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New Earthquake Math Predicts How Destructive They’ll Be
The “pinball” model of a slipping fault line borrows from the mathematics of avalanches.
John Conway Solved Mathematical Problems With His Bare Hands
The legendary mathematician, who died on April 11, was curious, colorful and one of the greatest problem-solvers of his generation.
The Computer Scientist Who Can’t Stop Telling Stories
For pioneering computer scientist Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression.
Neutrino Asymmetry Passes Critical Threshold
The first official evidence of a key imbalance between neutrinos and antineutrinos provides one of the best clues for why the universe contains something rather than nothing.
Some Animals Have No Microbiome. Here’s What That Tells Us.
To stay healthy, humans and some other animals rely on a complex community of bacteria in their guts. But research is starting to show that those partnerships might be more the exception than the rule.
Remembering the Unstoppable Freeman Dyson
Freeman Dyson — physicist, mathematician, writer and idea factory — died on February 28, but his vitality lives on.
Where Do New Genes Come From?
In their search for sources of genetic novelty, researchers find that some “orphan genes” with no obvious ancestors evolve out of junk DNA, contrary to old assumptions.
Graced With Knowledge, Mathematicians Seek to Understand
A landmark proof in computer science has also solved an important problem called the Connes embedding conjecture. Mathematicians are working to understand it.
Does Time Really Flow? New Clues Come From a Century-Old Approach to Math.
The laws of physics imply that the passage of time is an illusion. To avoid this conclusion, we might have to rethink the reality of infinitely precise numbers.