Archive

Mathematicians have studied knots for centuries, but a new material is showing why some knots are better than others.

The apparent paradox of the chicken and the egg smells like “turtles all the way down.” This puzzle shows how biology and physics can overcome infinite regress.

Rogue waves — enigmatic giants of the sea — were thought to be caused by two different mechanisms. But a new idea that borrows from the hinterlands of probability theory has the potential to predict them all.

Events take an interesting turn after the neurogeneticist Leslie Vosshall speaks with host Steven Strogatz about ways to make mosquitoes less deadly and the obstacles facing educational inclusiveness.

By exploiting randomness, three mathematicians have proved an elegant law that underlies the chaotic motion of turbulent systems.

James P. Allison believed that unleashing the immune system was a way to beat cancer when almost no one else did. A Nobel Prize and a growing list of cancer survivors vindicate him.

By teaching machines to understand our true desires, one scientist hopes to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of having them do what we command.

As astronomers get better at finding the comets and asteroids of other stars, they’ll learn more about the universe and our place in it.

The mathematician Alex Kontorovich speaks with host Steven Strogatz about regaining his creative freedom in an intimidating collaboration and about the pleasures of spherical geometry.