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Cryptographers Solve Decades-Old Privacy Problem
Three researchers have found a long-sought way to pull information from large databases secretly, moving us closer to fully private internet searches.
The Hidden Connection That Changed Number Theory
Quadratic reciprocity lurks around many corners in mathematics. By proving it, number theorists reimagined their whole field.
Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living Tissue
After identifying interlocking symmetries in mammalian cells, scientists can describe some tissues as liquid crystals — an observation that lays the groundwork for a fluid-dynamic theory of how tissues move.
These Cells Spark Electricity in the Brain. They’re Not Neurons.
For decades, researchers have debated whether brain cells called astrocytes can signal like neurons. Researchers recently published the best evidence yet that some astrocytes are part of the electrical conversation.
The Mathematician Who Sculpted the Shape of Space
Eugenio Calabi, who died on September 25, conceived of novel geometric objects that later became fundamental to string theory.
The Deep Link Equating Math Proofs and Computer Programs
Mathematical logic and the code of computer programs are, in an exact way, mirror images of each other.
Invisible ‘Demon’ Discovered in Odd Superconductor
Physicists have long suspected that hunks of metal could vibrate in a peculiar way that would be all but invisible. Now physicists have spotted these “demon modes.”
Nobel Prize Honors Inventors of ‘Quantum Dot’ Nanoparticles
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three researchers who harnessed the quantum behaviors of semiconductor nanocrystals.
Physicists Who Explored Tiny Glimpses of Time Win Nobel Prize
The development of attosecond pulses of light allowed researchers to explore the frame-by-frame movement of electrons.