A new kind of network is emerging. One that could enable ultra-secure communication, safeguarded by the laws of physics. As the race to build a quantum internet accelerates, nations are vying for digital sovereignty and want to be the first to build the unbreakable internet.

Sloan Foundation president Adam Falk is stepping down this year after seven years leading the iconic organization. He spoke with FirstPrinciples about how the foundation’s philosophy has given it an outsized impact on scientific progress.

From rule-based ‘expert systems’ to neural networks, AI has long chased the dream of scientific reasoning. But while today’s models are good at pattern matching and can generate code or summarize academic papers, they struggle with the heart of scientific discovery: structured reasoning.

Physicists are finding new ways of looking at old problems – and (very) old ways of looking at new problems.