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How America’s Fastest Swimmers Use Math to Win Gold

July 10, 2024

Number theorist Ken Ono is teaching Olympians to swim more efficiently.

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Tracing the Hidden Hand of Magnetism in the Galaxy

July 1, 2024

Susan Clark is helping to unravel the mysterious workings of the Milky Way’s magnetic field, a critical missing piece of the galactic puzzle.

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How Failure Has Made Mathematics Stronger

May 22, 2024

The topologist Danny Calegari discusses the inevitability of disappointment in math, and how to learn from it.

He Seeks Mystery Magnetic Fields With His Quantum Compass

May 17, 2024

Alex Sushkov is updating an old technology with new quantum tricks in hopes of sensing the magnetic influence of dark matter.

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Does AI Know What an Apple Is? She Aims to Find Out.

April 25, 2024

The computer scientist Ellie Pavlick is translating philosophical concepts such as “meaning” into concrete, testable ideas.

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Pleasure or Pain? He Maps the Neural Circuits That Decide.

April 16, 2024

The work of the neuroscientist Ishmail Abdus-Saboor has opened up a world of insights into precisely how much pleasure and pain animals experience during different forms of touch.

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The Researcher Who Explores Computation by Conjuring New Worlds

March 27, 2024

Russell Impagliazzo studies hard problems, the limits of cryptography, the nature of randomness and more.

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‘The Rest of the World Disappears’: Claire Voisin on Mathematical Creativity

March 13, 2024

The recipient of the 2024 Crafoord Prize in Mathematics discusses math as art, math as language, and math as abstract thought.

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A Multitalented Scientist Seeks the Origins of Multicellularity

February 21, 2024

The pathbreaking geneticist Cassandra Extavour pursues the secrets of multicellular life while balancing careers in both science and singing.

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