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Some Physicists See Signs of Cosmic Strings From the Big Bang
Subtle aberrations in the clockwork blinking of stars could become “the result of the century.” That’s if the distortions are produced by a network of giant filaments left over from the birth of the universe.
Reasons Revealed for the Brain’s Elastic Sense of Time
New research finds that the subjective experience of time is linked to learning, thwarted expectations and neural fatigue.
At the Math Olympiad, Computers Prepare to Go for the Gold
Computer scientists are trying to build an AI system that can win a gold medal at the world’s premier math competition.
How Mathematical ‘Hocus-Pocus’ Saved Particle Physics
Renormalization has become perhaps the single most important advance in theoretical physics in 50 years.
A New Algorithm for Graph Crossings, Hiding in Plain Sight
Two computer scientists found — in the unlikeliest of places — just the idea they needed to make a big leap in graph theory.
A New Cosmic Tension: The Universe Might Be Too Thin
Cosmologists have concluded that the universe doesn’t appear to clump as much as it should. Could both of cosmology’s big puzzles share a single fix?
Mathematicians Report New Discovery About the Dodecahedron
Three mathematicians have resolved a fundamental question about straight paths on the 12-sided Platonic solid.
Computer Scientists Attempt to Corner the Collatz Conjecture
A powerful technique called SAT solving could work on the notorious Collatz conjecture. But it’s a long shot.
Can Vaccines for Wildlife Prevent Human Pandemics?
Studies suggest that self-disseminating vaccines could prevent the “spillover” of animal viruses into humans as pandemic diseases.