Archive

A technique based on genetic bar codes can easily map the connections of individual brain cells in unprecedented numbers. Unexpected complexity in the visual system is only the first secret it has revealed.

A recent experiment shows how quantum mechanics can make heat flow from a cold body to a hot one, an apparent (though not real) violation of the second law of thermodynamics.

What does John Nash’s game theory equilibrium concept look like in Rock-Paper-Scissors?

A surprise discovery announced a month ago suggested that the early universe looked very different than previously believed. Initial theories that the discrepancy was due to dark matter have come under fire.

Paradoxically, a small galaxy that seems to contain none of the invisible stuff known as “dark matter” may help prove that it exists.

Using a brain-computer interface, scientists are beginning to learn why learning is hard.

A simple, step-by-step breakdown of two “perfect” math proofs.

Gravitational waves have opened up new ways to test the properties of black holes — and Einstein’s theory of gravity along with them.

For decades, researchers have commonly assumed that higher oxygen levels led to the sudden diversification of animal life 540 million years ago. But one iconoclast argues the opposite: that new animal behaviors raised oxygen levels and remade the environment.