a double burden on them. "Why didn't you fight back?" is an impossible standard to demand, writes Adam Galinsky, a professor at Columbia Business School. However, such lack of action is a typical response to sexual assault, he says. | 5 min read | | | • Cultural ecologist David Abram poetically considers the dynamics between migrating animals and Earth (for a real treat, listen to Abram narrate this essay). | Emergence Magazine | | | • OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has lobbied behind the scenes to soften some of the most significant elements of the E.U.'s proposed AI regulation. | Time | | | • Prolific book editor Robert Gottlieb died last week. This remarkable 1994 compendium weaves together his thoughts on editing, and includes commentary by the authors he worked with. | The Paris Review | | | Shout out to Juan Gonzalez, who was the first reader to email me the correct response to our little trivia question in yesterday's newsletter, defining the Rankine Scale as a measurement of: Temperature (in Fahrenheit). Gonzalez has been a loyal reader of Scientific American since high school in the late 1970s! It's always a joy to meet our most devoted fans. Thanks to all who emailed with their answers--you are a smart bunch. | Reach out anytime at newsletters@sciam.com with your thoughts and feedback on Today in Science. See you tomorrow! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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