Quantum Physics and Microbiomes Redefine the Biological Commons
July 11, 2026
Breakthroughs in gauge-theory thermodynamics and quantum space-time are merging with generative antibiotic design to treat the physical universe as a computational substrate. As South Australian algal blooms and tumor-specific microbiomes expose the volatility of biological systems, the integration of histamine-boosted memory and working-memory models signals a shift toward engineering the human cognitive and metabolic environment as a site of technical intervention.
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Mathematics of thermodynamics is being rewritten after 200 years
The laws of physics that concern heat and work could gain a firmer mathematical footing thanks to “gauge theory”, which already helps us understand quantum fields
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Random wobbles in time could finally solve gravity’s greatest mystery
The question of how gravity interacts with the quantum world has long perplexed physicists, but a non-quantum theory of space-time could present an answer
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Consciousness: how ‘working memory’ may mysteriously give rise to it
You know that feeling when you walk into a room and immediately forget why you came in? Maybe you were there to fetch your keys. On your way to the room, you were thinking about grabbing your keys. But once you arrive, your keys have completely disappeared from your mind. This is sometimes known as…
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The allergy culprit histamine also boosts our memory
A drug that raises levels of histamine – the chemical that causes allergy symptoms – in the brain boosts our memory by around 10 per cent
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Largest study yet reveals which cancers have their own microbiomes
For decades, cancer has been thought of as a purely human disease – rogue cells multiplying out of control, with no room for anything else in the picture. But a growing body of research suggests that isn’t quite right. Some tumours, it turns out, come with company: communities of bacteria, viruses a…
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How generative AI and physics can help design new antibiotics
Physics-based simulations can help identify which peptide antibiotics can kill a bacteria like E. coli, pictured here using electron microscopy. (Nurgul D / Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA By 2050, scientists estimate that antibiotic-resistant infections will be associated with more than eight million…
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Does time come from the entire universe running computations?
Explaining the passage of time has been a gnarly problem in physics basically forever, but physicist and computer scientist Stephen Wolfram has a radical proposal for where it comes from. He discussed his ideas on time – and what they mean for free will – with reporter Leah Crane
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The strange metals forcing us to rethink how electricity really works
Some 40 years ago, physicists noticed certain metals were conducting electricity in a bizarre way no one could explain. New answers to how and why this happens are forcing us to question how electricity flows
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The tiny microalgae behind South Australia’s harmful algal bloom is among the most toxic ever tested
Mark Piovesan/Getty Over the past 15 months, one of the country’s worst marine environmental disasters has been unfolding in South Australia. A harmful algal bloom expanded in many coastal seas, killing thousands of fish, birds, shellfish and marine mammals. Even iconic species such as giant cuttlef…
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