Shrinking Planets Could Explain Mystery of Universe’s Missing Worlds

 Simons Foundation, May 2021

There’s been a breakthrough in the case of the missing planets. While planet-hunting missions have discovered thousands of worlds orbiting distant stars, there’s a severe scarcity of exoplanets that measure between 1.5 and two times Earth’s radius. That’s the middle ground between rocky super-Earths and larger, gas-shrouded planets called mini-Neptunes. Since discovering this ‘radius gap’ in 2017, scientists have been sleuthing out why there are so few midsize heavenly bodies.

Quanta Magazine’s ‘The Joy of x’ Podcast Returns for Second Season

 Simons Foundation, February 2021

Quanta Magazine announces the return of “The Joy of x,” its must-listen science podcast about the pursuit of the unknown, the thrill of discovery, and the heartbreak and frustration along the way. In each of the show’s episodes, host and mathematician Steve Strogatz shares an intimate conversation with one of the world’s leading scientists. Topics range from the promise of quantum computing to hearing you’ve won a Nobel Prize while still dripping wet from a shower.

Astrophysicist Blakesley Burkhart Named a 2021 Sloan Research Fellow

 Simons Foundation, February 2021

Blakesley Burkhart, an associate research scientist at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics, has been awarded a 2021 Sloan Research Fellowship by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. These fellowships “recognize and reward outstanding early-career faculty who have the potential to revolutionize their fields of study.”

Astrophysicist Rachel Somerville Named a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society

 Simons Foundation, February 2021

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) has inducted Rachel Somerville as a legacy fellow. The honor recognizes her “contributions toward the society’s mission of enhancing and sharing humanity’s scientific understanding of the universe.” Somerville leads the Galaxy Formation group at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) in New York City.

Eero Simoncelli Leads New Center for Computational Neuroscience

 Simons Foundation, January 2021

The Simons Foundation is delighted to announce the launch of the Center for Computational Neuroscience (CCN) within the foundation’s Flatiron Institute in New York City. The new center, led by computational neuroscientist Eero Simoncelli, will use and develop computational models to understand how brains work. The CCN joins existing Flatiron Institute centers devoted to computational problems in astrophysics, biology, mathematics and quantum physics.

Mathematics Explains How Giant Whirlpools Form in Developing Egg Cells

 Simons Foundation, January 2021

Egg cells are among the largest cells in the animal kingdom. If moved only by the random jostlings of water molecules, a protein could take hours or even days to drift from one side of a forming egg cell to the other. Luckily, nature has developed a faster way: cell-spanning whirlpools in the immature egg cells of animals such as mice, zebrafish and fruit flies. These vortices enable cross-cell commutes that take just a fraction of the time. But until now, scientists didn’t know how these crucial flows formed.