All posts tagged: rewritten

Mathematics of thermodynamics is being rewritten after 200 years

Mathematics of thermodynamics is being rewritten after 200 years

Comparing thermodynamics to marbles and their shadows offers a new way to study the famous theory Priscila Zambotto/Getty Images The theory of thermodynamics has helped us understand devices like engines for more than 200 years, but its mathematical foundations have always been a little too imprecise. Now, researchers are putting the famous theory on a firmer footing, with mathematics more commonly used to describe quantum fields. Among all branches of physics, thermodynamics is among the easiest to connect to everyday life. This is because its development was driven in part by engineers looking to understand and maximise the efficiency of heat engines, which are idealised devices that model a wide range of familiar technologies, including car engines and refrigerators. But although thermodynamics is a very successful theory, it has historically lacked mathematical rigour, says Bryan Roberts at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has set out to rebuild it based on mathematical ideas that draw on geometry and quantum field theory, a notable departure from how thermodynamics has long been understood and …

Eva Gonzalès’s Legacy Is Being Rewritten Through a Catalogue Raisonné

Eva Gonzalès’s Legacy Is Being Rewritten Through a Catalogue Raisonné

The French painter Eva Gonzalès, much like her mentor, Édouard Manet, did not personally identify as an Impressionist, nor did she participate in the group’s exhibitions.  Her velvety brushstrokes were faithful to the human form, indulged no illusion of perspective, and stated a belief that the female mind was a landscape in its own right—wild, deep, and worthy of veneration. In her 1874 A Loge at the Théâtre des Italiens, an operagoer, one glove missing, leans over a banister, fair skin radiant against the void.   Related Articles Yet search Gonzalès online and she is almost always grouped with three female contemporaries—Mary Cassatt, Marie Bracquemond, and Berthe Morisot—as painters of unmistakably Impressionist sensibility. They were even billed as the “Four Grandes Dames” in a major 2024 survey tied to the anniversary of the movement at the National Gallery of Ireland. The misnomer has defined, and confined, the painter’s legacy in the nearly two centuries after her death.  Maybe it’s a willful misreading, driven by museum sales or the consequences of woefully outdated scholarship, since Gonzalès’s sole catalogue raisonné appeared in 1990. An update is long overdue, according to the Wildenstein Plattner Institute (WPI), a leading publisher of digital catalogues raisonnés specializing in European artists active from the 18th through the 20th centuries. Last month, …

How Anthropic’s Mythos has rewritten Firefox’s approach to cybersecurity

How Anthropic’s Mythos has rewritten Firefox’s approach to cybersecurity

When Anthropic unveiled its new Mythos model in April, it also delivered a stern warning to anyone developing software. The model was so powerful at sniffing out software vulnerabilities, the lab claimed, that it had discovered thousands of high-severity bugs that would need to be fixed before it could be made public. Now, security researchers for Mozilla’s Firefox browser are providing a closer look at what that process has looked like in practice, and what Mythos’ powers mean for software security at large. In a post published on Thursday, Mozilla said Mythos has unearthed a wealth of high-severity bugs, including some that had lain dormant in the code for more than a decade. That’s a significant improvement from what AI security tools were capable of even six months ago. Until now, AI bug-finding tools have come with severe drawbacks, often inundating security teams with low quality reports and false positives. But Mozilla’s researchers say the latest generation of tools have turned a corner, particularly now that agentic systems can assess their own work and filter …

Has Gen X Retirement Been Rewritten?

Has Gen X Retirement Been Rewritten?

There was always a mental picture: You work hard through your peak earning years, the kids grow up and find their footing, and then, finally, you exhale. Early retirement wasn’t just a financial milestone. It was a sequencing promise. A reward for playing the long game. Gen X played the long game. And many are now reaching the moment they planned for, only to discover that the world their children are stepping into looks nothing like the one they planned around. That mismatch is quietly reshaping one of the biggest life transitions adults face. The Map Ran Out Previous generations could hand their children a rough map. It wasn’t guaranteed, but it was legible. Education led to work, work led to stability, stability led to independence. Parents could reasonably picture where their kids were headed, which made it easier, eventually, to let go. That map has become harder to read. Artificial intelligence is transforming industries faster than career counselors can track, and the jobs emerging on the other side don’t yet have clear entry points. …

Are You a Starseed? The Search for Meaning, Rewritten

Are You a Starseed? The Search for Meaning, Rewritten

Inside a growing spiritual movement built around awakening, ascension and the search for something bigger At a packed conference in Los Angeles, thousands of people gathered to explore a different way of understanding reality — through crystals, energy healing and the belief that some humans didn’t originate on Earth. They’re called starseeds: people who believe they were sent here from other planets to help humanity “ascend” to a higher dimension. According to our guest RNS reporter Kathryn Post, it might sound fringe. But the deeper you go, the more familiar the underlying search begins to feel. Because the people drawn to this world aren’t so different from anyone else. They’re looking for meaning, for purpose, for a way to make sense of suffering. And increasingly, they’re finding those answers online — through influencers, shared language and communities that have no central authority. But as these beliefs spread, they’re also evolving — in some cases, blending with conspiracy theories about hidden elites, cosmic battles and the end of the world as we know it. So, what …