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Biodiversity May Thrive Through Games of Rock-Paper-Scissors
Recent findings add weight to the evidence that the intransitive competitions between species enrich the diversity of nature.
Landmark Computer Science Proof Cascades Through Physics and Math
Computer scientists established a new boundary on computationally verifiable knowledge. In doing so, they solved major open problems in quantum mechanics and pure mathematics.
Janna Levin on Seeing and Hearing Black Holes
The astrophysicist Janna Levin describes the fierce scientific beauty she finds in black holes and reveals why she took a major risk early in her career.
The Man Making Rwanda Into a Hub for Physics
As the founding director of a new institute for fundamental research in Rwanda, the physicist Omololu Akin-Ojo hopes to stem the brain drain of Africa’s brightest minds.
How the Cosmic Dark Ages Snuffed Out All Light
The recent discovery of some of the first galaxies in the universe illuminates the darkest era in cosmic history.
Wormholes Reveal a Way to Manipulate Black Hole Information in the Lab
A proposal for building wormhole-connected black holes offers a way to probe the paradoxes of quantum information.
New Wrinkle Added to Cosmology’s Hubble Crisis
A problem confronts cosmology: Two independent measurements of the universe’s expansion give incompatible answers. Now a third method, advanced by an astronomy pioneer, appears to bridge the divide.
John Urschel: From NFL Player to Mathematician
John Urschel, who retired from playing professional football with the Baltimore Ravens to become a mathematician, talks to host Steven Strogatz about the fascinations of graph theory that lured him away from the NFL.
The Animal Origins of Coronavirus and Flu
Zoonotic diseases like influenza and many coronaviruses start out in animals, but their biological machinery often enables them to jump to humans.