How Close Are Computers to Automating Mathematical Reasoning?
In the 1970s, the late mathematician Paul Cohen, the only person to ever win a Fields Medal for work in…
Category: Features
Whales get a second life as deep-sea buffets
Last October, a team of marine explorers sent Hercules — a remote-controlled vehicle — to the bottom of the ocean. Its mission:…
Your Hyperbolic Mind
The human brain is both a marvel and a mystery of evolution: Packed into a volume about one-quarter that of…
Symbolic mathematics finally yields to neural networks
More than 70 years ago, researchers at the forefront of artificial intelligence research introduced neural networks as a revolutionary way…
Exotic super magnets
ONE April night in 1820, the Danish experimentalist Hans Christian Øersted made a remarkable discovery. By bringing an electrical wire…
How math makes movies like Doctor Strange so otherworldly
For wild chase scenes, it’s hard to beat Doctor Strange. In this 2016 film, the fictional doctor-turned-sorcerer has to stop villains who want…
Scientists find the secret to colossal bubbles
Justin Burton’s fascination with soap bubbles began in Barcelona, Spain, six summers ago. “It was hot and humid, and there…
The Energy Scavengers
By harvesting the everyday energy of static electricity, scientists may have found the world's most plentiful source of renewable, sustainable…
Space weather forecast: Big storms ahead
The sun hurls giant plasma cannonballs at the Earth. What’s the worst that can happen? In the darkest hours of…
Extreme Weather: Will Global Warming Produce More Disasters?
Climate scientists say that rising global temperatures caused by greenhouse gas emissions are making some extreme weather events increasingly likely…