Abstractions blog

At the molecular level, glass looks like a liquid. But an artificial neural network has picked up on hidden structure in its molecules that may explain why glass is rigid like a solid.

The heartbeat and other bodily processes play a surprising role in shaping perception and cognition.

Herd immunity differs from place to place, and many factors influence how it’s calculated.

Cosmic rays may have given right-handed genetic helixes an evolutionary edge at the beginning of life’s history.

One hundred years after it was proposed, the Ising model is used to understand everything from magnets to brains.

Researchers say there are three possible explanations for the anomalous data. One is mundane. Two would revolutionize physics.

We asked four physicists why gravity stands out among the forces of nature. We got four different answers.

Representation theory was initially dismissed. Today, it’s central to much of mathematics.

To explain why men are on average taller than women, scientists theorized about competition for mates. But the effects of estrogen on bone growth may be answer enough.