A team of physics educators is focusing on a new approach to teaching quantum physics in schools. Traditional classroom teaching has tended to focus on presenting the history of the origins of quantum physics, which often poses problems...
My father, Hoshyar Nooshin, who has died aged 90, was a pioneering figure in the field of spatial structures and director of the University of Surrey’s Spatial Structures Research Centre for 28 years. Hoshyar taught at Surrey University...
Researchers share a mathematical model created to capture the nonlinear relationships between CO2, temperature, human population, and crop growth. Increasing evidence of chaotic and complex dynamics within ecological systems led them to...
Human activities are causing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels to rise, which increases the global average surface temperature—and poses a threat to crop growth. Escalating concerns about climate change's impact on global food...
Researchers from the Ateneo de Manila University have developed artificial intelligence (AI) deep learning tools that can help predict money market interest rates, invaluable for decision-makers in business and government.
The answers to today’s puzzles Earlier today I set you three problems from a maths competition for Martian schoolchildren. By Martian, I mean Hungarian. In the mid-twentieth century, a generation of outstanding mathematicians and...
Do you have alien intelligence? UPDATE: Solutions can be read here Hungary acquired a reputation for brilliance in maths and physics in the middle of last century, thanks to scientists like John von Neumann, Edward Teller and Eugene...
Researchers developed an efficient approach for training more reliable reinforcement learning models, focusing on complex tasks that involve variability. This could enable the leverage of reinforcement learning across a wide range of...
String theory aims to explain all fundamental forces and particles in the universe—essentially, how the world operates on the smallest scales. Though it has not yet been experimentally verified, work in string theory has already led to...
A new theory, that explains how light and matter interact at the quantum level has enabled researchers to define for the first time the precise shape of a single photon.
It is the computational processing of images that reveals the finest details of a sample placed under all kinds of different light microscopes. Even though this processing has come a long way, there is still room for increasing for...
Researchers have created a method that uses artificial intelligence to more accurately predict short-term river discharge using historical data from two hydrometric stations on the Ottawa River along with other weather-based parameters....
Researchers have used machine learning and supercomputer simulations to investigate how tiny gold nanoparticles bind to blood proteins. The studies discovered that favorable nanoparticle-protein interactions can be predicted from machine...
A study has identified strategies for using large language models (LLMs), a type of artificial intelligence (AI), in health systems while maintaining cost efficiency and performance. The findings provide insights into how health systems...
It turns out gaming is good for you! New research indicates massive multiplayer online gamers learn by gaming and their skills in the workplace are enriched by those seemingly endless hours previously thought of as frittering away time.
Researchers have discovered that in a foraging ant's search for food, it will leave pheromone trails connecting its colony to multiple food sources when they're available, successfully creating the first model that explains the...
Researchers at New York University have devised a mathematical approach to predict the structures of crystals—a critical step in developing many medicines and electronic devices—in a matter of hours using only a laptop, a process that...
Researchers have devised a mathematical approach to predict the structures of crystals -- a critical step in developing many medicines and electronic devices -- in a matter of hours using only a laptop, a process that previously took a...
Imagine a number made up of a vast string of ones: 1111111…111. Specifically, 136,279,841 ones in a row. If we stacked up that many sheets of paper, the resulting tower would stretch into the stratosphere.
Researchers are utilizing artificial intelligence to analyze the behavior of laboratory mice more efficiently and reduce the number of animals in experiments.
A 'deep learning' artificial intelligence model can identify pathology, or signs of disease, in images of animal and human tissue much faster, and often more accurately, than people. The development could dramatically speed up the pace...
Researchers have developed a three-dimensional mathematical model of prostate cancer. The model depicts various processes, including tumour growth, genetic evolution and tumour cell competition.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence wouldn't be possible without the statistical models that underpin their analytic capabilities. A Cornell statistician and his colleague have developed a revolutionary new method to analyze...
Scientists have advanced their NeuroMechFly model, simulating fruit fly movement in the real world. With integrated vision and smell, NeuroMechFly v2 helps us understand brain-body coordination, setting a path for neuroengineering's role...
A team of AI researchers and mathematicians affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. and the U.K. has developed a math benchmark that allows scientists to test the ability of AI systems to solve exceptionally difficult math...
A robot, trained for the first time by watching videos of seasoned surgeons, executed the same surgical procedures as skillfully as the human doctors, say researchers.
The answer to today’s Inca-nundrum Earlier today I set you a puzzle about a ‘khipu’, the Incan method of recording numbers with knots on string that features in Paddington in Peru. Here it is again with the answer. Incans used khipus to...
Deciphering an ancient number system In the film Paddington in Peru, which opened this weekend, the plot revolves around a string bracelet that is said to contain mystical secrets. The bracelet is supposed to be a ‘khipu’, which was the...
A less wasteful way to train large language models, such as the GPT series, finishes in the same amount of time for up to 30% less energy, according to a study.
Biological engineers developed a computational approach to extracting useful information from large biological datasets. They showed they could unravel interactions that determine how the immune system responds to tuberculosis...
University of Michigan researchers have added a new dimension to the mathematics used to predict the outcomes of all manner of competitions, including sports, games and social hierarchies in both humans and animals.
How trustworthy is a positive HIV test result? How probable is an actual infection when the test is positive? Even professionals often get such questions wrong, which can lead to misdiagnoses and unnecessary surgeries.
Graphs are everywhere. In discrete mathematics, they are structures that show the connections between points, much like a public transportation network. Mathematicians have long sought to develop algorithms that can compare any two graphs.
Large language models can achieve incredible performance on some tasks without having internalized a coherent model of the world or the rules that govern it, researchers find. This means these models are likely to fail unexpectedly if...
We're increasingly aware of how misinformation can influence elections. About 73% of Americans report seeing misleading election news, and about half struggle to discern what is true or false.
Researchers are warning that artificial intelligence tools gaining popularity in the fields of genetics and medicine can lead to flawed conclusions about the connection between genes and physical characteristics, including risk factors...
BiomedGPT is a new a new type of artificial intelligence (AI) designed to support a wide range of medical and scientific tasks. This new study is described in the article as 'the first open-source and lightweight vision -- language...
Cause and effect. We understand this concept from an early age. Tug on a pull toy's string, and the toy follows. Naturally, things get much more complicated as a system grows, as the number of variables increases, and as noise enters the...
Australian mathematicians call into question the ‘infinite monkey theorem’ in new research on old adage Mathematicians have called into question the old adage that a monkey typing randomly at a keyboard for long enough would eventually...
A video game in which participants herded virtual cattle has furthered our understanding of how humans make decisions on movement and navigation, and it could help us not only interact more effectively with artificial intelligence, but...
A new study reveals it would take far longer than the lifespan of our universe for a typing monkey to randomly produce Shakespeare. So, while the Infinite Monkey Theorem is true, it is also somewhat misleading.
Teachers report thinking that if girls do better in math than boys, it is probably because of their innate ability and effort. But they also report that when boys do well in math, it is more likely due to parental support and society's...
In their peer-reviewed work, Calcea Johnson and Ne'Kiya Jackson present five new ways of proving Pythagoras' Theorem via trigonometry. They also detail a new method for finding proofs that yield at least five more.
The human genetic code is fully mapped out, providing scientists with a blueprint of the DNA to identify genomic regions and their variations responsible for diseases. Traditional statistical tools effectively pinpoint these genetic...
The answer to today’s polling puzzle Earlier today I asked you the following puzzle , about voters who give wrong answers to opinion polls because they embarrassed to admit to their preferences. Here it is again with a solution. The shy...
The perils of opinion polls UPDATE: Solution now up Today’s puzzle is about voters who are embarrassed to tell pollsters what they really think. In elections past, right wing parties like the Conservatives have often done better than...
In 2022, U.S. high school students Calcea Johnson and Ne'Kiya Jackson astonished teachers when they discovered a new way to prove Pythagoras' theorem using trigonometry after entering a competition at their local high school. As a...