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Q&A
The Computer Scientist Challenging AI to Learn Better
Christopher Kanan is building algorithms that can continuously learn over time — the way we do.
Q&A
The Astrophysicist Who Sculpts Stars Before They Are Born
Nia Imara is working to understand the mysterious clouds of gas and dust that collapse into stars.
Q&A
An Immunologist Fights Covid with Tweets and a Nasal Spray
Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist who became a lifeline for the worried and the curious during the pandemic, thinks that nasal spray vaccines could be the next needed breakthrough in our fight against the coronavirus.
Q&A
The Computer Scientist Who Parlays Failures Into Breakthroughs
Daniel Spielman solves important problems by thinking hard — about other questions.
Q&A
How to Write Software With Mathematical Perfection
Leslie Lamport revolutionized how computers talk to each other. Now he’s working on how engineers talk to their machines.
Q&A
Pondering the Bits That Build Space-Time and Brains
Vijay Balasubramanian investigates whether the fabric of the universe might be built from information, and what it means that physicists can even ask such a question.
Q&A
In Music and Math, Lillian Pierce Builds Landscapes
Lillian Pierce wants to transform access to the world of mathematics, while making headway on problems that bridge the discrete and continuous.
Q&A
In Search of Cracks in Albert Einstein’s Theory of Gravity
Celia Escamilla-Rivera is combining large data sets with supercomputers to test general relativity against its little-known competitors.
Q&A
When a Gene Illness Discovery Means Breaking Bad News
When scientists discover genes linked to dangerous illnesses in their samples, how should they convey that news to the study participants? The geneticist Cristen Willer had to tackle that challenge.