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Scientists Seek to Update Evolution

November 22, 2016

Recent discoveries have led some researchers to argue that the modern evolutionary synthesis needs to be amended.

The Math That’s Too Difficult for Physics

November 18, 2016

How do physicists reconstruct what really happened in a particle collision? Through calculations that are so challenging that, in some cases, they simply can’t be done. Yet.

How to Hang Far Out Over the Edge

November 17, 2016

What formula describes the farthest you can stack flat blocks over the edge of a table to form a seemingly gravity-defying half-bridge to nowhere?

Strange Numbers Found in Particle Collisions

November 15, 2016

An unexpected connection has emerged between the results of physics experiments and an important, seemingly unrelated set of numbers in pure mathematics.

The Devil in the Polling Data

November 11, 2016

The same problem that caused the 2007 financial crisis also tripped up the polling data ahead of this year’s presidential election.

Can Analogies Reveal the Laws of Physics?

November 10, 2016

So-called “analogue experiments” are becoming increasingly common in physics, but do they teach or mislead?

Why (Almost) Everyone Was Wrong

November 9, 2016

The results of this year’s presidential election made a mockery of analytical election forecast modelers.

What Sonic Black Holes Say About Real Ones

November 8, 2016

Can a fluid analogue of a black hole point physicists toward the theory of quantum gravity, or is it a red herring?

Q&A

A Conductor of Evolution’s Subtle Symphony

November 3, 2016

At first, the biologist Richard Lenski thought his long-term experiment on evolution might last for 2,000 generations. Nearly three decades and over 65,000 generations later, he’s still amazed by evolution’s “awesome inventiveness.”

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