Archive

The search for artistic truth and beauty has led Manjul Bhargava to some of the most profound recent discoveries in number theory, which have helped earn him the Fields Medal.

Despite swapping DNA through interbreeding, butterflies and other animals can maintain distinct species.

Bacteria may have helped single-celled organisms make the leap to multicellular animals.

Katherine Freese, a physicist who will soon lead the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, reflects on the hunt for dark matter and how dark matter heating may have produced the first stars.

Newly discovered patterns in evolution may help scientists make accurate short-term predictions.

Newly discovered specimens support a more ancient origin for viruses, perhaps all the way back to the origins of life.

The cosmologist David Spergel explains why a widely publicized gravitational-wave discovery could be wrong, and how the “overreaching” study could affect the public’s perception of science.

Chao-Lin Kuo, who helped design the experiment that claimed to have found evidence of gravitational waves from the Big Bang, isn’t bothered by criticism that cosmic dust may account for his results.

Surprising oil drop experiments suggest that the quantum world may not be as strange as advertised.