Archive

Life could use a more expansive genetic code in theory, but new work shows that improving on three-letter codons would be a challenge.

Learn the magic and math of how to win games when your opponent goes first.

A new analysis of W bosons suggests these particles are significantly heavier than predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics.

Steven Strogatz explores the mysteries of knots with the mathematicians Colin Adams and Lisa Piccirillo.

The existence of secure cryptography depends on one of the oldest questions in computational complexity.

The optical properties of mitochondrial bundles in the retina may improve how efficiently the eye captures light.

The result could help researchers answer a larger question about flattening objects from the fourth dimension to the third dimension.

Thanks to the power of fluctuation relations, physicists are taking the second law of thermodynamics to settings once thought impossible.

Lillian Pierce wants to transform access to the world of mathematics, while making headway on problems that bridge the discrete and continuous.