Latest Articles

Mathematicians Find Structure in Biased Polynomials

November 9, 2021

New work establishes a tighter connection between the rank of a polynomial and the extent to which it favors particular outputs.

The Brain Can Recall and Reawaken Past Immune Responses

November 8, 2021

The brain not only helps to regulate immune responses, but also stores and retrieves “memories” of them.

Sponge Genes Hint at the Origins of Neurons and Other Cells

November 4, 2021

A new study of gene expression in sponges reveals the complex diversity of their cells as well as some possibly ancient connections between the nervous, immune and digestive systems.

Researchers Revise Recipe for Building a Rocky Planet Like Earth

November 3, 2021

Over the past decade, researchers have completely rewritten the story of how gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn form. They’re now debating whether the same process might hold for Earth.

Q&A

Her Machine Learning Tools Pull Insights From Cell Images

November 2, 2021

The computational biologist Anne Carpenter creates software that brings the power of machine learning to researchers seeking answers in mountains of cell images.

Surprising Limits Discovered in Quest for Optimal Solutions

November 1, 2021

Algorithms that zero in on solutions to optimization problems are the beating heart of machine reasoning. New results reveal surprising limits.

Is the Great Neutrino Puzzle Pointing to Multiple Missing Particles?

October 28, 2021

Years of conflicting neutrino measurements have led physicists to propose a “dark sector” of invisible particles — one that could simultaneously explain dark matter, the puzzling expansion of the universe, and other mysteries.

Where Transcendental Numbers Hide in Everyday Math

October 27, 2021

The transcendental number π is as familiar as it is ubiquitous, but how does Euler’s number e transcend the ordinary?

How Tadayuki Watanabe Disproved a Major Conjecture About Spheres

October 26, 2021

Watanabe invented a new way of distinguishing shapes on his way to solving the last open case of the Smale conjecture, a central question in topology about symmetries of the sphere.

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