Every year, the Joint Mathematics Meeting brings more than 5,000 math lovers together. It’s the largest math meeting in the world. In January 2019, mathematicians flocked to the meeting in Baltimore, Md., to learn about new ideas and talk about their work. Many even — believe it or not — came to admire the latest […]
For these artists, math is their muse Read More »
The debate over one of the most contested exams in medical education comes to a head. The next few months may bring a seismic shift to a medical school milestone, the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1. Aspiring doctors typically take it after their second year of medical school, and a good score
Settling the Score Read More »
What does Absolute Zero mean? Temperature tends to be relative — the air is below freezing, her fever is above normal. But scientists probe the extreme ends of the spectrum of what’s called absolute temperature: At the upper limit, absolute hot is a theoretical furnace where the laws of physics melt away. On the flip side, absolute zero —
Life at the bottom Read More »
Climate and weather are related — but not the same. Climate describes patterns of weather in an area over long stretches of time. Weather refers to specific events, such as hot days or thunderstorms. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes and floods are all examples of extreme weather. When extreme weather occurs, people often want to know if climate
What is attribution science? Read More »
One way to get drugs through the blood-brain barrier: smuggle them across using sound waves. The blood-brain barrier, a name given to the tightly packed vascular cells in the brain’s capillaries, keeps the central nervous system remarkably free of most pathogens. But that defense is a major challenge for delivering drugs that treat brain disorders.
Riding a Wave of Sound Read More »
November is election time, and not only for voters in the United States. On November 16, hundreds of scientists will gather in Paris, France, for the most unusual election this year, if not this century. Maybe ever. The voting scientists won’t be choosing new leaders or passing new laws. They’ll be voting on something more
Scientist vote to fix the world’s weight-loss problem Read More »
The human nose finds it simple to distinguish the aroma of fresh coffee from the stink of rotten eggs, but the underlying biochemistry is complicated. Researchers have now created an olfactory “map”—a geometric model of how molecules combine to produce various scents. This map could inspire a way to predict how people might perceive certain
Unraveling the Mathematics of Smell Read More »
Around the world, rising seas pose a major threat to coastal communities. Flooding will likely become worse, damaging buildings where people live and work. People who reside near the ocean have to change the way they live and build, or get out altogether. Here are how a few coastal communities are facing climate change by
How three coastal communities are dealing with rising seas Read More »
And how mathematical collaborations yield breakthroughs. The biggest math heist in years happened the morning of Aug. 1 in a Rio de Janeiro auditorium packed with witnesses — none of whom saw it happen. The math world’s largest conference, the International Congress of Mathematicians, occurs every four years, and during the meeting, two to four
Prizes, Thievery and Higher-Dimensional Doughnuts Read More »
Research findings could help improve personalized treatments for lung cancer patients. ALL CANCEROUS TUMORS contain cells that divide rapidly. There are many genetic mutations and proteins that can cause tumor cells to grow uncontrollably. A recent study suggests there are racial differences in tumor biology—a finding that might help scientists develop better personalized cancer treatments. The
Lung Cancer Biology Differs by Race, Study Shows Read More »
