Computers aren't very good at generating truly random data, and often need some input from the physical world.

But prime numbers are predictable, and scientists push our growing list of primes into new territory every day. In this ...

Tracking the twitch of a mouse cursor. Converting lava lamp motion into data. These are just a few ways real-world randomness is generated—essential for things like lotteries and Internet ...

A quantum machine has used entangled qubits to generate a number certified as truly random for the first time, demonstrating a handy function that's physically beyond even the most powerful ...

One unusual approach to random number generation involves lava lamps. By using an algorithm, the complex patterns of lava lamps can be recorded and, by visual data changed into a random number.

Classical computers cannot generate truly random numbers. There are some truly out-there solutions for dealing with that limitation, such as encrypting data using lava lamps (we are not kidding).

Cloudflare, a company that provides cybersecurity services uses a wall of lava lamps in its headquarters to generate true randomness for secure encryption. The unpredictable motion of the lava inside ...

Mel is somewhere on some spectrum, owning a collection of quiet tics that cause her to occasionally secret herself in the stairwell to soothe herself with an iPhone video of a lava lamp.