Latest Articles

For His Sporting Approach to Math, a Fields Medal

July 5, 2022

With Hugo Duminil-Copin, thinking rarely happens without moving. His insights into the flow-related properties of complex networks have earned him the Fields Medal.

He Dropped Out to Become a Poet. Now He’s Won a Fields Medal.

July 5, 2022

June Huh wasn’t interested in mathematics until a chance encounter during his sixth year of college. Now his profound insights connecting combinatorics and geometry have led to math’s highest honor.

In Times of Scarcity, War and Peace, a Ukrainian Finds the Magic in Math

July 5, 2022

With her homeland mired in war, the sphere-packing number theorist Maryna Viazovska has become the second woman to win a Fields Medal in the award’s 86-year history.

Life Helps Make Almost Half of All Minerals on Earth

July 1, 2022

A new origins-based system for classifying minerals reveals the huge geochemical imprint that life has left on Earth. It could help us identify other worlds with life too.

The Sordid Past of the Cubic Formula

June 30, 2022

The quest to solve cubic equations led to duels, betrayals — and modern mathematics.

Can Computers Be Mathematicians?

June 29, 2022

Artificial intelligence has bested humans at problem-solving challenges like chess and Go. Is mathematics research next? Steven Strogatz speaks with mathematician Kevin Buzzard to learn about the effort to translate math into language that computers understand.

Controversy Continues Over Whether Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold

June 29, 2022

Decades after a Tanzanian teenager initiated study of the “Mpemba effect,” the effort to confirm or refute it is leading physicists toward new theories about how substances relax to equilibrium.

Protein Blobs Linked to Alzheimer’s Affect Aging in All Cells

June 28, 2022

Protein buildups like those seen around neurons in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other brain diseases occur in all aging cells, a new study suggests. Learning their significance may reveal new strategies for treating age-related diseases.

How to Weigh Truth With a Balance Scale

June 27, 2022

In recreational mathematics, the balance scale is an endless source of puzzles that require precise and elaborate logic and teach the fundamentals of generalization.

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