Archive

19th-century mathematicians thought the “roots of unity” were the key to solving Fermat’s Last Theorem. Then they discovered a fatal flaw.

For centuries, mathematicians tried to solve problems by adding new values to the usual numbers. Now they’re investigating the unintended consequences of that tinkering.

A new class of quantum particle is about to emerge from the tangled considerations of quantum statistics.

A decades-old method called the “bootstrap” is enabling new discoveries about the geometry underlying all quantum theories.

For Sylvia Serfaty, mathematics is all about truth and beauty and building scientific and human connections.

The circadian clock is in nearly every cell, and researchers have untangled many of its secrets. But sleep has been harder to pin down.

Can balloon animals help blunt uneasy feelings about “spooky action at a distance”?

Powerful new experiments have uncovered some of the molecular underpinnings of sleep.

The simple Möbius strip illustrates a deep mathematical challenge that has long tormented the field of symplectic geometry.