How do you distribute drinking water fairly across an area recently hit by a natural disaster? Or how can you make sure you have enough bottles of water, granola bars and fruit in your delivery van to refill all the vending machines at a...
The answers to today’s power-hungry philosophers’ puzzle Earlier today I set you this puzzle by one of the world’s leading logicians about a group of five power-hungry philosophers. Here it is again with the solution. The philosopher’s...
The ruthless pursuit of power UPDATE: Read the solution here Today’s puzzle concerns a group of five power-hungry schemers who are all desperate to become the top boss. Your task will be to work out how the person of lowest status can...
A new Sussex study has revealed that "math anxiety" can lead to disengagement and create significant barriers to learning. According to charity National Numeracy, more than one-third of adults in the U.K. report feeling worried or...
Newly published research reexamines the evaluation of scientific findings, proposing a network-based methodology for contextualizing a publication's impact.
Biological materials are made of individual components, including tiny motors that convert fuel into motion. This creates patterns of movement, and the material shapes itself with coherent flows by constant consumption of energy. Such...
A team of researchers looked back at a model that predicted nuclear power would expand dramatically in order to assess the efficacy of energy policies implemented today.
What influences the choices we make, and what role does the behavior of others have on these choices? These questions underlie many aspects of human behavior, including the products we buy, fashion trends, and even the breed of pet we...
In a new study published in The Journal of Finance and Data Science, a researcher from the International School of Business at HAN University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands introduced the topological tail dependence theory—a new...
An innovative approach to artificial intelligence (AI) enables reconstructing a broad field of data, such as overall ocean temperature, from a small number of field-deployable sensors using low-powered 'edge' computing, with broad...
Distributed cloud storage is a hot topic for security researchers, and a team is now merging quantum physics with mature cryptography and storage techniques to achieve a cost-effective cloud storage solution.
The answers to today’s puzzles Earlier today I set you these problems from the book Lateral Solutions to Mathematical Problems by Des MacHale. Here they are again with answers. 1. Three cloves on an orange Continue reading...
Finding creative solutions UPDATE: To read the solutions click here Sometimes it pays to approach a problem sideways. Each of today’s puzzles requires some lateral thinking, in that the first step of the solution is perhaps not the...
Deep within every piece of magnetic material, electrons dance to the invisible tune of quantum mechanics. Their spins, akin to tiny atomic tops, dictate the magnetic behavior of the material they inhabit. This microscopic ballet is the...
In the same way that chatbots sometimes 'hallucinate,' or make things up, machine learning models designed for scientific applications can sometimes present misleading or downright false results. Researchers now present a new statistical...
Scientists used their expertise in quantum biology, artificial intelligence and bioengineering to improve how CRISPR Cas9 genome editing tools work on organisms like microbes that can be modified to produce renewable fuels and chemicals.
Succeeding in love and business, roulette or a pub quiz is easy, says mathematician Marcus du Sautoy. You just have to know the right formula Navigating your way through life can often feel like playing a complex board game. Every...
Math experts have developed new ways to provide further evidence for human-caused global heating and predict how close Earth is to reaching dangerous climate tipping points.
Single-photon emitters quantum mechanically connect quantum bits (or qubits) between nodes in quantum networks. They are typically made by embedding rare-earth elements in optical fibers at extremely low temperatures. Now, researchers...
Researchers combined physics and machine learning to develop a new 3D-printing technique that can quickly create complex physical patterns -- including replicating a segment of a Pollock painting -- by leveraging the same natural fluid...
A RUDN University mathematician and a colleague developed a theoretical model of mass extinction. The model for the first time took into account two important factors—the inverse effect of vegetation on climate change and the...
We've all been there: staring at a math test with a problem that seems impossible to solve. What if finding the solution to a problem took almost a century? For mathematicians who dabble in Ramsey theory, this is very much the case. In...
New studies support the idea that the brain uses a process similar to a machine-learning approach known as 'self-supervised learning.' This type of machine learning allows computational models to learn about visual scenes based solely on...
An exclusive new puzzle UPDATE: Read the solutions here Happy birthday Wordle, two years old this month! Reader Alf Smith, a retired software engineer from Herefordshire, has devised what he calls “Worzle”, a portmanteau of Wordle +...
As urbanization advances around the globe, the quality of the urban physical environment will become increasingly critical to human well-being and to sustainable development initiatives. However, measuring and tracking the quality of an...
The privacy policies and practices of online games contain dark design patterns which could be deceptive, misleading, or coercive to users, according to a new study.
Mathematicians have invented a new statistical tool to analyze multiple outcomes from clinical trials, replacing the 60-year-old standard tool that could only look at binary outcomes (survived/ did not survive). This will allow...
Students who are more digitally skilled also perform better in math. New research from Renae Loh and others at Radboud University shows that in countries with better availability of information and communication technology (ICT) in...
Researchers report that a single, simplified model can predict population fluctuations in three unrelated realms: urban employment, human gut microbiomes and tropical forests. The model will help economists, ecologists, public health...
A new study reveals the pitfalls of deep generative models when they are tasked with solving engineering design problems. The researchers say if mechanical engineers want help from AI for novel ideas and designs, they'll have to refocus...
An international team of scientists has recently developed a novel type of nano engine made of DNA. It is driven by a clever mechanism and can perform pulsing movements. The researchers are now planning to fit it with a coupling and...
Proteins are important molecules that perform a variety of functions essential to life. To function properly, many proteins must fold into specific structures. However, the way proteins fold into specific structures is still largely...
Economists from RUDN University have created a methodology based on mathematical modeling to manage production effectively with rapidly emerging innovations. The results were published in Sustainability.
Computational models of hearing and vision can build up their own idiosyncratic 'invariances' -- meaning they respond the same way to stimuli with very different features, according to scientists.
Or a fearsome feline of football? UPDATE: The solutions can be read here When I’m not writing about maths and puzzles, I’m working on my children’s book series, Football School, which uses the sport as a lens to the world. Researching...
A pair of mathematicians, Kevin Course and Prasanth Nair at the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies, has developed a new state-estimation method to create efficient forecasts without the need for the details of an...
The synovium is a membrane-like structure that lines the knee joint and helps to keep the joint happy and healthy, mainly by producing and maintaining synovial fluid. Inflammation of this tissue is implicated in the onset and progression...
Artificial intelligence, AI, which finds patterns in complex biological data could eventually contribute to the development of individually tailored healthcare. Researchers have developed an AI-based method applicable to various medical...
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 in...
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 started on,...
Models built on machine learning in health care can be victims of their own success, according to researchers. Their study assessed the impact of implementing predictive models on the subsequent performance of those and other models.