Machine learning works spectacularly well, but mathematicians aren’t quite sure why. At a dinner I attended…
Month: May 2022
Privacy by the Numbers: A New Approach to Safeguarding Data
A mathematical technique gives researchers access to personal data while meeting a high standard for privacy…
A Fight for the Soul of Science
String theory, the multiverse and other ideas of modern physics are potentially untestable. At a historic…
Which Computational Universe Do We Live In?
Cryptographers want to know which of five possible worlds we inhabit, which will reveal whether truly…
What Happens When We Give Animals Our Diseases?
While it’s understandable to focus on the diseases affecting humans, it’s important to study how our…
Secrets of the Moon’s Permanent Shadows Are Coming to Light
Robots are about to venture into the sunless depths of lunar craters to investigate ancient water…
Mathematicians Coax Fluid Equations Into Nonphysical Solutions
The famed Navier-Stokes equations can lead to cases where more than one result is possible, but…
New Proof Illuminates the Hidden Structure of Common Equations
Van der Waerden’s conjecture mystified mathematicians for 85 years. Its solution shows how polynomial roots relate…
Can We Manufacture Water Out of Thin Air?
Water is becoming an increasingly important issue in the developed world. But this issue is nothing new…
How Drought Works
Venture through Namibia’s central Namib Desert and you’ll find salt marshes where vegetation and creatures as…