1+ hour, 28+ min ago  (1697+ words) This formalization effort engendered trust. But it did far more than that. The push to formalize has helped mathematicians uncover novel connections between different areas of math. It has taken the field in unexpected new directions. It has taught us,…...

1+ hour, 29+ min ago  (934+ words) David E. Dunning explores how choices of notation " such as using Roman or Hindu-Arabic numerals " changes what you can do with math. It's natural to think of math as being fundamentally abstract. Whether it's invented or discovered, its truths are so…...

2+ day, 1+ hour ago  (750+ words) S'bastien Feraut for Quanta Magazine A further problem is that uncountably many different configurations of dimensions and strings are permitted at those tiny scales; the theory can give rise to a limitless variety of universes. Amid this vast landscape of…...

5+ day, 1+ hour ago  (813+ words) A new species of hydrozoan jellyfish keeps time in its own way. But is this the only way to do it? In a pea-size jelly off the coast of Japan, biologists are examining a different kind of timekeeping. "We've wondered,…...

1+ week, 7+ hour ago  (468+ words) Gilles Brassard (left) and Charles Bennett were among the first to link quantum physics to information theory. Bennett and Brassard have now been named the winners of the A.M. Turing Award, one of the highest honors in computing, for "their essential…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago  (992+ words) The central limit theorem is what makes bell-shaped distributions so ubiquitous. Irene Pe'rez for'Quanta Magazine No matter where you look, a bell curve is close by. Place a measuring cup in your backyard every time it rains and note the…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago  (952+ words) Companies are developing and now promoting a future full of humanoid robots. Henry Flores for'Quanta Magazine In philosophy, "qualia" refers to the subjective qualities of our experience: what it's like for Alice to see blue or for Bob to feel…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago  (1520+ words) The inner channel of the nuclear pore complex in all its messy glory. Far from a simple pore, the complex is filled with dynamic proteins that move molecules into and out of the nucleus. In this computer model, green strands…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago  (1069+ words) Is every runner sometimes far from all the others? For a few runners, the answer is yes. Adding more runners makes the problem exponentially harder. Picture a bizarre training exercise: A group of runners starts jogging around a circular track,…...

3+ week, 2+ hour ago  (1423+ words) Celsius Pictor for Quanta Magazine Baez called for the development of new mathematics " he called it "green" math " to better capture the workings of Earth's biosphere and climate. For his part, he sought to apply category theory, a highly abstract…...