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Abstractions blog

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combinatorics

First-Year Graduate Student Finds Paradoxical Set

By Alex Stone
June 5, 2023
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No two pairs have the same sum; add three numbers together, and you can get any whole number.

A cube full of colorful shapes is connected to a smaller cube stuffed with the same shapes.
information theory

Data Compression Drives the Internet. Here’s How It Works.

By Elliot Lichtman
May 31, 2023
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One student’s desire to get out of a final exam led to the ubiquitous algorithm that shrinks data without sacrificing information.

Underside of a skate embryo, stained in blue, on a salmon pink background.
evolution

How 3D Changes in the Genome Turned Sharks Into Skates

By Viviane Callier
May 30, 2023
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Changes in the 3D structure of their genome gave skates and rays their distinctive winglike fins and pancake flatness.

machine learning

Some Neural Networks Learn Language Like Humans

By Steve Nadis
May 22, 2023
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Researchers uncover striking parallels in the ways that humans and machine learning models acquire language skills.

An illustrated human figure with memories of a blue flower looks out at the world and is more attuned to seeing other blue flowers.
memory

Memories Help Brains Recognize New Events Worth Remembering

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
May 17, 2023
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Memories may affect how well the brain will learn about future events by shifting our perceptions of the world.

solar physics

The Tiny Physics Behind Immense Cosmic Eruptions

By Zack Savitsky
May 15, 2023
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A new theory describes how particle interactions fuel fast magnetic reconnection, the process behind solar flares and other astrophysical jets.

algorithms

The Most Important Machine That Was Never Built

By Sheon Han
May 3, 2023
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When he invented Turing machines in 1936, Alan Turing also invented modern computing.

smell

How a Human Smell Receptor Works Is Finally Revealed

By Wynne Parry
May 1, 2023
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After decades of frustration, researchers have determined how an airborne scent molecule links to a human smell receptor.

A complex machine produces prime numbers onto a conveyor belt that winds backwards into infinity.
number theory

Why Mathematicians Re-Prove What They Already Know

By Anna Kramer
April 26, 2023
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It’s been known for thousands of years that the primes go on forever, but new proofs give fresh insights into how theorems depend on one another.


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