What's up in
big data
graph theory
How Big Data Carried Graph Theory Into New Dimensions
Researchers are turning to the mathematics of higher-order interactions to better model the complex connections within their data.
Q&A
A Computer Scientist Who Tackles Inequality Through Algorithms
Rediet Abebe uses the tools of theoretical computer science to understand pressing social problems — and try to fix them.
Q&A
The Computer Scientist Who Shrinks Big Data
Jelani Nelson designs clever algorithms that only have to remember slivers of massive data sets. He also teaches kids in Ethiopia how to code.
Q&A
Prepping for a Flood of Heavenly Bodies
Mario Jurić is leading the push to get astronomy ready for the torrents of data that are about to flow.
Q&A
To Build Truly Intelligent Machines, Teach Them Cause and Effect
Judea Pearl, a pioneering figure in artificial intelligence, argues that AI has been stuck in a decades-long rut. His prescription for progress? Teach machines to understand the question why.
algorithms
Best-Ever Algorithm Found for Huge Streams of Data
To efficiently analyze a firehose of data, scientists first have to break big numbers into bits.
Q&A
Wanted: More Data, the Dirtier the Better
The computational immunologist Purvesh Khatri embraces messy data as a way to capture the messiness of disease. As a result, he’s making elusive genomic discoveries.
Abstractions blog
Awash in Sea of Data, Ecologists Turn to Open Access Tools
To assess the ocean’s health, ecology’s “rugged individualists” learned to get with the big data program.
Quantized Columns
Big Data’s Mathematical Mysteries
Machine learning works spectacularly well, but mathematicians aren’t quite sure why.