Mathematics

New research suggests physicists, computers and brains employ the same procedure to tease out important features from among other irrelevant bits of data.

A potent theory has emerged explaining a mysterious statistical law that arises throughout physics and mathematics.

Subhash Khot’s bold conjecture is helping mathematicians explore the precise limits of computation.

Martin Hairer was named a 2014 Fields medalist for an epic masterpiece in stochastic analysis that colleagues say “created a whole world.”

Maryam Mirzakhani, who became the first woman Fields medalist for drawing deep connections between topology, geometry and dynamical systems, has died of cancer at the age of 40. This is our 2014 profile of her life and work.

Artur Avila’s solutions to ubiquitous problems in chaos theory have “changed the face of the field,” earning him Brazil’s first Fields Medal.

The search for artistic truth and beauty has led Manjul Bhargava to some of the most profound recent discoveries in number theory, which have helped earn him the Fields Medal.

Newly discovered patterns in evolution may help scientists make accurate short-term predictions.

A conversation with the mathematical physicist Freeman Dyson on quantum electrodynamics, climate change and his latest pet project.