Archive

Researchers are discovering the shortest knots and fattest Möbius strips, among other “optimal shapes.”

Last spring, scientists retrieved a trove of mantle rocks from underneath the Atlantic seafloor — a bounty that could help write the first chapter of life's story on Earth.

Throughout her 60-year career, Lenore Blum has developed new perspectives on logic and computation while championing women in mathematics and computer science. Now consciousness is on her mind.

Why does natural selection appear to happen slowly on long timescales and quickly on short ones? A multigenerational study of four lizard species addresses biology’s “paradox of stasis.”

Landmark results in Ramsey theory and a remarkably simple aperiodic tile capped a year of mathematical delight and discovery.

From the smallest scales to the largest, the physical world provided no shortage of surprises this year.

Artificial intelligence learned how to generate text and art better than ever before, while computer scientists developed algorithms that solved long-standing problems.

Recent observations of an aging, alien planetary system are helping to answer the question: What will happen to our planet when the sun dies?

In a year packed with fascinating discoveries, biologists pushed the limits of synthetic life, probed how organisms keep time, and refined theories about consciousness and emotional health.