Chemistry
This molecule puts a new twist on the Möbius strip
A molecule made of carbon and chlorine is half as twisty as the paper loops common in math classes.
Math
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
More Stories in Math
- Archaeology
This ancient pottery holds the earliest evidence of humans doing math
Flower designs on 8,000-year-old Mesopotamian pots reveal a “mathematical knowledge” perhaps developed to share land and crops, archaeologists say.
- Physics
There’s math behind this maddening golf mishap
Math and physics explain the anguish of a golf ball that zings around the rim of the hole instead of falling in.
- Math
See how fractals forever changed math and science
Over the last half 50 years, fractals have challenged ideas about geometry and pushed math, science and technology into unexpected areas.
- Computing
There’s no cheating this random number generator
From jury duty to tax audits, randomness plays a big role. Scientists used quantum physics to build a system that ensures those number draws can’t be gamed.
- Plants
A leaf’s geometry determines whether it falls far from its tree
Shape and symmetry help determine where a leaf lands — and if the tree it came from can recoup the leaf’s carbon as it decomposes.
- Math
The einstein tile rocked mathematics. Meet its molecular cousin
Chemists identify a single molecule that naturally tiles in nonrepeating patterns, which could help build materials with novel electronic properties.
- Math
Two teenagers have once again proved an ancient math rule
Ne’Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson have published 10 trigonometric proofs of the Pythagorean theorem, a feat thought impossible for 2,000 years.
- Math
This intricate maze connects the dots on quasicrystal surfaces
The winding loop touches every point without crossing itself and could help make a unique class of atomic structures more efficient catalysts, scientists say.
- Math
Scientists find a naturally occurring molecule that forms a fractal
The protein assembles itself into a repeating triangle pattern. The fractal seems to be an accident of evolution, scientists say.
