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Megastudy finds a simple way to boost math progress

American students have been falling behind in math for decades—with test scores that consistently rank in the bottom 25% globally compared to students in other developed countries—and the COVID-19 pandemic made the situation ...

Dudeney's 120-year-old dissection puzzle solution proves optimal

In 1907, the English author and mathematician Henry Ernest Dudeney posed a puzzle: Can any equilateral triangle be cut into as few pieces as possible that will fit together to form a perfect square? Four weeks later, he presented ...

Nessie loves a sunny summer's day—how anecdotes become data

New research from the University of St Andrews has used a database of Loch Ness Monster reports to translate anecdotes into data, shedding light on statistical biases and the importance of defining the right information for ...

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Mathematics
AI program plays the long game to solve decades-old math problems
Mathematics
Can math save content creators? A new model proposes fairer revenue distribution methods for streaming services
Mathematics
Scientists analyze branch patterns in trees and art, from da Vinci to Mondrian
Mathematics
Risk it or kick it? Research analyzes NFL coaches' risk tolerance on fourth down
Mathematics
The butterfly effect: This obscure mathematical concept has become an everyday idea, but do we have it all wrong?
Mathematics
Spanish 'running of the bulls' festival reveals crowd movements can be predictable, above a certain density
Mathematics
Kids use different math skills at work vs. school, India study shows
Mathematics
Barbecue grill approach helps researchers understand puzzling Rayleigh–Bloch waves
Mathematics
Parents' math anxiety linked to lower numeracy skills in children
Mathematics
Scientists map the mathematics behind how we create and innovate
Mathematics
Simple mathematical model predicts development of cultural structures observed in human societies
Mathematics
Art analysis: 2D multifractal tools examine Jackson Pollock's expressionism
Mathematics
Mathematical technique 'opens the black box' of AI decision-making
Mathematics
English children lag behind in geometry, but parents can help them learn through play
Mathematics
Mathematicians develop new method to forecast natural phenomena and detect early cancer development
Mathematics
Historian explains how economics research stumbled under Soviet regime, while mathematics thrived
Mathematics
How does a hula hoop master gravity? Mathematicians prove that body shape matters
Mathematics
Researcher calculates Santa's speed on Christmas Eve—and this is what it would do to Rudolph's nose
Mathematics
Algebraic geometry offers fresh solution to data center energy inefficiency
Mathematics
How prepared are we for another pandemic? Study provides mathematical insights into airborne viral transmission

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Astronomy
Four new gamma-ray millisecond pulsars discovered
Ecology
Assumptions about genomic diversity may create conservation illusions of population health
Environment
Earth's storage of water in soil, lakes and rivers is dwindling. And it's especially bad for farming
Paleontology & Fossils
'Inside out' fossil reveals a new species with a perfectly preserved interior
Analytical Chemistry
AI model transforms material design by predicting and explaining synthesizability
Nanomaterials
Nanostructured copper alloy rivals superalloys in strength and stability
Earth Sciences
Increased meltwater and rain help explain why Southern Ocean cooling has defied predictions
General Physics
Study uncovers origin of the large neutron-capture cross section in ⁸⁸Zr using new methodology
Earth Sciences
Drone experiment reveals how Greenland ice sheet is changing
Superconductivity
New superconducting state discovered: Cooper-pair density modulation
General Physics
Dirac's Plate Trick, the Hairy Ball Theorem and more: Research probes physics of irregular objects on inclined planes
Optics & Photonics
Liquid-crystal platform overcomes optical losses in photonic circuits
Analytical Chemistry
Biomimetic adsorbent efficiently extracts uranium from seawater
Molecular & Computational biology
A genetic tree as a movie: Moving beyond the still portrait of ancestry
Cell & Microbiology
Membrane proteins reveal new pathways for drugs to act on cells
Molecular & Computational biology
Discovery reveals key molecular event that boosts wheat's defense against devastating disease
Bio & Medicine
Engineered microparticles mimic biological structures to track protein degradation
Optics & Photonics
Newly developed waveguide device protects photonic quantum computers from errors
Nanophysics
Nanoscale ripples provide key to unlocking thin material properties in electronics
Cell & Microbiology
Critical blood defense receptor CD163 mapped for first time

'I had such fun!', says winner of top math prize

For Michel Talagrand, who won the Abel mathematics prize on Wednesday, math provided a fun life free from all constraints—and an escape from the eye problems he suffered as a child.