Computer science

The learning algorithm that enables the runaway success of deep neural networks doesn’t work in biological brains, but researchers are finding alternatives that could.

Two teams found different ways for quantum computers to process nonlinear systems by first disguising them as linear ones.

Even as mathematicians and computer scientists proved big results in computational complexity, number theory and geometry, computers proved themselves increasingly indispensable in mathematics.

Today’s information age is only possible thanks to the groundbreaking work of a lone genius.

The goal of the “busy beaver” game is to find the longest-running computer program. Its pursuit has surprising connections to some of the most profound questions and concepts in mathematics.

Jelani Nelson designs clever algorithms that only have to remember slivers of massive data sets. He also teaches kids in Ethiopia how to code.

A cryptographic master tool called indistinguishability obfuscation has for years seemed too good to be true. Three researchers have figured out that it can work.

Deep neural networks, often criticized as “black boxes,” are helping neuroscientists understand the organization of living brains.

Vinton Cerf helped create the internet 40 years ago, and he’s still working to connect people around the world — and off it.