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Why the Brain’s Connections to the Body Are Crisscrossed

By R. Douglas Fields
April 19, 2023
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In all bilaterally symmetrical animals, from humans down to simple worms, nerves cross from one side of the body to the opposite side of the brain. Geometry may explain why.

mathematical physics

A New Symmetry Shakes Up Physics

By Kevin Hartnett
April 18, 2023
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So-called “higher symmetries” are illuminating everything from particle decays to the behavior of complex quantum systems.

geometry

Hobbyist Finds Math’s Elusive ‘Einstein’ Tile

By Erica Klarreich
April 4, 2023
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The surprisingly simple tile is the first single, connected tile that can fill the entire plane in a pattern that never repeats — and can’t be made to fill it in a repeating way.

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Emmy Murphy Is a Mathematician Who Finds Beauty in Flexibility

By Erica Klarreich
March 27, 2023
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The prize-winning geometer feels most fulfilled when exploring the fertile ground where constraint meets creation.

The Joy of Why

Is There Math Beyond the Equal Sign?

By Steven Strogatz
March 22, 2023
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Can mathematics handle things that are essentially the same without being exactly equal? Category theorist Eugenia Cheng and host Steven Strogatz discuss the power and pleasures of abstraction.

Mathematician Lek-Heng Lim standing near some columns at the University of Chicago.
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An Applied Mathematician With an Unexpected Toolbox

By Rachel Crowell
March 1, 2023
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Lek-Heng Lim uses tools from algebra, geometry and topology to answer questions in machine learning.

geometry

Mathematicians Complete Quest to Build ‘Spherical Cubes’

By Jordana Cepelewicz
February 10, 2023
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Is it possible to fill space “cubically” with shapes that act like spheres? A proof at the intersection of geometry and theoretical computer science says yes.

cartoon illustration of a female teacher surrounded by students throwing paper airplanes covered in equations against a bright orange background
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The Basic Algebra Behind Secret Codes and Space Communication

By Patrick Honner
January 23, 2023
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Whether you’re passing secret notes in class or downloading images from a space probe, Reed-Solomon codes offer an ingenious way to embed information and correct for errors.

2022 in Review

The Year in Math

By Konstantin Kakaes
December 22, 2022
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Four Fields Medals were awarded for major breakthroughs in geometry, combinatorics, statistical physics and number theory, even as mathematicians continued to wrestle with how computers are changing the discipline.


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