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The Computing Pioneer Helping AI See

October 24, 2023

Alexei Efros has spent his career learning how machines see differently from humans. Now he’s helping to bridge the gap.

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The Experimental Cosmologist Hunting for the First Sunrise

September 20, 2023

To catch even a whiff of the universe’s earliest epochs — an age of darkness, and one of new light — Cynthia Chiang builds her own equipment. Then she deploys it at the ends of the Earth.

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Why Mathematical Proof Is a Social Compact

August 31, 2023

Number theorist Andrew Granville on what mathematics really is — and why objectivity is never quite within reach.

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Andreas Wagner Pursues the Secrets to Evolutionary Success

August 15, 2023

Why did mammals, grasses and some other groups of organisms explode in diversity only after millions of years? The evolutionary biologist Andreas Wagner plumbs the secrets of those “sleeping beauties.”

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The Cryptographer Who Ensures We Can Trust Our Computers

July 27, 2023

Yael Tauman Kalai’s breakthroughs secure our digital world, from cloud computing to our quantum future.

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The Physicist Who’s Challenging the Quantum Orthodoxy

July 10, 2023

For decades, physicists have struggled to develop a quantum theory of gravity. But what if gravity — and space-time — are fundamentally classical?

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An Explorer of Abyssal Depths Looks to Oceans on Other Worlds

June 7, 2023

The marine geochemist Chris German brings decades of experience studying seafloor hydrothermal vents to NASA’s preparations for visits to other ocean worlds in our solar system.

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The Physicist Who Glues Together Universes

May 25, 2023

Renate Loll has helped pioneer a radically new approach to quantum gravity. She assumes that the fabric of space-time is a blend of all possible fabrics, and she has developed the computational tools needed to calculate the far-reaching implications of that assumption.

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A Plan to Address the World’s Challenges With Math

May 11, 2023

Minhyong Kim is leading a new initiative called Mathematics for Humanity that encourages mathematicians to apply their skills to solving social problems.

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