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A mother armadillo, lying on her side, nurses four baby armadillos.
developmental biology

Nature Versus Nurture? Add ‘Noise’ to the Debate.

By Jordana Cepelewicz
March 23, 2020
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We give our genes and our environment all the credit for making us who we are. But random noise during development might be just as important.

A man standing in the Arctic tundra holds up a large photo of a swamp.
geology

Sudden Ancient Global Warming Event Traced to Magma Flood

By Howard Lee
March 19, 2020
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A study has cemented the link between an intense global warming episode 56 million years ago and volcanism in the North Atlantic, with implications for modern climate change.

An animation showing a 3-by-3 Latin square, with numbers color coded, and the equivalent graph.
Abstractions blog

‘Rainbows’ Are a Mathematician’s Best Friend

By Kevin Hartnett
March 18, 2020
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“Rainbow colorings” recently led to a new proof. It’s not the first time they’ve come in handy.

Swirling video.
Abstractions blog

Axions Would Solve Another Major Problem in Physics

By Natalie Wolchover
March 17, 2020
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In a new paper, physicists argue that hypothetical particles called axions could explain why the universe isn’t empty.

Multimedia

What Is the Geometry of the Universe?

By Erica Klarreich +1 authors
Lucy Reading-Ikkanda
March 16, 2020
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In our mind’s eye, the universe seems to go on forever. But using geometry we can explore a variety of three-dimensional shapes that offer alternatives to “ordinary” infinite space.

Photo of Ronald Rivest sitting in his office
Q&A

Cryptography Pioneer Seeks Secure Elections the Low-Tech Way

By Susan D'Agostino
March 12, 2020
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Ronald Rivest helped come up with the RSA algorithm, which safeguards online commerce. Now he’s hoping to make democratic elections more trustworthy.

A close-up of fossilized amber.
materials science

Ideal Glass Would Explain Why Glass Exists at All

By Natalie Wolchover
March 11, 2020
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Glass is anything that’s rigid like a crystal, yet made of disordered molecules like a liquid. To understand why it exists, researchers are attempting to create the perfect, still-hypothetical “ideal glass.”

Quantized Academy

How Rational Math Catches Slippery Irrational Numbers

By Patrick Honner
March 10, 2020
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Finding the best way to approximate the ever-elusive irrational numbers pits the infinitely large against the infinitely small.

An illustration in which a capsule-shaped drug imprinted with circuit-board diagrams blasts nearby bacteria.
artificial intelligence

Machine Learning Takes On Antibiotic Resistance

By Katherine Harmon Courage
March 9, 2020
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To combat resistant bacteria and refill the trickling antibiotic pipeline, scientists are getting help from deep learning networks.


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