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In the July 6 SN: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, stone tool dates face scrutiny, ocean plastic goes deep, records of Inca taxation, erosion spurred plate tectonics and more.
Julie Rehmeyer's Articles
- Math Trek
Probing Wikipedia editors’ hive mind for rules on cooperative behavior
- Math Trek
Flatland and its sequel bring the math of higher dimensions to the silver screen
- Math Trek
A field where breakthroughs are hard to come by produces two big advances on a single day
- Math Trek
One of the most abstract fields in math finds application in the 'real' world
- Math Trek
A theorem in limbo shows that QED is not the last word in a mathematical proof
- Math Trek
A mathematician puts Fermat's Last Theorem on an axiomatic diet
- Math Trek
Devil is in the details of a new Medicare plan to buy medical supplies
Medicare could waste billions of dollars, bankrupt small businesses and leave seniors without crucial equipment like oxygen tanks and wheelchairs, some economists warn, with a new auction-based purchasing plan that ignores mathematical principles of competitive bidding.
The new plan began with an apparently good idea: Medicare has started buying durable medical equipment through a competitive bidding process rather than through fixed prices influenced by industry lobbying. In theory, this could save the government a big chunk of the $14 billion it has spent on such equipment in a year. But in reality, mathematicians and economists sa
- Math Trek
Game theory suggests current climate negotiations won’t avert catastrophe
Climate treaty negotiators might be wise to have a conversation with a game theorist.
So far, negotiators’ promises to reduce greenhouse gas production have been paltry and results paltrier, as both emissions and global temperatures have risen. A new game theoretic analysis published in the Oct. 23 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences both pinpoints why negotiations have accomplished so little and suggests how the parties might achieve better results.
Since 2009, climate treaty negotiations have focused on one value: 2 degrees Celsius. If the planet warms more than this, scientists have warned, catastr
- Math Trek
Grocers stacking oranges demonstrate intuitive grasp of sphere-packing math
- Math Trek
Turning numbers into shapes offers potential medical benefits