Math
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Physics
Being single a real drag for spores
Launching thousands of gametes at once helps a fungus waft its offspring farther.
- Math
Potato chips: A symptom of the U.S. R&D problem
Last year, U.S. consumers spent $7.1 billion on potato chips — $2 billion more than the federal government’s total 2009 investment on research and development. There’s something wrong, here, when Americans are more willing to empty their wallets for the junk food that will swell their waistlines than for investments in the engine driving the creation of jobs, economic growth and national security.
- Tech
To tame traffic, go with the flow
Lights should respond to cars, a study concludes, not the other way around.
- Math
Crowdsourcing peer review
MATH TREK: A claimed proof that P≠NP spurs a massive collaborative research effort.
- Computing
Most influential media Twitter feeds
Computer scientists find surprises when they rank top 100.
- Computing
Going viral takes a posse, not an army
Quality of followers, not quantity, determines which tweets will fly
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- Math
Swarming locusts impossible to predict
A mathematical analysis shows that random factors underlie the insects’ movements across the landscape.
- Math
When intuition and math probably look wrong
A twist on the Two Children Problem shows how information can steer what looks probable.
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- Math
‘Discounting’ the future cost of climate change
Economists develop new methods to quantify the trade-off between spending now and spending later.
- Chemistry
From movies you’ll love to drugs you’ll take
A new method picks out promising drug compounds by computer, in much the same way Netflix recommends DVDs to its customers.
