Archive

Latest Articles

Researchers Tap a Sleep Switch in the Brain

February 14, 2017

Powerful new experiments have uncovered some of the molecular underpinnings of sleep.

The Hidden Twist to Making a Möbius Strip

February 9, 2017

The simple Möbius strip illustrates a deep mathematical challenge that has long tormented the field of symplectic geometry.

A Fight to Fix Geometry’s Foundations

February 9, 2017

When two mathematicians raised pointed questions about a classic proof that no one really understood, they ignited a years-long debate about how much could be trusted in a new kind of geometry.

Experiment Reaffirms Quantum Weirdness

February 7, 2017

Physicists are closing the door on an intriguing loophole around the quantum phenomenon Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.”

Q&A

To Live Your Best Life, Do Mathematics

February 2, 2017

The ancient Greeks argued that the best life was filled with beauty, truth, justice, play and love. The mathematician Francis Su knows just where to find them.

How Life Turns Asymmetric

January 31, 2017

Scientists are uncovering how our bodies — and everything within them — tell right from left.

Solution: ‘How Many Half-Lives?’

January 27, 2017

When do negative results from a half-life experiment mean a theory is dead?

How Life (and Death) Spring From Disorder

January 26, 2017

Life was long thought to obey its own set of rules. But as simple systems show signs of lifelike behavior, scientists are arguing about whether this apparent complexity is all a consequence of thermodynamics.

How Viruses May Have Led to Complex Life

January 24, 2017

Without viruses, we might never have evolved.

Get highlights of the most important news delivered to your email inbox