[HN Gopher] Simple equation predicts the shapes of carbon-captur...
___________________________________________________________________
Simple equation predicts the shapes of carbon-capturing wetlands
Author : mgl
Score : 45 points
Date : 2024-06-02 12:21 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.quantamagazine.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.quantamagazine.org)
| dukeofdoom wrote:
| Everyone should kayak in a wetland at least once in their life.
| It's like going to another world...can recommend.
| datameta wrote:
| I'm not sure if you're referring to peat bogs, which is a more
| apt term for the title. I do however agree, northeastern
| marshlands are an interesting place of biodiversity - I'd like
| to visit the Everglades some day.
| CapitalistCartr wrote:
| The Everglades are not pleasant. Vast swarms of mosquitoes
| decend on any people like a black cloud. They're a vast, flat
| grassland (about 75 miles across and more N-S) full of
| gators, snakes (including rattlers, water moccasins, cotton
| mouths, boas, anacondas), gators, Florida panthers, gators,
| bears, gators. And did I mention crawling with gators?
| tekla wrote:
| Who are you, Archer?
| baerrie wrote:
| I went kayaking through the everglades and despite all that
| it was an incredible experience. Sidling up to an alligator
| the length of the kayak was a particular highlight
| zeckalpha wrote:
| A Poisson!
| jey wrote:
| So what's the equation? Surprised they didn't share it given that
| it's "simple". The paper seems to be paywalled without any
| preprints online that I could find easily[1].
|
| https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=41501709982626263...
| edflsafoiewq wrote:
| I really don't get who Quanta's audience is. They write all
| these articles about, like, recent technical advances in
| mathematical research, but for an audience that apparently
| can't ever be forced to look at, God forbid, an equation.
| magicalhippo wrote:
| I read a lot of Scientific American when I was a young
| teenager. Really loved science, but wouldn't have had enough
| of a background to understand differential equations and
| such.
|
| So I've always imagined a similar target audience for Quanta.
| People who like science but lack any strong math background.
| Might be a plumber, might be a teenager.
| graycat wrote:
| (1) For the audience, yup, uh, _curiosity_ is a likely
| ingredient.
|
| (2) For the _purpose_ , think of the real _cause_ , James
| Simons and his background, e.g., in
|
| May 10, 2024, _Remembering the Life and Careers of Jim
| Simons_ , By Thomas Sumner
|
| at
|
| https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2024/05/10/remembering-
| the-...
|
| So, yup, there is _Quanta_ , but more advanced there is the
| Web site of that article.
|
| For more, there is, as I recall, what he has done with the
| old NYC Flatiron building. Then there are other science/math
| promotion efforts.
|
| (3) For the article mentioned in the OP, uh, just say that it
| is "unusual" for _Quanta_.
|
| One aspect to like: There's a lot of junk in society and on
| the Internet, but _Quanta_ is not part of it.
| magicalhippo wrote:
| Well I mean Einsteins equations[1] of General Relativity are in
| some sense "simple".
|
| I imagine they mean "simple" in a similar sense, given that at
| least one of the previous "too simple" models[2] involves
| repeatedly solving a Laplace equation numerically to search for
| a valid solution.
|
| But yeah, certainly would be nice to include it when you got a
| title like that.
|
| [1]:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_field_equations#Mathe...
|
| [2]: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/114887
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-06-02 23:01 UTC)