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Abstractions blog

an animation showing wavelets at different scales travel across a space
applied math

How Wavelets Allow Researchers to Transform, and Understand, Data

By Alexander Hellemans
October 13, 2021
Read Later

Built upon the ubiquitous Fourier transform, the mathematical tools known as wavelets allow unprecedented analysis and understanding of continuous signals.

Nobel Prize

Chemistry Nobel Prize Honors Technique for Building Molecules

By Jordana Cepelewicz
October 6, 2021
Read Later

Benjamin List and David MacMillan received the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of asymmetrical organocatalysis.

Nobel Prize

Work on Earth’s Climate and Other Complex Systems Earns Nobel Prize in Physics

By Natalie Wolchover
October 5, 2021
Read Later

Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann have been honored for their work that led to reliable predictions of the effects of climate change. They will share the Nobel with Giorgio Parisi, who has made pioneering studies of chaotic physical systems.

Nobel Prize

Medicine Nobel Prize Goes to Temperature and Touch Discoveries

By Jordana Cepelewicz
October 4, 2021
Read Later

David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian were awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of how we detect heat and touch.

Illustration showing yellow and green shapes over a blue background
topology

In Topology, When Are Two Shapes the Same?

By Kevin Hartnett
September 28, 2021
Read Later

As topologists seek to classify shapes, the effort hinges on how to define a manifold and what it means for two of them to be equivalent.

Colorful illustration in which a sphere divided into four quadrants is surrounded by spheres divided into halves and thirds.]
particle physics

‘Impossible’ Particle Discovery Adds Key Piece to the Strong Force Puzzle

By Charlie Wood
September 27, 2021
Read Later

The unexpected discovery of the double-charm tetraquark has given physicists a new tool with which to hone their understanding of the strongest of nature’s fundamental forces.

combinatorics

Mathematician Answers Chess Problem About Attacking Queens

By Leila Sloman
September 21, 2021
Read Later

The n-queens problem is about finding how many different ways queens can be placed on a chessboard so that none attack each other. A mathematician has now all but solved it.

A detailed photo of a fruit fly wing in silhouette.
developmental biology

Mathematical Analysis of Fruit Fly Wings Hints at Evolution’s Limits

By Elena Renken
September 20, 2021
Read Later

A painstaking study of wing morphology shows both the striking uniformity of individuals in a species and a subtle pattern of linked variations that evolution can exploit.

number theory

How Ancient War Trickery Is Alive in Math Today

By Lakshmi Chandrasekaran
September 14, 2021
Read Later

Legend says the Chinese military once used a mathematical ruse to conceal its troop numbers. The technique relates to many deep areas of modern math research.


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