Last update:

How languages recycle parts of words to avoid confusion

Many languages recycle words, giving them different meanings. For example, in English, "run" can mean to move quickly but also to manage something, like "run a company." In Spanish, "lengua" is both the word for tongue and ...

S-M-A-R-T! These researchers used math to crack Wordle

Every day, millions of people play Wordle, the popular New York Times game that challenges users to guess a secret five-letter word. Using information theory, a team of researchers at Binghamton University, State University ...

What network science can tell us about the 2026 World Cup

Team Australia kicked it long from the goalkeeper. Switzerland took a slower approach and preferred short passes over long drives. Spain, on the other hand, tended to string the ball with sharp, sideways passes across the ...

'Shoot for the moon?' Aim a bit lower, researchers say

How ambitious should you be? Folk wisdom offers conflicting advice: "Shoot for the moon," but also, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." A new study by researchers at the University of Wyoming, Stanford University ...

More news

Mathematics
New mathematical model suggests global population crash by 2064
Mathematics
Mathematicians solve decades-old mystery about the hidden order in high-dimensional randomness
Mathematics
AI makes a major breakthrough in a math problem that had stumped experts for decades
Mathematics
When noisy decision-making becomes a strategic advantage
Mathematics
A physicist's fresh look at the 'prisoner's dilemma' reveals hope for cooperation
Mathematics
Fair matching systems can still produce unequal outcomes, new research finds
Mathematics
Mathematical analysis reveals a hidden 'golden rule' in abstract art
Mathematics
Mathematicians prove existence of Kaleidocycles then unlock their exact motion
Mathematics
Identity traits sharply narrow who becomes friends or marries, model reveals
Mathematics
Q&A: The political calculus—and actual math—of gerrymandering
Mathematics
Theoretical framework can predict how complex networks behave
Mathematics
Study warns cost-cutting use of generative AI could increase cyber-attack risks
Mathematics
AI tackles one of math's most brutal problems: Inverse PDEs
Mathematics
A physics explanation shows why US elections keep ending 50:50—and why more spending won't change that
Mathematics
Western music is getting simpler and more repetitive by the day and data prove it
Mathematics
How can opinions be maximally influenced? New research offers insights
Mathematics
Universal patterns emerge across 22 languages, mapping how vocabularies evolve
Mathematics
We think norms spread by imitation, but one deceptively simple rule tells a more human story
Mathematics
World's largest collection of Olympiad-level math problems now available to everyone
Mathematics
Mental math's shortcut—pupil dilation suggests people start solving before all numbers are in

Other news

Environment
Cutting emissions more, removing carbon less could save 33,000 U.S. lives yearly
Plants & Animals
Fish in a polluted Mexican river may mate with the wrong species, leading to hybrid offspring
Plants & Animals
Lake Chad supports 2.48 million waterbirds, emerging as one of Africa's top wetland refuges
Astronomy
TESS just found a planet in a new way—and more may be hiding in its eight years of data
Analytical Chemistry
Acceptor molecule upconverts low-energy green light to high-energy purple with high efficiency
Plants & Animals
Superworms could be the future of skeleton cleaning
Bio & Medicine
DNA-based nanoswitch can flip in milliseconds and stay in one state for days without continuous forcing
Plants & Animals
Tree size, not age, may speed habitat recovery for endangered Indiana bats
Plants & Animals
Scrolling for science: How a Twitter post discovered a new wasp in Fukuoka, Japan
Evolution
Ancient gum disease may have helped reshape jaws before human brains expanded
Cell & Microbiology
Baker's yeast shows potential in treatment of persistent fungal infection
Environment
Walkable, greener neighborhoods linked to better physical and mental health across the U.S.
Biotechnology
Beyond 3-D: Data scientists introduce novel AI tool to interpret complex biological data
Molecular & Computational biology
One amino acid may signal the 'point of no return' in dying leaves
Astronomy
How a giant planet survived its star's death, then migrated inward
Ecology
Algae may have launched coral reefs by hijacking coral cells, genetic experiments suggest
Cell & Microbiology
Researchers discover novel SRV2 envelope protein for efficient CAR immune cell production
Evolution
Evolutionary origins of 'junk DNA' may provide new clues to cancer
Plants & Animals
400-year-old painting reveals a bat's secret diet
Evolution
Primate brains might have evolved to 'catch up' with larger bodies, but then kept growing

Students understand calculus better when the lessons are active

College students learn more calculus in an active learning course in which students solve problems during class than in a traditional lecture-based course. That's according to a peer-reviewed study my colleagues and I published ...

Flipped coins found not to be as fair as thought

A large team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions across Europe, has found evidence backing up work by Persi Diaconis in 2007 in which he suggested tossed coins are more likely to land on the same side they ...

Hermit 'scribblings' of eccentric French math genius unveiled

Tens of thousands of handwritten pages by one of the 20th century's greatest mathematicians, Alexander Grothendieck, many of which the eccentric genius penned while living as a hermit, were unveiled in France on Friday.