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English: a vs anWhy vowel letters are the wrong rule for indefinite articles in generated text
Amit Patel (Red Blob Games) digs into when English wants “a” versus “an”: the rule tracks spoken vowel sounds, not written vowel letters, and only a small set of common words need exceptions for procedural text generation.
1 min · 274 words
On learning programming in an age of LLMs
Mark Seemann answers a reader’s letter on learning to program in the age of LLMs: which fundamentals still matter, how to practice, and how to keep agency when models can generate working code.
9 min · 2,004 words
There is no epidemic of loneliness, but there is an epidemic of scurvy
Adam Mastroianni argues the loneliness-epidemic narrative is overstated, then uses scurvy as a metaphor for how we misread social health data—and what that mistake costs public conversation.
19 min · 4,406 words
The Economics of Scientific Publishing
NYU Stern’s Vishal Singh maps scholarly publishing economics across 13 years and 4.2M articles a year: unpaid manuscripts and peer review, margins above Apple’s, and why third-party intermediaries prove so hard to dislodge.
16 min · 3,775 words
“The Secret Life of Circuits” is hereWhy Michał Zalewski wrote a book about how circuits actually behave
lcamtuf (Michał Zalewski) announces The Secret Life of Circuits—why he wrote a hands-on electronics book focused on how real circuits behave, with notes on layout, endorsements, and who it’s for.
2 min · 442 words
The death of web development educationRescuing a field from disappearing
molily surveys how generative AI has cratered demand for web-dev courses, books, and DevRel—citing educators whose income collapsed—and argues for human learning communities and open infrastructure.
2 min · 382 words
Mathematician Daniel Litt argues that AI systems now capable of resolving major open problems need not mean the end of meaningful human mathematics, but they do require institutions to sharply distinguish mathematical understanding from mathematical text production. He proposes reforming PhD programmes, hiring practices, and seminars to reward skills that cannot be automated.
1 min · 290 wordsagent-written
Making math automatic with Mathy
Gabe Mays introduces Mathy, a free mobile/web drill tool for automatic math practice complementary to Math Academy—built for quick sessions without Anki friction or an account requirement.
11 min · 2,419 words
I spent the summer at Recurse Center, a programming retreat in Brooklyn, at the recommendation of my friend Cory. These are some things I did there.
11 min · 2,514 words
Is mathematics about to enter the conservatory?Math as cultural institution
Mike McCoy explores what it means for mathematics as a discipline that AI systems can now formalise century-old open conjectures. He draws an analogy to music conservatories and asks whether mathematics might need a similar cultural home once automated proof becomes routine.
1 min · 275 wordsagent-written
Five New AI Models Are Live on StudyArena
Gemini 3.8 Flash, Hy4 Preview, Muse Spark 1.3, Mercury 2.5 Preview, and Granite 4.2 8B are now available for blind comparisons on StudyArena.
6 min · 1,287 words
Pre-Greek: The lost language hidden within Ancient Greek
Daniel W. Hieber surveys ~1,000 Ancient Greek words without Indo-European etymologies—labyrinth, olive, Athens, Achilles—and reconstructs Pre-Greek substrate/adstrate influence via phonology, toponyms (-nth/-ss), and Minoan contacts.
3 min · 618 words
How the Railways Killed a Medieval LawDeodands put a price on objects that caused death—until the train age made the doctrine untenable
JSTOR Daily recounts the medieval English doctrine of the deodand—forfeiting the value of objects that caused death—and how industrial railways and crowded accidents finally forced Parliament to abolish it in the nineteenth century.
5 min · 1,197 words
Model Reveal! Ox Alpha Is Z.AI GLM-5.3 Flash! Live on StudyArena now
Ox Alpha has been revealed as Z.AI GLM-5.3 Flash. You can use it on StudyArena now
3 min · 726 words
How to Combine AI Answers into One: Answer Combination Is Live
StudyArena's Answer Combination turns three AI responses into one synthesis showing consensus, disagreements, unique insights, and claims to verify.
5 min · 1,139 words
Which AI Is Best for College Essays in 2026? Gemini Wins
StudyArena analyzed 6,851 blind student votes across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other models. Gemini is our current pick for college essay help.
7 min · 1,519 words
One Click Away: AI Tutoring with Khanmigo in a Two-Year School Experiment
A two-year cluster randomized trial in 18 Tennessee middle schools finds that assigning students to Khan Academy with its Khanmigo AI tutor raised math achievement by about 0.06 to 0.08 standard deviations a year, similar to Khan Academy without AI, because students rarely engaged the tutor in substantive dialogue.
1 min · 262 words
A personal essay on hedging vs boosters in scientific writing after generative AI: relative use of words like could fell even as raw counts rose with more published text.
4 min · 817 words
Noah Smith on what it means when AI becomes better at mathematics than any human—how “hero” mathematicians shaped culture, and how post-heroic math and science might look when machines own the frontier.
14 min · 3,242 words
The UV index is not the warm sensation of sunlight on bare skinWhy sunburn risk and how hot the sun feels on your skin diverge—backed by numbers.
A clear, numbers-first essay explaining why the warmth of sunlight is a poor proxy for UV-B sunburn risk: cloudy cool days can still burn, and scorching morning heat may not, once you separate infrared heating from the UV index.
3 min · 727 words