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Why Don’t Patients Get Sick in Sync? Modelers Find Statistical Clues.

March 1, 2018

The long, variable times that some diseases incubate after infection defies simple explanation. An idealized model of tumor growth offers a statistical solution.

Elusive Higgs-Like State Created in Exotic Materials

February 28, 2018

Two teams of physicists have created the "Higgs mode" – a link between particle physics and the physics of matter. The work could help researchers understand the strange behavior of deeply quantum systems.

Q&A

A Statistical Search for Genomic Truths

February 27, 2018

The computer scientist Barbara Engelhardt develops machine-learning models and methods to scour human genomes for the elusive causes and mechanisms of disease.

The Simple Algorithm That Ants Use to Build Bridges

February 26, 2018

Even with no one in charge, army ants work collectively to build bridges out of their bodies. New research reveals the simple rules that lead to such complex group behavior.

How Cells Pack Tangled DNA Into Neat Chromosomes

February 22, 2018

For the first time, researchers see how proteins grab loops of DNA and bundle them for cell division. The discovery also hints at how the genome folds to regulate gene expression.

Why Artificial Intelligence Like AlphaZero Has Trouble With the Real World

February 21, 2018

The latest artificial intelligence systems start from zero knowledge of a game and grow to world-beating in a matter of hours. But researchers are struggling to apply these systems beyond the arcade.

Physicists Mourn Joe Polchinski, Developer of Deep Ideas and Paradoxes

February 20, 2018

The theoretical physicist Joe Polchinski, who died February 2, left a tremendous professional and personal legacy, says a friend and collaborator.

Scant Evidence of Power Laws Found in Real-World Networks

February 15, 2018

A new study challenges one of the most celebrated and controversial ideas in network science.

Smart Swarms Seek New Ways to Cooperate

February 14, 2018

New algorithms show how swarms of very simple robots can be made to work together as a group.

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