Archive

Inspired by the results of a game-playing neural network, mathematicians have been making unexpected advances on an age-old math problem.

Wei Ho, the first director of the Women and Mathematics program at the Institute for Advanced Study, combines algebra and geometry in her work on an ancient class of curves.

Proving that two polygons have the same area can be as easy as cutting them up and rearranging the pieces.

Two physicists have calculated that the universe has a higher entropy — and is therefore more likely — than alternative possible universes.

For more than 250 years, mathematicians have wondered if the Euler equations might sometimes fail to describe a fluid’s flow. A new computer-assisted proof marks a major breakthrough in that quest.

New research in fish suggests that gut microbes can have a crucial early influence on the brain’s social development.

Albert Einstein’s ideas about space-time aren’t exactly intuitive, and they aren’t exactly Einstein’s, either.

An energy-efficient chip called NeuRRAM fixes an old design flaw to run large-scale AI algorithms on smaller devices, reaching the same accuracy as wasteful digital computers.

Lattice cryptography promises to protect secrets from the attacks of far-future quantum computers.