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Abstractions blog

Latest Articles

Julia Set Contest
Abstractions blog

Test Your Mathematical Sculpting Skills

By Kevin Hartnett
January 5, 2017
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Can you turn a two-dimensional fractal into a 3-D object? Break out your scissors and tape for a chance to win a 3-D printed sculpture.

Abstractions blog

On the Moon’s Far Side, Clues to a Cataclysm?

By Jeanette Kazmierczak
December 22, 2016
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A mission to collect samples from the far side of the moon could answer questions about a barrage of asteroids nearly 4 billion years ago.

Warped time. Olena Shmahalo/Quanta Magazine
Abstractions blog

Quantum Gravity’s Time Problem

By Natalie Wolchover
December 1, 2016
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The effort to unify quantum mechanics and general relativity means reconciling totally different notions of time.

LHC Collision Events - Visualization
Abstractions blog

The Math That’s Too Difficult for Physics

By Kevin Hartnett
November 18, 2016
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How do physicists reconstruct what really happened in a particle collision? Through calculations that are so challenging that, in some cases, they simply can’t be done. Yet.

Illustration by Lucy Reading-Ikkanda for Quanta Magazine
Abstractions blog

The Devil in the Polling Data

By Pradeep Mutalik
November 11, 2016
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The same problem that caused the 2007 financial crisis also tripped up the polling data ahead of this year’s presidential election.

Neutron-scattering image of a “spin ice” material created in 2009 that contains particles analogous to magnetic monopoles.
Abstractions blog

Can Analogies Reveal the Laws of Physics?

By Natalie Wolchover
November 10, 2016
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So-called “analogue experiments” are becoming increasingly common in physics, but do they teach or mislead?

Abstractions blog

Why (Almost) Everyone Was Wrong

By Pradeep Mutalik
November 9, 2016
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The results of this year’s presidential election made a mockery of analytical election forecast modelers.

A petri dish with an array of mutant yeast strains.
Abstractions blog

Why Some Genetic Miscues Are Helpful

By Veronique Greenwood
November 3, 2016
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A new look at the reasons why organisms missing pairs of genes sometimes do much better than normal.

Abstractions blog

The Cell’s Backup Genetic Instructions

By Jeanette Kazmierczak
October 28, 2016
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The cell is equipped with multiple redundancies in case something goes wrong. Researchers have begun to map these systems.


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