Archive

If the electron’s charge wasn’t perfectly round, it could reveal the existence of hidden particles. A new measurement approaches perfection.

In the math of particle physics, every calculation should result in infinity. The set of techniques known as “resurgence” points toward an escape.

The first large-scale comparison of mutation rates gives insights into how quickly species can evolve.

Should Covid-19 vaccines be judged by how well they prevent disease or how well they prevent death? Anna Durbin, a public health expert and vaccine researcher, talks with Steven Strogatz about the science behind vaccines.

The surprisingly simple tile is the first single, connected tile that can fill the entire plane in a pattern that never repeats — and can’t be made to fill it in a repeating way.

Unpredictability can help computer scientists solve otherwise intractable problems.

A novel type of “jumping gene” may explain why the genomes of complex cells aren’t all equally stuffed with noncoding sequences.

The four-color problem is simple to explain, but its complex proof continues to be both celebrated and despised.

There once was a cosmic seed that sprouted the Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers have discovered its last surviving remnants.