A table tennis table that will up your game
Zhong Lin Wang started playing table tennis only four years ago. But last year, he and other researchers came up…
Category: Recent Work
Can CRISPR deliver?
SCIENTISTS HAVE SPENT DECADES mapping the tens of thousands of genes encoded in human DNA. They want to understand how genes…
“What if mathematicians were asked to defuse bombs?”
In 1998, a few dozen computer scientists and mathematicians gathered at a picturesque seaside resort on the Tuscan island of…
Hotspots for superbolts
Not every lightning strike is the same. Some skip from cloud to cloud. Others strike the ground, delivering a shocking…
God is my co-investigator
Religious fasts offer opportunities for reflection, penitence and good data about human dietary needs. Unlike laboratory rats, humans can’t be…
Blockchain beyond Bitcoin
In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the world to Bitcoin, a volatile digital currency that’s untethered to any specific institution or…
This robot’s parts are helpless alone, but turn smart as they team up
When you imagine a robot, you might picture R2-D2 in Star Wars, the Omnidroid from The Incredibles or the big-armed machines that build cars…
For these artists, math is their muse
Every year, the Joint Mathematics Meeting brings more than 5,000 math lovers together. It’s the largest math meeting in the…
Settling the Score
The debate over one of the most contested exams in medical education comes to a head. The next few months…
Life at the bottom
What does Absolute Zero mean? Temperature tends to be relative — the air is below freezing, her fever is above normal. But scientists probe…