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Prime Gap Grows After Decades-Long Lull

December 10, 2014

A year after tackling how close together prime number pairs can stay, mathematicians have now made the first major advance in 76 years in understanding how far apart primes can be.

A Common Logic to Seeing Cats and Cosmos

December 4, 2014

New research suggests physicists, computers and brains employ the same procedure to tease out important features from among other irrelevant bits of data.

New Twist Found in the Story of Life’s Start

November 26, 2014

All life on Earth is made of molecules that twist in the same direction. New research reveals that this may not always have been so.

Ancient Survivors Could Redefine Sex

November 19, 2014

Microscopic creatures called bdelloid rotifers have thrived without mating for millions of years. How they did it could reveal why sex is so essential for almost everyone else.

Multiverse Collisions May Dot the Sky

November 10, 2014

Early in cosmic history, our universe may have bumped into another — a primordial clash that could have left traces in the Big Bang’s afterglow.

In a Multiverse, What Are the Odds?

November 3, 2014

Testing the multiverse hypothesis requires measuring whether our universe is statistically typical among the infinite variety of universes. But infinity does a number on statistics.

Dwarf Galaxies Dim Hopes of Dark Matter

October 25, 2014

For five years physicists have been tantalized by possible evidence of dark matter in the Milky Way’s center. But new results from small satellite galaxies have complicated the story.

Mental Leaps Cued by Memory’s Ripples

October 22, 2014

The same mental processes that organize memories may also coordinate how we make decisions.

At the Far Ends of a New Universal Law

October 15, 2014

A potent theory has emerged explaining a mysterious statistical law that arises throughout physics and mathematics.

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