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How Mathematical Curves Enable Advanced Communication

September 19, 2022

A simple geometric idea has been used to power advances in information theory, cryptography and even blockchain technology.

Chaos Researchers Can Now Predict Perilous Points of No Return

September 15, 2022

A custom-built machine learning algorithm can predict when a complex system is about to switch to a wildly different mode of behavior.

How Transformers Seem to Mimic Parts of the Brain

September 12, 2022

Neural networks originally designed for language processing turn out to be great models of how our brains understand places.

How Shannon Entropy Imposes Fundamental Limits on Communication

September 6, 2022

What’s a message, really? Claude Shannon recognized that the elemental ingredient is surprise.

Webb Space Telescope Snaps Its First Photo of an Exoplanet

September 1, 2022

The grainy image of a “super-Jupiter” is a sign of what’s to come as the telescope’s exoplanet observations ramp up.

Bacteria’s Immune Sensors Reveal a Novel Way to Detect Viruses

August 29, 2022

A new study reveals that bacteria can fight viruses in a surprisingly elegant way that has no known counterpart in more complex life.

‘Post-Quantum’ Cryptography Scheme Is Cracked on a Laptop

August 24, 2022

Two researchers have broken an encryption protocol that many saw as a promising defense against the power of quantum computing.

Electric Fish Genomes Reveal How Evolution Repeats Itself

August 22, 2022

By studying how electric organs arose in different lineages of fish, scientists gain new insights into a long-standing question of evolutionary biology.

A Numerical Mystery From the 19th Century Finally Gets Solved

August 15, 2022

Two mathematicians have proven Patterson’s conjecture, which was designed to explain a strange pattern in sums involving prime numbers.

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